The Buffaloes fell short of their NCAA Tournament hopes as they lost to Washington in the Pac-12 Tournament Semifinals.

But with Colorado winning 10 of its last 13 conference games after starting 2-6 in the Pac-12, the Buffs got to 20 wins for the 10th time in school history and were invited to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

Colorado (21-12, 10-8 Pac-12) was given a No. 4 seed and host No. 5 seed Dayton Flyers (21-11, 13-5 Atlantic 10) on Tuesday, March 19 at 9 p.m. MT. The game can be viewed on ESPN2 if you can't get to the CU Events Center.

"Dayton is a quality program," Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said, via cubuffs.com. "Anybody that follows college basketball closely knows Dayton is a quality program. They have quality players, they've had quality coaches and they have one now in Anthony Grant. Their big freshman (Obi Toppin), holy cow — he's a future NBA guy, there's no doubt about it in my mind."

The Flyers were upset in the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament by the eventual champion, Saint Louis. Dayton averages 72.9 points per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field. Defensively, the Flyers allow 65.8 points while opponents shoot 41.3 percent from the field. This will be Dayton’s 25th NIT appearance.

Redshirt freshman forward Obi Toppin leads Dayton at 14.2 points per game on an impressive 66.2 percent from the field. He earned Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year and first team all-conference honors. Senior forward Josh Cunningham was an All-Atlantic 10 third team pick at 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Toppin and Cunningham (.638) rank second and third respectively in field goal shooting on the A-10 charts.

Sophomore guard Jalen Crutcher tops the Flyers in assists at 5.7 per game and ranks third on the team in scoring at 13.1 per contest. An All-A-10 third team pick, Crutcher leads Dayton in 3-pointers made with 68.

Anthony Grant is in his second season as the head coach at Dayton with a record of 35-28. He is in his 11th season overall as a collegiate head coach with a record of 228-138.

This will be the fourth meeting between Colorado and Dayton with the Buffaloes holding a 2-1 series edge. The teams last met in the first round of the 2012 DirecTV Charleston Classic where the Buffaloes took a 67-57 decision en route to the tournament title. Colorado also won the previous meeting, and only match up in Boulder, a 77-59 decision on Jan. 10, 1987.

If Colorado advances past Dayton, they will face the winner of No. 1 seed Alabama and No. 8 seed Norfolk State. They match up on Wednesday night.

The second round of the NIT takes place from March 21-25.