ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's basketball team will play Wake Forest Wednesday in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, according to the bracket released by the NIT late Sunday night.  The game will tip at 7 p.m. and be televised on ESPNU.

Navy enters its first postseason since 1998 and its second trip to the NIT (1962) after it compiled an overall record of 26-7 this season and won the Patriot League regular season with a league record-tying mark of 17-1.

Wake Forest is the top-seeded team in the NIT's Winston-Salem Region.  It posted a 17-16 overall record this season and finished in 13th place in the 18 team Atlantic Coast Conference with a 7-11 record.

The Demon Deacons have won the last four games against the Mids take a 5-4 advantage in the series since the first game between the teams was played on Jan. 8, 1930.  The programs also met two times in the 1950s, once in the 1960s and '70s and twice in the 1990s.  Navy and Wake Forest last played a game in Winston-Salem on Dec. 22, 2000, and last met on Jan. 2, 2002, in Annapolis.

The game will mark Navy's third trip to North Carolina this season as the Mids also played North Carolina in Chapel Hill and UNCW, Gardner-Webb and Southeastern Louisiana during a Thanksgiving tournament in Wilmington.

The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to the second round and face the winner of Wednesday's Kent State at Illinois State game.  That second round game will be played either March 21 or 22.

Winston-Salem Region First Round Games
Navy at #1 Wake Forest - Wednesday, March 18
Kent State at #4 Illinois State - Wednesday, March 18
UNCW at #3 Yale - Tuesday, March 17
#2 Dayton at Bradley - Wednesday, March 18