Syracuse earned a No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tournament after missing the NCAA Tournament when eligible for the first time in nine years.

The Orange will play eighth-seeded North Carolina-Greensboro on Tuesday in the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m. The Spartans finished the regular season 25-9 and first in the Southern Conference. The last time SU played in the NIT, 2008, the Orange made the quarterfinals. Syracuse also made the NIT quarterfinals in 2007.

SU got off to its worst start ever through 12 games under Jim Boeheim, dropping to 7-5 after a 33-point loss to St. John’s in the Carrier Dome. That was only one of five losses to teams that finished outside the RPI Top 100, including defeats to Connecticut, Georgetown, Boston College and Pittsburgh.

The Orange beat five teams in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, Duke, Florida State, Virginia, Miami and Wake Forest. Respectively, those teams were seeded seventh, 10th, 17th, 30th and 43rd overall by the selection committee in this year’s 68-team field.

In the NIT, the higher seed hosts until the Final Four, which is played at Madison Square Garden. That means the Orange will host a maximum of three games before traveling to New York City if it advances that far.

If Syracuse beats UNC-Greensboro, it will face the winner of Monmouth and Mississippi in the Carrier Dome.

“When we get ready to play a game, as a competitor, you want to go out and win the game,” Boeheim said. “Our players are going to want to win. They’re disappointed, everybody’s disappointed, but you have a game, whenever that may be and you want to get ready and you want to go out and play.”