Hartford - Coach Kevin Ollie didn't hold back when asked Sunday if it would be difficult for his Huskies to gear up for playing in the NIT a year after hoisting the national championship trophy.

"Why?" Ollie said. "You put on a UConn jersey. If you can't get geared up, then I don't want you on my team. So, no. … It's important when you put that jersey on and that's my message."

The true test will be come on Wednesday when UConn plays in the NIT for the first time since 2010. The Huskies (20-14), a number four seed, will host No. 5 Arizona State (17-15) in the first round at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs (7 p.m., ESPN2).

They'll need to shake the disappointment of being the program's first team to fail to return to the NCAA tournament following a national championship season. The 1999, 2004 and 2011 Huskies all made it back to March Madness.

Sunday's 62-54 loss to top-seeded Southern Methodist in the American Athletic Conference tournament final eliminated UConn's last chance to earn a bid. The Huskies' resume fell short of consideration for an at-large bid.

In its last NIT appearance in 2010, UConn beat Northeastern in Storrs and then lost at Virginia Tech.

UConn hasn't played Arizona State since 1997 in the Preseason NIT championship - a game that the Huskies won - and leads the overall series 3-1. If the Huskies win their opener, they'll face the winner of the top-seeded Richmond and No. 8 St. Francis (N.Y.).

Ollie believes the NIT experience will be good for his team's development. The win-or-go home postseason experience serves a purpose.

"It's experience," Ollie said. "As a man, you grow up, you have experiences and your mama whoops you and you go back and you learn from it. Just like everything in life. … If it is the NIT or NCAA, they are going to learn from it and they're going to come back better from it.

"I am still going to coach them the way I coach them."

Now Ollie has to convince his players that the NIT is worthwhile experience. Ryan Boatright, the team's only senior, is on board.

"I don't think any of us will want to get out there and lose, no matter what we're playing for," Boatright said. "As long as it's a basketball game and we're suiting up and putting on a UConn jersey, we're going to try to win that game."

The Huskies will go in the NIT a banged up bunch. Sophomore Kentan Facey (concussion) missed all four AAC tournament games.

It's unlikely that Boatright will be 100 percent. He said he was dizzy after taking an inadvertent shot to the head about a minute and a half into Sunday's game. In the second half, he went down again after running into a screen. He left holding his left shoulder.

"My shoulder got caught on a screen," Boatright said. "My arm was out. When Nic (Moore) went off (the screen), my arm got caught and got twisted up somehow. I don't exactly know what happened."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe