Denied a berth in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, the Colorado Buffaloes received a No. 1 seed in the NIT Tournament and an Opening Round contest with the No. 8 Texas Southern Tigers. The Buffs easily handled Texas Southern with an 88-74 victory. They held the lead for roughly all but 40 seconds of the game, and had a 15-point lead at halftime, 44-29.

The Tigers attempted to make it a competitive game in the second half, outscoring the Buffs 45-44. However, it was just too difficult to overcome the Buffs' early lead. Harrison Smith led the team with 24 points, while Kevin Galloway had a game-high 11 assists to go with three steals. The team went 8-of-28 from beyond the arc.

Alec Burks led the Buffaloes with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. He made 8-of-9 shots from the field and was 10-of-13 from the free throw line. He helped the Buffs shoot 61.2 percent from the field. Cory Higgins dropped 25 points on 8-of-11 field goals. Off the bench, Andre Roberson scored 15 points and pulled down eight boards.

Colorado plays the winner of the Cal-Ole Miss contest.