The 2021–22 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team represented

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

in the

2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2021 and concluded on March 13, 2022. The 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 15 and concluded on April 4 with the c ...

. The Vikings, led by third-year head coach

Dennis Gates Dennis Gates (born January 14, 1980) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Missouri Tigers men's basketball team. Playing career Gates played college basketball at California, where he was a two-ti ...

, played their home games at the

Wolstein Center The Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Center is a 13,610-seat indoor arena located in downtown Cleveland, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the campus of Cleveland State University (CSU). It is home to the Cleveland State Vikings Cleveland S ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

as members of the

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

. They finished the season 20–11, 15–6 in Horizon League play to earn a share of the regular season championship for the second consecutive year. As the No. 1 seed in the Horizon League tournament, they defeated Robert Morris in the quarterfinals before losing to Wright State in the semifinals. As a regular season champion that did not win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. They lost in the first round of the NIT to Xavier.

Previous season

In a season limited due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

finished the 2020–21 season 19–8, 16–4 in Horizon League play to finish as Horizon League regular season co-champions. As the No. 1 seed in the Horizon League tournament, they defeated Purdue Fort Wayne,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, and

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance since

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and the school's third bid to the tournament. As the No. 15 seed in the Midwest Region, they lost to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

in the first round.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Horizon League tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, National Invitation tournament Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball seasons

Cleveland State Vikings The Cleveland State Vikings, or Vikes, are the athletic teams of Cleveland State University. Before as Fenn College they were known as the Fenn College Foxes or Fenn Foxes. Cleveland State competes in NCAA Division I. The Vikings have competed in ...

Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball is the men's college basketball team that represents Cleveland State University. Prior to rebranding from Fenn College, they were known as the Fenn College Foxes. Cleveland State has been in Division ...

Cleveland State Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...