The 1956 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.
The 19th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.
It was the first and only appearance for the McNeese State made in the NAIA tournament.
The third-place game featured Pittsburg State who defeated the Wheaton Thunder, 77–70.
Many of the records set by the 1956 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later: