[6] The Blackbirds joined the Tri-State Collegiate Basketball League, a conference that included only College Division teams, for the 1959–60 season.

In 1965, they finished tied for first place with Wagner, and the teams met in a playoff game on Hoftra's home court on March 3, to determine the conference champion and winner of the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

[7][8] Prior to the 1965–66 season, the Blackbirds became a charter member of the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference, a league that included both University Division and College Division teams, and competed in both the Tri-State and Met conferences through the end of the 1966–67 season, after which the Tri-State League dissolved.

[9] Larry Newbold scored 22 points to lead the Blackbirds to an 87–74 home victory over Bridgeport on February 13, 1967, completing a perfect conference season for LIU and clinching their third straight Tri-State League title and NCAA tournament berth.

On March 12, 2013, the team achieved what was the greatest run in Northeast Conference history with a third straight NCAA Tournament bid.

[12] The Blackbirds' final head coach was Derek Kellogg, who was hired after his firing by Massachusetts in 2017, with the 2017–18 season his first as LIU mentor.

Each season, a game (the schools usually play each other twice) is dedicated in tribute William Lai and Daniel Lynch, former athletic directors at Long Island University and St. Francis College, respectively.