The 1965 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 28th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. This is the first tournament since 1947 tournament to feature four new teams to the NAIA Semifinals. (It would be the 4th time since 1937 this has happened; previous years were the inaugural year 1937, 1945, and 1947). It was the longest gap up until it was eclipsed by the gap between 1969-2001 which featured 1 or more repeating semi-finalist each year. It was the second time the number one seed has won the tournament.

Awards and honors

1965 NAIA bracket

Third-place game

The third-place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.