BOZEMAN — Montana State will play Grambling State in a First Four matchup in the 2024 NCAA men's basketball tournament.
The game will be played Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, at 4:40 p.m. Mountain time. The winner will be a No. 16 seed for a first-round game against No. 1 seed Purdue in Indianapolis on Friday at 5:25 p.m. Mountain.
The game will be nationally televised on TruTV with Spero Dedes, Jim Spanarkel and Jon Rothstein on the call. Westwood One will air the national radio call, featuring Nate Gatter and Jim Boeheim, and live radio play-by-play will also air on the Bobcat Sports Network from voice of the Bobcats Keaton Gillogly.
The Bobcats, with a 17-17 record under first-year coach Matt Logie, earned an automatic berth for the NCAA tourney after winning the Big Sky Conference championship last week in Boise, Idaho. MSU beat rival Montana 85-70 in the title game on March 13 at Idaho Central Arena.
𝗟𝗘𝗧'𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 🪩 pic.twitter.com/z1Sp6M8kOh
— Montana State Men’s Basketball (@MSUBobcatsMBB) March 17, 2024
Grambling State, located in Grambling, Louisiana, won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship for the first time with a 75-66 victory over Texas Southern on Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama. The Tigers, coached by Donte' Jackson, enter the NCAA tourney with a 20-14 record.
Grambling State is making its first trip to the NCAA tournament in program history. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Tigers and the Bobcats.
The Bobcats are making their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and their sixth in program history.
Last season as a No. 14 seed under coach Danny Sprinkle, MSU lost 77-65 to No. 3 Kansas State in a first-round game in Greensboro, N.C. In 2022 Sprinkle's Bobcats were also a No. 14 seed and lost in the first round to No. 3 Texas Tech, 97-62, in San Diego.
Sprinkle is now the coach at Utah State and will also take his Aggies to Indianapolis for the first round of the NCAA tournament. Utah State, which won the Mountain West Conference regular-season title, is a No. 8 seed and will play ninth-seeded TCU in the first round at 5:55 p.m. Mountain on Friday.
According to an MSU press release, ticket requests are open to priority point members until Monday at 11 a.m. Any remaining tickets will be available to the public starting 12 p.m. Student tickets are available for purchase starting Monday, at 9 a.m. by calling the Bobcat ticket office.
