• NCAA Interactive Bracket | PDF Bracket
The Austin Peay men's basketball team will be a No. 16 seed and face No. 1 overall seed Kansas in the First Round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The game, as part of the South Region, will be played at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday.
The game will be televised on TNT and will tip-off approxmiately at 3:00 p.m. CT. The winner of the game will advance to play either No. 8 seed Colorado or No. 9 seed UConn.
Austin Peay is playing its seventh NCAA Tournament and first since 2008. The Govs have also appeared in 1973, 1974, 1987, 1996, 2003 and 2008. The Govs are 2-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament including topping Jacksonville in 1973 and Illinois in 1987; that game was made famous by Dick Vitale promising to "stand on his head" if the Govs topped the Illini (which he did).
APSU won its final two regular season games this season to clinch the No. 8 seed in the OVC Tournament. From there the Governors won four games in four days including topping the No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in becoming the lowest-ever seed to win the OVC Tournament titles. Included in that was a thrilling 97-96 overtime victory over defending tournament champion and No. 1 seed Belmont in the semifinals. Overall Austin Peay is 18-17 on the year and were 7-9 in OVC play.
OVC teams are 24-67 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and have won games in the NCAA Tournament in four of the past seven years.
For the second-consecutive year the OVC tied its all-time record with five men's basketball teams selected for postseason play (1 NCAA, 1 NIT, 2 CIT, 1 CBI).
Austin Peay All-Time in the NCAA Tournament
1973 -
Austin Peay 77, Jacksonville 75
1973 - Kentucky 106,
Austin Peay 100 (OT)
1973 - Marquette 88,
Austin Peay 73
1974 - Notre Dame 108,
Austin Peay 73
1987 -
#14 Austin Peay 68, #3 Illinois 67
1987 - #6 Providence 90,
#14 Austin Peay 87 (OT)
1996 - #3 Georgia Tech 90,
#14 Austin Peay 70
2003 - #4 Louisville 86,
#13 Austin Peay 64
2008 - #2 Texas 82,
#15 Austin Peay 64