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The Tennessee State men's basketball team will be a No. 15 seed and play No. 2 seed Iowa State in the First Round of the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
The game will be played Friday in St. Louis. Tip time and station will be announced later tonight. The winner will advance to play the winner of Kentucky/Santa Clara.
Tennessee State (23-9, 15-5 OVC) is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 32 years. The Tigers appeared in the 1993 and 1994 Tournaments, falling to Seton Hall and Kentucky. Those teams featured two-time OVC Player of the Year and future First Round (11th overall) NBA Draft Pick Carlos Rogers.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Nolan Smith, the Tigers finished OVC play 15-5, sharing the OVC regular season title with Morehead State; it was the first title for the Tigers since the 1994-95 season.
TSU then won two games in the OVC Tournament, including setting OVC Tournament Championship Game records for points (93) and margin of victory (26). The team's 23 overall victories this season are the most of the program's Division I history.
Iowa State (27-7, 12-6 Big 12) tied for third in the Big 12 regular season before losing to Arizona in the conference tournament semifinals.
OVC teams are 27-76 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including picking up three victories in the past six tournaments.