By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
For the second time in three years of the Dennis Gates era, and the 30th time in program history, the Missouri men's basketball team is in the NCAA tournament.
The Tigers earned the sixth seed in the West Region and will head to Wichita, Kansas on Thursday to take on former Northwest Missouri State coach Ben McCollum and the 11th seeded Drake Bulldogs. Missouri was one of 14 schools from the SEC to earn a tournament berth.
Missouri is fresh off a 95-81 loss in the SEC Tournament to the Florida Gators, the eventual champions of the tournament. Drake meanwhile are the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions, defeating Bradley 63-48.
There will be plenty of local connection in this matchup, aside from McCollum. The Bulldogs feature four former Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, including Missouri Valley Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz. Also off the bench is a high school standout from Plattsburg, Isaia Howard.
Missouri and Drake are scheduled to tipoff at 6:35pm in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. The game will be broadcast on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
In the same region as the Tigers are the Kansas Jayhawks who were given the seven seed. The Jayhawks will face John Calipari and the tenth seeded Arkansas Razorbacks. That game will tipoff Thursday at 6:10pm and will be televised on CBS.
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