Trending
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Texas A&M-Corpus Christi guard Trevian Tennyson got a taste of the pomp and star treatment at last year's First Four and wanted more.
The Islanders lost their 2022 play-in game to Texas Southern, which notched its second First Four victory in a row.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-10) has won 12 of its last 13, including the Southland Conference tournament. This time in the First Four, they face the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State, a team that had a losing record before winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the first time in 23 years.
For the Redhawks, it was the first winning season in nine years.
THESE GUYS AGAIN
Texas Southern is as close to a First Four regular as the annual play-in event can claim.
The Tigers return to the event for the third straight year and fifth time overall, facing off Wednesday night against Fairleigh Dickinson (17-15), the New Jersey school that won a First Four game in 2019 and is just a year removed from a 4-22 finish.
Texas Southern's fifth-year coach, Johnny Jones, is 3-0 in the First Four since taking over in 2018. The Tigers come to Dayton this time with a losing record (14-20) but earned the postseason berth by sweeping through the Southwest Conference tournament, beating second-seeded Grambling State in the final.
DIFFERENT STYLES
Mississippi State and Pitt should be an intriguing matchup because their strengths are so different.
Mississippi State (21-12) is the worst 3-point shooting team in college basketball. Expect the Bulldogs, just 8-10 in the SEC, to try to get to the rim and try to clamp down on Pitt with excellent perimeter defense.
The Panthers (22-11) can make the mid-range and long jumpers but don't play as well inside, and they aren't as good defensively.
FAMILIAR FACES
Arizona State (22-12) beat Oregon State and USC in the Pac-12 tournament before being routed in the semifinal by No. 8 Arizona, a team the Sun Devils had bested Feb. 25.
They did so in no small part because of forward Warren Washington and Desmond Cambridge Jr., a fifth-year guard who led the team with 13.7 points per game.
Both players transferred from Nevada -- the team Arizona State will face in Wednesday's late game.