COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the second time in four seasons and the 28th time in school history, Mizzou Basketball is playing in the Big Dance, as the Tigers are the No. 9 seed in the West Region of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The No. 9 seeded Tigers (16-9) will square off against former conference rival and No. 8 seed Oklahoma (15-11) on Saturday. Tipoff and the site of the Tigers’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018 will be released by the NCAA. The winner of the MU-OU game will face off against the winner of the game between the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed Gonzaga (26-0) and the First Four game winner between No. 16 seeds Appalachian State and Norfolk State on Monday, March 22.
Mizzou Head Coach Cuonzo Martin has guided three different programs to the NCAA Tournament, and in 2018 became the 59th different head coach to achieve that feat when he guided the Tigers to the 2018 NCAA Tournament against Florida State after leading Tennessee (NCAA Sweet 16, 2013-14) and California (NCAA First Round, 2015-16) to March Madness, too. All-told, he is making his ninth postseason appearance in 13 seasons as a head coach.
The Tigers are the No. 9 seed for the fifth time in program history, last playing on that seed line during the 2013 NCAA Tournament, when Mizzou dropped an 84-72 decision to eighth-seeded Colorado State in Lexington, Ky. Mizzou is 1-4 overall playing as the No. 9 seed, losing to No. 8 Lamar in 1981, 71-67, at Austin, Texas, and No. 8 North Carolina, 84-70, in 2000 at Birmingham, Ala., before going 1-1 in 2001 with a 70-68 win over No. 8 Georgia and a 94-81 loss to No. 1 Duke in Greensboro, N.C.
Mizzou’s placement in the West Regional marks the fourth time in its last five (and 10th in its last 15) NCAA Tournament appearances that the Tigers have been shipped West from a bracketology standpoint. The Tigers’ matchup with Oklahoma will mark the first meeting between the programs since Nov. 26, 2019, when the Sooners claimed a 77-66 victory in Kansas City, as part of the Hall of Fame Classic at the T-Mobile Center. Oklahoma holds a 114-97 edge in the series, which began on February 16, 1916, with a 50-20 Mizzou win in Columbia, and the Sooners are 17-14 against the Tigers on neutral courts.
Mizzou is 8-4 during the 2020-21 campaign against teams in the NCAA Tournament field and the Tigers beat six conference champions during an impressive regular season, including wins over Illinois, Alabama, Oregon, Wichita State, Liberty and Oral Roberts. Mizzou went an undefeated 6-0 during nonconference play and heads into the tournament with three wins over Top 10 teams in the same season for the first time since 2011-12.
Mizzou is one of 13 teams nationally with seven Quad 1 victories. Only eight teams nationally have more Quad 1 wins than the Tigers. Mizzou will boast the third-most experienced squad among the 68-team 2021 NCAA Tournament field (Texas, UCLA).
The NCAA announced in early January the entire 2021 men’s basketball championship will be played in Indiana, with the majority of the tournament’s 67 games taking place in Indianapolis, culminating with the Final Four, April 3-5. Games will be played on two courts inside Lucas Oil Stadium, as well as Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Mackey Arena in West Lafayette and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Only one game at a time will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Teams will practice at the Indiana Convention Center with multiple courts set up inside the venue. All teams will be housed on dedicated hotel floors, with physically distanced meeting and dining rooms, as well as secure transportation to and from competition venues.
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