Following its Cinderella run in the Mid-American Conference tournament, conference champion Ohio punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament, where it will take on Michigan State this Friday at 6 p.m.
Ohio was granted an automatic bid with its conference championship and will be faced with a difficult task in beating one of the best teams in the Big Ten in round one of the tournament.
Ohio is the only team from the MAC to make the tournament this season. This will be Ohio’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament, making its tournament debut alongside three other schools who have also never made an appearance up until this season.
Ohio will be making its NCAA Tournament debut unseeded, going against No. 5 seed Michigan State in the first round. Other notable teams from Ohio’s bracket region are No. 1 seed BYU and No. 4 seed Harvard.
According to Ohio forward Scout Murray, the team couldn’t have been happier following its dramatic MAC Championship win.
“(We were) just very, very happy, and just like on the way back, we were all saying, ‘We can’t even think about doing homework,'” Murray said. “We’re all just so happy and can’t stop talking about it and watching the game. It’s just been amazing.”
Ohio will have to pull off its biggest upset of the season to make it out of the first round of the NCAA tournament, but according to coach Aaron Rodgers, the team’s relaxed demeanor is a significant advantage.
“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Rodgers said.
