'First Four' Play-In Game: TU Awarded Shot At March Madness

The University of Tulsa will take on Michigan at approximately 8:10 pm Wednesday in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four in Dayton, Ohio. The winner will be awarded the No. 11 seed in the East region, and will play No. 6 seed Notre Dame Friday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. 

This is the second NCAA tournament appearance for Tulsa in the past three seasons. Tulsa lost to UCLA in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament under former head coach Danny Manning.

Frank Haith, TU's head coach, said the team's record earned its invitation.

"We beat all the top teams.  Last year, we didn't beat Cincinnati.  We only played them one time," he said.  "So all the top teams, we had wins against them.  Our RPI, strength of schedule was on par with all the other teams.  You just hope that the committee would value what we've done." 

Michigan is 22-12 on the season, with a 10-8 record in the Big Ten conference. Tulsa is 20-11, and coming off an 89-67 loss to Memphis in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament.

This is the 16th NCAA Tournament in school history for the University of Tulsa.