KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Thursday March 3, the NAIA announced the 64-team bracket for the Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round. Missouri Baptist was named as the 12-seed in Liston quadrant and will play LSU-Shreveport in the first game on March 11 in Alexandria, La.
 
The Spartans are back in the National Tournament for the first time since 2019 and fourth time in program history. In the third season under Head Coach Preston Ingram, MBU went 26-5 and earned the AMC's Regular Season and Postseason titles.
 
The Pilots of LSU-Shreveport had an equally impressive season, winning the Red River Athletic Conference East Division in the regular season as well as the RRAC's Postseason Tournament Title. LSU-S earned the fifth seed in the Liston quadrant with a 23-7 overall record. They were ranked 21^st in the final Top 25 Coaches' Poll released on February 23.
 
The Spartans and Pilots will tip off at 7:30 on Friday at the Rapides Parish Coliseum in Alexandria. The University of Science and Arts (USAO) will face site hosts LSU-Alexandria in the first game of the night at 5:30. The winners of the two games will square off on Saturday at 5:30 for the right to advance to the final site on March 17 in Kansas City.
 
For those unable to make the trip to the Bayou, Friday's game will be streamed ($) by LSU-Alexandria at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/lsua/ and a free audio broadcast will be available with analysts Kevin Paulus and Paul Ellis on the call on the Spartan Digital Network.

Be sure to follow @MBUBasketball and @MBUAthletics on Twitter for all the up-to-the-minute National Tournament info. For a look at the full tournament bracket visit https://bit.ly/MBBNAIABRACKET.