The Missouri State Bears will have to “defend no matter what,” to reach their goal of advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years.
The Bears open play Friday afternoon in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, needing to win three games in three days to make it to “The Big Dance.”
MSU is seeded fourth in the tournament, and will take on the fifth seeded Bradley Braves at 2:35 p.m.
The Bears were preseason pick to finish eighth in the conference under first year Head Coach Dana Ford, but still had a chance for a #1 seed going into the final day of the regular season last Saturday.
MSU was pushed into the fourth slot with its loss to Drake and Loyola’s win over Bradley.
