Liberty men’s basketball seeded 13th, draws No. 4 Oklahoma State in NCAA opener

Liberty University’s men’s basketball team will face Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, as announced during Sunday night’s Selection Show. The Flames will be in the Midwest Region, where they will challenge the Cowboys this Friday at 6:25 p.m. EST at Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.

It will be broadcast live on TBS. The complete tournament selection bracket is available online.

All of the tournament’s games will be played in various sites in and around Indianapolis for March Madness, leading up to the April 3 Final Four and April 5 National Championship final at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

The Flames will enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 13 seed, their second highest seeding in school history, while Oklahoma State is a No. 4 seed. The winner of the Liberty vs. Oklahoma State matchup will face the victor in the game between No. 5 seed Tennessee and No. 13 seed Oregon State.

Oklahoma State put together an impressive NCAA Tournament resume, as the Cowboys have nine wins over Associated Press Top-25 squads, which leads the nation. OSU was famously a No. 4 seed when it advanced to the Final Four in 1995.

This is the second time Liberty has been sent to the Midwest Region in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In 2013, the Flames were in the Midwest Region when they played North Carolina A&T as part of the “First Four.”

The Flames are making their second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Liberty punched its ticket to the “Big Dance” by claiming the ASUN Men’s Basketball Championship title for the third straight season. Head Coach Ritchie McKay has led the Flames to their fifth straight 20-win season, which has never been done before in school history.

In 2019, McKay guided No. 12 seed Liberty to its first NCAA Tournament triumph against No. 5 seed Mississippi State before the Flames were ousted by Virginia Tech.