MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State was rewarded for a successful season on Sunday night, as the Wildcats earned their 32nd overall bid to the NCAA Tournament, including the first under head coach Jerome Tang.
No. 12/12 K-State (23-9, 11-7 Big 12) was selected as the No. 3 seed in the East Regional and will travel to Greensboro, N.C., to play No. 14 seed Montana State (25-9, 15-3 Big Sky) in the first round on Friday, March 17 at the Greensboro Coliseum. The winner will advance to play the winner of the No. 6 seed Kentucky (21-11, 12-6 SEC) and No. 11 seed Providence (21-11, 13-7 BIG EAST) on Sunday, March 19.
K-State and Montana State will tip off at 8:40 p.m., CT (9:40 p.m., ET) on CBS with Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel and Evan Washburn on the call. It will be proceeded by the Kentucky-Providence game, which is set for 6:10 p.m., CT (7:10 p.m., CT), also on CBS.
A limited number of first and second round tickets remain in the K-State allotment and are now available to request until 11:59 p.m., CT tonight. All requests will be assigned in order of Ahearn Fund priority points. Fans with orders that cannot be filled will be notified by 10 a.m., CT tomorrow. Ticket requests are for both the first and second rounds and only the sessions in which K-State plays. Tickets are priced at $100 for lower-level tickets and $80 for upper-level locations for each session. Fans can request tickets by clicking here.
K-State was the No. 11 overall seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, including third among the four No. 3 seeds (trailing Baylor and Gonzaga). The No. 3 seed is the second highest by a Wildcat team since seeding began in 1979 and the highest since the 2010 team was selected as a No. 2 seed.
The Wildcats will be joined at the venue by No. 3 seed Xavier (25-9), No. 6 seed Iowa State (19-13), No. 14 Kennesaw State (26-8) and the winner of the First Four matchup between No. 11 seeds Mississippi State (21-12) and Pittsburgh (22-11) of the Midwest Regional. The top seed in the East Regional are No. 1 seed Purdue (29-5), No. 2 seed Marquette (28-6), No. 3 seed K-State, No. 4 seed Tennessee (23-10), No. 5 seed Duke (26-8), No. 6 seed Kentucky (21-11) and No. 7 seed Michigan State (19-12).
K-State is making its 39th postseason appearance, which includes 32 in the NCAA Tournament and seven in the Postseason NIT. The Wildcats advance to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 16 seasons, including the first time since 2019. The program has now advanced to the postseason 12 times in the last 17 seasons (10 trips to NCAA Tournament and two to the NIT). The 32 overall bids rank 22nd nationally, including fourth among Big 12 schools (Kansas [51], Texas [37] and Oklahoma [33]).
In its last NCAA appearance, the No. 4 seed K-State lost to No. 13 seed UC Irvine, 70-64, in the first round of the NCAA South Regional at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
