Texas Southern Could Make NCAA Tournament History Tonight

NASHVILLE, TX — The Texas Southern men's basketball team has a chance to do something tonight that's never been done in the history of the NCAA Men's Division I Tournament. The Tigers have a shot at becoming the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed. It's never been done since the tournament expanded from 48 to 64 teams and 16th seeds were established.

Even better, TSU could do it despite starting the season 0-13 and entering the tournament with a losing record.

Texas Southern (16-19) will take on Xavier (22-5), the top seed in the West Region, at 6:20 p.m. tonight. The game is at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be broadcast live in TBS.

Texas Southern got into the field of 68 by winning seven straight games to close out the season, including the SWAC Tournament title. The Tigers then beat North Carolina Central, 64-46, Wednesday night in the First Four series in Dayton, Ohio.

Two of the other three 16 seeds in the tournament already lost yesterday. Radford fell to Villanova, 87-61, in the East Region and Penn lost to Kansas, 76-60, in the Midwest Region.

Later tonight, No. 16 University of Maryland-Baltimore County will play top seed Virginia in the South Region.

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(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)