Oklahoma State Receives 4 Seed in NCAA Tournament, Play Liberty in First Round

The Cowboys’ three-year absence from the Big Dance is over.

Oklahoma State received a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament and will play 13th-seeded Liberty in the First Round of the tournament in Indianapolis. The game will tip Friday night at 5:25 p.m. central time on TBS.

The Cowboys were last in the NCAA Tournament after the 2016-17 season. The Pokes were a 10 seed, and Brad Underwood’s squad fell to Michigan in the First Round.

OSU’s game against Liberty will be the first time since Feb. 16 that OSU hasn’t played an opponent in the AP Top 25, breaking a streak of eight games.

It’s the third time OSU has received a 4 seed since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The most recent time was in 1995 when Big Country and the Cowboys made the Final Four. That year, OSU beat Drexel, Alabama, Wake Forest and UMass to get to Seattle.

The only other time OSU was a 4 seed was the year before that. OSU lost to Tulsa in the Round of 32 that season after beating New Mexico State in the opening round.

The Cowboys are 5-2 all-time as a 4 seed, and the Cowboys are 2-0 against 2 seeds.