WAC Tournament champion New Mexico State and WAC regular season title holder Utah State will both be participating in the year's NCAA Tournament as NM State received the WAC's automatic bid to the dance, while Utah State received an at-large bid to play in this year's event. Both teams will be playing first/second round games in Spokane, Wash.

After winning its second WAC Tournament Championship, the New Mexico State men’s basketball team meets No. 11 Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Friday, March 19 in Spokane, Wash.

The Aggies are a No. 12 seed (22-11, 11-5 WAC) in the Midwest Regional while the Spartans are a No. 5 seed (24-8, 14-4 Big Ten). NM State is making its 18th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history after winning the 2010 WAC Tournament with a 69-63 victory over Utah State, March 13. Michigan State enters the tournament after a 72-67 overtime loss to Minnesota, March 12. This is the first meeting between the Aggies and Spartans.

For the seventh time in the last 11 years, Utah State men's basketball will be playing in the NCAA Tournament when 12th-seeded USU will take on fifth-seeded Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA South Regional on Friday, March 19 at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash. Times will be announced Sunday night or Monday morning.

Utah State (27-7 overall, 14-2 WAC) is making it second-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, as well as its seventh in the last 11 years and eighth in the last 13 years. Overall, USU is making its 19th NCAA Tournament appearance. Last season, 11th-seeded Utah State lost to sixth-seeded Marquette, 58-57, in Boise, Idaho, in the first round.

This is USU's second time as a No. 12 seed in the last three appearances as well as fifth time overall since the NCAA started seedings in 1980. Utah State made three-straight NCAA appearances as a No. 12 seed in 1998, 2000 and 2001, along with 2006.

Utah State is coming off its third-straight regular-season Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship, losing to New Mexico State in the WAC Tournament championship game, 69-63, Saturday night in Reno, Nev., snapping USU's 17-game win streak and denying it of a second-straight regular-season/tournament championship sweep.

Tickets for the NCAA Tournament are available Monday, March 15 at 1 p.m. through the Pan American Center ticket office at 575-646-1420.