Video & Reaction: Mississippi State Ready to Host NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State will be “Dancing” in Starkville.

The Bulldogs earned a No. 5 seed for the second-straight season and were selected to host the opening two rounds at Humphrey Coliseum for the first time in program history.

Tickets for the tournament are on sale now online at www.hailstate.com/tickets or by phone at 1-888-GO-DAWGS.

MSU opens against Chattanooga Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. No. 4 seed Michigan State faces Belmont in the first game at 11 a.m. CT.

(Photo Courtesy: Kelly Price, MSU Athletics)

Mississippi State earned the hosting opportunity after putting together a stellar 2015-16 season that saw Vic Schaefer’s squad post a 26-7 overall record and 11-5 SEC mark.

MSU finished tied for second in the SEC, the best conference finish in program history, and knocked off Vanderbilt and Tennessee to reach the SEC Tournament championship game for the second time in program annals.

The Bulldogs enter this weekend’s tournament one win from matching last year’s squad for the most victories in program history.

Mississippi State was one of a nation’s-best nine SEC teams to make the field, and one of four league teams tabbed to host.

State was placed in the Bridgeport, Connecticut, region. The winner of MSU’s pod will go on to face the winner of the Storrs region between top-seeded UConn, Robert Morris, Seton Hall and Duquesne.

The Bulldogs earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids for the first time since the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

This year’s berth is State’s eighth overall, with MSU compiling a 7-7 all-time record in the tournament.

Friday’s game will be the sixth meeting all-time against Chattanooga but the first since 1993. The Bulldogs lead the series 3-2, including 2-1 in Starkville.

Mississippi State and Michigan State have only met once previously, a 63-53 decision claimed by the Bulldogs in 1987 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Bulldogs and Belmont have faced off three times previously, with the Bulldogs claiming two of the meetings. The last time the teams met was 2007, a 66-51 victory for MSU in Nashville.