Alcorn State, Siena Start It

For the second consecutive year, the NCAA has its two lowest seeds playing for the 64th spot in the tournament as Siena takes on Alcorn State tonight.

The winner will catch a flight to Washington to play No. 1 Maryland on Friday.

The play-in format returned last season when the number of automatic bids expanded.

Siena (16-18) won four games in four days on its home floor to get the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s automatic bid. The Saints are the 16th team to make the NCAA tournament with a losing record.

Alcorn State (21-9), which won the regular-season and tournament championships in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, has already won a couple of NCAA play-in games in Dayton, beating Xavier in 1983 and Houston Baptist a year later.

“I won both of those games on this floor,” said 26th-year Coach Dave Whitney. “I’m hoping that this floor will be just as good to us.”