MSU Alumni Club of the San Francisco Bay Area

From Freep.com

Michigan State, the No. 5 seed in the South region, will travel to Denver and play the Temple Owls in the NCAA tournament on Thursday.

The Owls, 21-12, won the Atlantic 10 tournament Saturday in a 69-64 win over St. Joesph’s.

The Spartans are 5-6 against Temple but beat the Owls in 2001 en route to their third consecutive Final Four.

This is the first NCAA tournament bid for Temple since 2001 and the 26th overall in school history.

This is the 11th straight tournament bid for Tom Izzo and the Spartans, the fifth-longest streak in the nation. MSU lost to North Carolina in the second round last year.

If Michigan State beats the Owls, it will meet either No. 4 seed Pittsburgh (26-9) or No. 13 Oral Roberts (24-8) on Saturday.

Pittsburgh won the Big East tournament Saturday night, while Oral Roberts won the Summit League.