NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State men's basketball team is set to compete in the ninth annual Emerald Coast Classic on November 24-25 at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida, according to an announcement made by Global Sports on Tuesday.

The Tigers will face off against Mercer in the opening game at 11 a.m. CT. Depending on the outcome, they will go on to compete against either Southeastern Louisiana or Western Michigan in the championship/third-place game on November 25 at either 10 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. The bracket and pairings were also revealed for the evening bracket, which includes Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, and Santa Clara. Prior to the Post-Thanksgiving event in Florida, each school from both brackets will play an on-campus game.

TSU finished with an 18-14 record last season and set multiple program record, including the addition of the Ohio Valley Conference's first-ever five-time All-OVC player in Jr. Clay. TSU led the OVC in total home attendance with 47,472 fans, averaging 2,792 per game. The opening night attendance against Fisk ranked as the sixth-best turnout at the Gentry Center with 8,967 fans. The team tied its Division I record for most home wins with 13 and achieved a new best with six home wins during nonconference play, the most during the modern-OVC era. TSU finished in second place in the mid-season SoCal Challenge with Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. claiming a spot on the All-Tournament team. Graduate Dedric Boyd tied Darryl Brooks' record with nine made three-pointers. From late January into February, TSU had a five-game winning streak, the longest under Collins and the most since 2017-18. The Tigers reached the century mark scoring in a conference game for the first time in a decade, scoring 100 points, and Clay became just the third Tiger to score 40 points at the Gentry Center in a win over SIUE.

The 2023-24 Tigers return starters Fitzgerald, Justin Williams and Christian Brown while welcoming three-star recruit point guard Jaylen Jones out of East Nashville Magnet and transfers Kinyon Hodges from Eastern Illinois, Jason Jitoboh from Florida, Denim Dawson from Nebraska and E.J. Bellinger Jr. and Michael Shanks from Belmont. Jitoboh, Bellinger and Hodges will have one season of eligibility as graduate students while Dawson and Shanks has multiple seasons remaining. 

Mercer, representing the SoCon, concluded the season with a 14-19 record under the leadership of 5th-year head coach Greg Gary. The eighth-seeded Bears were eliminated by Furman in the second round of last season's SoCON Tournament. Key player Jayln McCreary, a transfer from South Carolina and South Florida, led Mercer with an average of 15.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Additionally, Mercer's roster will see the addition of transfers Jalen Cobb from Fordham and Robby Carmody from Notre Dame. The Bears will face Alabama in the on-campus games prior to the Florida event. Mercer previously defeated TSU 60-68 in their only meeting on March 13, 2013, as part of the defunct ESPN Bracket Buster event.

This will be Western Michigan's second appearance in the Emerald Coast Classic, falling in the championship game in 2018 against Nicholls State. The Broncos faced challenges last season with only eight wins and will be without their top two scorers. Head coach Dwayne Stephens, entering his second season in Kalamazoo after 19 seasons as an assistant to Tom Izzo at Michigan State, will lead the team. The Broncos will travel to Ohio State to take on the Buckeyes on November 19. Tennessee State was previously defeated by Western Michigan 63-52 on November 11, 2013, as part of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Rainbow Classic.

Southeastern Louisiana, coming off an 18-win season and an early exit in the Southland Conference Tournament, will be led by fifth-year head coach David Kiefer. With back-to-back 19 and 18 win seasons, the Lions retain three of their top four leading scorers from last season. The Lions will face Santa Clara on November 18. TSU has faced Southeastern Louisiana nine times dating back to the 1972-73 season.

In the evening bracket, Alabama will face Ohio State in a semifinal round game at 6 p.m. on November 24, while Oregon will play against Santa Clara at 8:30 p.m. The third-place game is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 25, with the championship game set to tip off at 6 p.m. on the same day.

Tickets for the tournament will go on sale later this summer. For more information, please visit the tournament website at www.emeraldcoastclassic.com. Global Sports has organized 52 multi-team college basketball tournaments since 2007.