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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Say, Drake, we hear you like ’em drivable.

The Missouri men’s basketball team got a favorable geographic draw out of Sunday’s NCAA Tournament bracket reveal but a tough opponent.

The matchup: No. 6 seed Mizzou against No. 11 seed Drake, the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champion, taking place Thursday in Wichita, Kansas. Tipoff is set for 6:35 p.m., with the game to be televised on TruTV.

The sales pitch, immediately delivered by Tigers coach Dennis Gates to the few hundred fans inside Mizzou Arena for a selection show watch party: “It’s drivable. Be there.�

MU (22-11, 10-8 Southeastern Conference), might need a strong contingent of fans to trek across the border. The Bulldogs (30-3, 17-3 MVC) are considered one of the best mid-major teams in the country. They have wins over Vanderbilt — against which Missouri went 1-1 this season — and Kansas State on their resume.

The Tigers last played Drake in the 1987-88 season, winning 76-74 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The winner will face the victor of the game between No. 3 seed Texas Tech (25-8, 15-5 Big 12) and No. 14 seed North Carolina Wilmington (27-7, 14-4 Coastal Athletic Association). That second round contest is set for Saturday.

Missouri landed in the West Regional, which means any Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight games will take place in San Francisco. The Final Four will be hosted in San Antonio, Texas.

It'll be the Tigers' 30th NCAA Tournament appearance and the third time they enter with a No. 6 seed, joining the 2002-03 and 1987-88 seasons.

Playing in Wichita will be a homecoming for Tigers guard Caleb Grill, a graduate who is in his final season. He was a four-sport athlete at Maize High School there, and his dad played basketball at Wichita State. Yet Grill has never played inside Intrust Bank Arena, the 15,000-capacity site of NCAA Tournament games.

“It’s exciting,� Grill said after the announcement, “just because of the amount of miles that my mom and dad and brothers put in (driving to his games from Wichita). … Having them be able to have a game close to them and where I’ve got to travel to them, that’s what I’m more excited about, more than anything.�

The venue also is close to home for guard Tamar Bates, forward Mark Mitchell and forward Aidan Shaw, all of whom hail from the Kansas side of the Kansas City area.

Preparation for Thursday’s matchup against Drake began almost immediately after the Tigers left the floor following Sunday’s reveal. Mizzou’s assistant coaches went straight into a planning meeting, divvying up scouting and game plan duties. Two take on a defensive focus, two take on the offense and the entire staff convenes to iron out the details.

“They’ll have their perspective on it, and then it’ll be my finishing touches,� Gates said.

Drake is led by guard Bennett Stirtz, who averaged more than 39 minutes per game this season, scoring 19.1 points per game on 49.3% shooting from the field. He also put up 5.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.

Ben McCollum is in his first year as the Bulldogs’ coach after making the jump from Division II Northwest Missouri State. His current team includes four transfers who followed him from the D-II ranks.

“I don't care what anybody says about talent, and I think we got plenty of talent, but tough kids win championships,� McCollum said after Drake won the MVC tournament, held recently in St. Louis. “That's what they do.�

Mizzou, as previously promised, still pledges to take its opponent seriously — even if favored to advance as the higher seed.

“It’s a first-round game and anything can happen,� Gates said. “Rankings and bids and all that other stuff doesn’t matter. All teams are capable of winning games.�

Missouri is among the 14 SEC teams invited to the 68-team field, which is a record. Gates has been lobbying for that many to make the cut.

“It’s unbelievable, but we kind of expected it,� Gates said. “I’m thankful that the committee made that decision.�

Mizzou wound up as the No. 23 overall seed in the tournament, sandwiched between Illinois and Mississippi. After finishing seventh in the SEC in the regular season, the Tigers are also the seventh-highest-seeded team from the league.

And while Gates made sure to underscore the 4 hours it takes to drive from Columbia to Wichita, he mostly talked after the reveal about being grateful to make the Big Dance for the second time in his three seasons with the Tigers.

“They could have said our site is going to be on the moon, right?� Gates said. “We will be thankful.�