Kevin Puryear battles for the ball at the SEC Tournament in St. Louis (photo/Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

The Missouri Tigers earned the 8-seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament and will open play against 9-seed Florida State on Friday in Nashville.  The approximate tip-off time is 8:45 p.m. CT.  If Mizzou wins they will advance to a Sunday game most likely against 1-seed Xavier.

Mizzou head coach Cuonzo Martin confirmed that senior Jordan Barnett will be suspended for the game on Friday, following his arrest this past Saturday for DWI.  Martin said Barnett will travel with the team and has not made a decision beyond the Tigers first-round game.

Watch Cuonzo Martin:

Mizzou is one of eight SEC teams to make the tournament, the second most of any conference.  The ACC led all conferences with nine. Florida State is one of those teams.

The Seminoles were 20-11 and 9-9 in ACC play. Florida State will have just as much motivation for this win as Missouri.  They were knocked out of last year’s tournament in the second round after losing to Xavier.

Cuonzo on making the 8-seed

Martin has now led three different programs to NCAA Tournament appearances, becoming the 59th different head coach to do so after his prior trips with Tennessee (NCAA Sweet 16, 2013-14) and California (NCAA First Round, 2015-16).

Mizzou’s selection to this season’s Big Dance is the 27th in program history. Martin is the third first-year Mizzou head coach all-time to lead the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament appearance, with Quin Snyder and Frank Haith accomplishing the feat in 2000 and 2012, respectively.

Kevin Puryear, Kassius Robertson and Jontay Porter comment on their NCAA bid