The Missouri State Bears will travel to Eastern Michigan from the Mid-American Conference on Saturday, Feb. 23 in the 2013 Ramada BracketBusters event, ESPN announced Monday (Feb. 4). The game will be a 3:30 p.m. (Central), tipoff from the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich.
MSU (7-16) is ranked No. 203 in this week's NCAA RPI report, up 22 spots from a week ago. The Bears will take on an EMU club that was picked to finish second in the Mid-American Conference West Division in 2012-13. The Eagles currently sit third in the MAC West with a 3-4 record and a 10-11 overall mark. Rob Murphy's club is ranked 224th in Monday's RPI report with senior guard Derek Thompson (11.5 ppg, 48 3-pointers) leading the charge for EMU, which is 10-2 at home.
The 2013 Ramada BracketBusters series will include 61 games with schools from 13 conferences. Just 13 games were selected for the ESPN national spotlight to be televised on ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU, Feb. 22-23.
Missouri State is 4-5 all-time in the BracketBusters series, which began in 2003. Old Dominion defeated the Bears at JQH Arena, 73-67, a year ago. Eastern Michigan will return this year's game with a visit to JQH Arena during the 2013-14 season.
In the only previous meeting between the Bears and Eagles, MSU scored a 75-61 victory at JQH Arena on Nov. 22, 2009 in the finals of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge in Springfield. Nafis Ricks and Caleb Patterson scored 13 points apiece for the Bears in that contest.
MSU, which has won two of its last three, begins a two-game Valley road swing Tuesday at Northern Iowa at 7 p.m.
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