In game three of the First Four, the Grambling State Tigers will face the Montana State Bobcats. The game is scheduled to start at 6:40 PM ET on Wednesday evening. It will take place in Dayton, Ohio, at the University of Dayton Arena and will air on Tru TV. The winner will advance to face the Purdue Boilermakers in the Round of 64 on Friday.

The Grambling State Tigers will play their first NCAA Tournament game in school history on Wednesday after having a lengthy history of disappointing seasons at the Division 1 level, including becoming the first team in Division 1 college basketball history to be winless, which occurred in the 2012-13 college basketball season. 

The Tigers avenged last season’s championship game defeat in the SWAC Tournament. They earned their NCAA Tournament bid as an automatic qualifying team by defeating the Texas Southern Tigers in the SWAC Tournament Championship game by a score of 75-66 to become the regular and SWAC Tournament champions for the 2023-24 college basketball season after finishing with a record of 20-14 overall and 14-4 in conference play. 

The Tigers were one of the best teams at covering the spread in the SWAC and entered this game with a record of 17-14 ATS. The Grambling State Tigers will look to win their first NCAA Tournament game in their first NCAA Tournament Appearance and advance to face the Purdue Boilermakers when they face the Montana State Bobcats.

For the 3^rd consecutive season, the Montana State Bobcats will make an NCAA Tournament appearance following an 85-70 win against the Montana Grizzlies in the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship game as a 5^th seed in the conference after finishing the regular season with a record of 9-9 in conference play and a 17-17 record overall. 

In the previous two seasons, the Bobcats were eliminated in the Round of 64 with losses against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and a 65-77 loss in the 2023 NCAA Tournament against the Kansas State Wildcats. The Bobcats haven’t made it past the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament since the 1951 NCAA Tournament, in which they advanced to the Sweet 16 but lost to Oklahoma A&M (now the Oklahoma State Cowboys) by a score of 46-50. 

Like Grambling State, Montana State also has a winning ATS record of 16-15 overall. With a win against the Grambling State Tigers on Wednesday evening, the Montana State Bobcats will look to advance to the Round of 64 and face the Purdue Boilermakers.

WagerWeb lists the Montana State Bobcats as 4-point favorites against the Grambling State Tigers in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday evening. This will be the first meeting between the two programs in their history.

Both teams received an automatic qualifying bid by winning their respective conference tournaments, with Montana State winning the Big Sky Conference tournament with an 85-70 win against their rival, the Montana Grizzlies, in the championship game and the Grambling State Tigers defeating the Texas Southern Tigers in the SWAC Conference Tournament Championship by a score of 75-66. Grambling State enters this game, having won nine of their previous ten games. I look for the Tigers to be motivated to win their first NCAA Tournament game in school history on Wednesday, which is why I am taking the points with the Grambling State Tigers when they face the Montana State Bobcats in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.