The 2018 MEAC Men's Basketball Tournament Champion North Carolina Central Eagles will open up NCAA Tournament action in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday evening as they'll face Texas Southern of the Southwestern Athletic Conference at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday's contest, which is known as the First Four, marks the second consecutive year the Eagles will open in Dayton. The contest will be televised live on truTV.

Since 2008, North Carolina Central holds a 6-2 record over teams from the SWAC as the Eagles defeated Southern University this season. Texas Southern is 3-2 against MEAC teams dating back to 2014 as Delaware State was its last MEAC opponent in 2016.

Wednesday's game marks the third NCAA Tournament appearance in school history for NCCU as the Eagles have played Iowa State (2014) and UC Davis (2017).

The winner of the No. 16 NCCU/TSU match-up will advance to play No. 1 seed Xavier on Friday, March 16 in Nashville, Tenn.