Marquette's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2019 begins in Fort Worth, Texas.

Marquette (19-12), seeded No. 9 in the East Regional, will face No. 8 North Carolina (24-9) in the first round on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. on TBS.

"North Carolina is a terrific team," MU head coach Shaka Smart said. "I've seen them a bunch of times on TV. And, I think for us, we got to know that we have to be the best version of ourselves. Spend a lot of time in practice working on that, then we'll get on the plane and head down to Fort Worth."

If Marquette wins, it will face the winner of No. 1 seed Baylor and No. 16 Norfolk State Saturday.

While many of Marquette's players are playing in their first NCAA Tournament, first-year MU coach Smart is no stranger to the Big Dance.

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Smart led his VCU Rams to the Final Four in 2011. This will be the ninth NCAA appearance for Smart. His VCU team also won the CBI tournament in 2010, and he led Texas to the NIT tournament title in 2018.

In 2019 Marquette was dominated by Ja Morant and the Murray State Racers. Morant had 17 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists and the Golden Eagles bowed out of March Madness in the first round, 83-64.

Marquette's last victory in the 68-team field was in 2013 when it beat Miami, 71-61, to reach the Elite 8.

North Carolina is led by 6-foot-10 Armando Bacot (16.5 points) and 6-9 Brady Manek (14.4) down low and Caleb Love (15.4) and R.J. Davis (13.3) in the backcourt.

Bacot's rebounding poses the biggest issue for MU. He pulls down 12.5 boards per game, and the Golden Eagles have often struggled keeping foes off the glass.

"(He's) from Richmond, Virginia," Smart said. "I remember him when he was a young, young kid there. He's had a phenomenal career. He's a load. He's tough to handle around the basket. He's a heck of a rebounder.

"That's something that's always been a strength of North Carolina's over the years, offensive rebounding. So, yeah, we're going to have to eat our Wheaties. We're going to have to rebound as a group. Five guys together.

"But, again, it's about our five guys being connected around the one common cause of playing for each other. I think if we do that, we give ourselves a good chance."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette back in NCAA basketball tournament, will face North Carolina