Mississippi State is headed way out west to play the University of Washington on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

MSU (23-12) beat Tennessee 64-61 Sunday afternoon to win the Southeastern Conference tournament championship in Tampa, Fla. No. 13-ranked Washington (25-8), which won the Pac-10 regular-season championship, lost in the league tournament semifinals last week to Arizona State.

Washington is a No. 4 seed in the West bracket, which features top seed Connecticut and No. 2 seed Memphis.

The other No. 1 seeds: Pittsburgh (East), Louisville (Midwest) and North Carolina (South).

It appeared that Mississippi State, Tennessee (21-12) and regular-season league champion LSU (26-7) would be the only SEC teams to make the 65-team NCAA field.

Had MSU not beaten the Vols, the SEC might have gotten only two teams into the big dance.

It’s the second consecutive season for the Bulldogs to reach the NCAAs. They beat Oregon 76-69 in the first round of the South Regional last season and lost 77-74 to eventual national runner-up Memphis in the second round.

The best NCAA tourney run in MSU history was the 1996 trip to the Final Four, where the Bulldogs lost to Syracuse in the national semifinals.