NEW ORLEANS -- Chris Beard enjoyed Sunday's NCAA Tournament Selection program more than some he has seen.
During Beard's decade as an assistant to Bob and Pat Knight at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders were sometimes waiting for an at-large bid, which can be a tension-filled situation.
Beard preferred how he and his UALR players watched Sunday's show.
The Trojans gathered in a lounge area at Lakefront Arena to await the unveiling of the 68-team field, about three hours after clinching a bid with a 70-50 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in Sunday's Sun Belt Tournament final.
They waited, and waited a bit more before UALR (29-4) was unveiled as a No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region about one hour into the show.
[GALLERY: Click here for photos from UALR's win over Louisiana-Monroe]
The Trojans will play No. 5 seed Purdue (26-8) at 3:30 p.m. Central on Thursday in Denver. The game will be televised by TBS.
"This was a deal where we knew we had an invite to the party, we were just waiting to see when the door would open," Beard said. "The deal where you're just trying to get into the party, that's a whole different level of tension."
UALR will be playing a Purdue team that made a run at eventual No. 2 seed Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament final on Sunday, falling 66-62.
Purdue, ranked 13th in the most recent Associated Press poll, finished tied for third place in the final Big Ten standings. Beard said he's watched Purdue a bit this season because he's friends with Coach Matt Painter, but doesn't know much else.
"Obviously, they've got a lot of tradition and good players," he said. "It's going to be a challenge for us, but it's been a big challenge all year. So I think our guys will embrace it."
Senior guard Josh Hagins said he knows one thing for sure.
"They're huge," Hagins said of the Boilermakers. "We'll go back and watch some film this week and try to develop a game plan for it."
The Boilermakers are led by 7-0 Center A.J. Hammonds, who averages 15.1 points and 7.9 rebounds, 6-8 forward Vince Edwards, who averages 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds and 6-9 forward Caleb Swanigan, who averages 10.3 points and 8.3 rebounds.
The Trojans earned their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance by beating Louisiana-Monroe in the Sun Belt Tournament final on Sunday at Lakefront Arena. A live look-in on CBS showed Trojans celebrating when their logo was finally shown.
A version of the bracket made its way online while the telecast was far from over, but Beard said he didn't see it.
The 12 seed is the highest the Trojans have received in five Tournament appearances. The Trojans were No. 16 seeds in their two previous tournaments, in 2011 and 1990, a No. 13 in 1989 and a No. 14 in 1986. UALR's only tournament victory came as a 13-seed over Notre Dame in 1986.
A victory over Purdue moves UALR into Saturday's round of 32, where the Trojans would face the winner of No. 4 Iowa State (21-11)-No. 13 Iona (22-10). Hagins said they'll prepare this week with sights set on meeting one of those opponents, too.
"Our intentions this year was not just to get there and stop," he said. "Our whole thing was to just keep playing. Coach always talks about playing meaningful games in March, and that's what he's talking about."
Sports on 03/14/2016