It will be the first meeting between in the two schools in men's basketball. OBU last played a team from Mississippi since the 1972 national tournament when they beat Alcorn.
Belhaven comes into the game with 16-16 record and earned their trip to Kansas City by reaching the finals of the Southern States Athletic Conference, where they lost 89-71 to top-ranked Shorter.
The Blazers are led in scoring by 6-6 forward Daryl Arnold, averaging 14.6 points per game. Belhaven shot 42 percent from the field in their 32 games, hitting 29 percent from three-point range and 63 percent from the free throw line.
Their most impressive win was a 69-64 victory over No. 6 Martin Methodist.
OBU is ranked second heading into the contest with a 28-4 record.
If the Bison win the opening round game, they will get Thursday off and play the 6:15 p.m. game on Friday against Columbia or Montana State-Northern. Columbia will be a crowd favorite and owns a 26-6 record. MSU-N is 27-8 this season.
If OBU continues to win, they would play at 6 p.m., Saturday. Their semifinal game would be 8 p.m., Monday, with the championship game set for 7 p.m., Tuesday.
Other schools in OBU's quadrant are Our Lady of the Lake, Baker, Campbellsville and Biola.
Four other Sooner Athletic Conference schools made the tournament. Only Southern Nazarene is in OBU's half of the bracket. They play Martin Methodist at 4:30 p.m., Thursday. Robert Morris is the favorite of that quarter-bracket.
In the top bracket, Rogers State opens the tournament with a 9 a.m., Wednesday game against Tougaloo. Top-ranked Shorter is the favorite of that quarter-bracket.
In the second quadrant, Oklahoma Christian plays Concordia at 12:30 p.m., Thursday. John Brown plays at 2:15 p.m., Thursday, against Montana Western. OC and JBU would meet in the second round if both win their games.
