NCAA Tournament Bracket: PDF | Interactive
St. Norbert Site InformationST. PAUL – For the first time in five years, the University of Northwestern men's basketball team will open the NCAA Division III Tournament on a neutral court. The Eagles drew local foe University of St. Thomas as their first round opponent, with the game taking place Friday afternoon at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. All four of UNW's past first round opponents – three of which went on to be the national champion – had hosted the Eagles on their home courts.
The Tommies, winner of both the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular season and tournament championships, were ranked No. 6 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll and will enter this weekend with a 24-3 record. St. Thomas received the MIAC's automatic qualifier after defeating Bethel University 66-63 on Sunday afternoon. St. Thomas features four players who average 10 or more points per game with senior Marcus Alipate leading the way with 13.3 points per game and a 46.8 three-point success rate this season. Fellow senior Conner Nord has over 1,000 career points and 600 career rebounds to his name. Fourth-year head coach John Tauer has guided the Tommies to a 98-18 overall record. Tauer has the rare distinction of competing in the Division III national semifinals as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
Northwestern, who won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season and tournament titles, is currently 18-9 and has won a program-record 16 straight games dating back to January 10. That streak includes a 68-39 victory over the University of Minnesota Morris on Saturday that earned the Eagles the UMAC's automatic qualifying ticket into the NCAA postseason. UNW has won three consecutive UMAC regular season championships, with
Tim Grosz's teams winning 12 league titles in the head coach's 15-year tenure.
Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) is UNW's leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points per game. The junior has made 45 percent of his overall attempts and 42.7 percent of his 185 shots from behind the three-point line.
Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) has contributed 10.4 points per game this season, with
Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) and
Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy) both averaging 9.8 and 8.2 points per game. Janson was named the UMAC Tournament most valuable player after averaging 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the two-game postseason event.
The last time UNW matched up against St. Thomas was in 2011 in the Eagles' first-ever NCAA Tournament game, which resulted in a 70-60 UST victory in St. Paul. Northwestern is 1-9 all-time against the Toms, who won the NCAA Division III championship in 2011. The Eagles and Tommies are the only two teams in the state of Minnesota to earn NCAA postseason berths in each of the last five years. St. Thomas has now been to 11 consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
The Northwestern-St. Thomas winner will face the winner of Friday's 7:30 p.m. game between St. Norbert and Elmhurst College at 7 p.m. on Saturday. All games will be played in the Schuldes Sports Center (601 Third St., De Pere, WI 54115). Tickets will be $6 for adults and $3 for students, and are available for purchase either at the gate or in advance at
this link. Fans who are unable to attend the games in person may watch online on
St. Norbert's video portal.
Stay tuned to unweagles.com as more details become available.
