THE OPENING TIP 
The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team (25-9 overall, 16-6 NSIC) will play in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history on Tuesday, March 14 when it takes on Southern Nazarene in the NCAA Tournament Central Regional Championship at 7:00 p.m. out in Maryville, Mo. 

 

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs, the Comeback Kids, call them whatever you'd like- the two titles have been synonymous in March. 

UMD punched its first ever ticket to the second round by way of a win over No. 3 Central Oklahoma in which the Bulldogs trailed by 10 at the half and by eight at 46-38 with only 12:01 to play. UMD used that time pretty wisely, blazing out on a 24-10 run to seize a huge 62-56 upset. 

Similar story in Round Two. Against No. 7 Emporia State, UMD again fell down by double digits in the first half, this time at a mark of 26-16 with 5:20 to play until the break. Didn't take as long for the Bulldogs to erase that deficit this time around- right before the halftime buzzer, a Charlie Katona bucket sealed the deal on a 36-36  tie. 

It was an all-out dogfight to open the second frame, the teams still sitting even at 48 through just under seven minutes. Then, something within this UMD team just seemed to click. It's not everyday that you can play roles of perseverance and outright domination in the same game, but the Bulldogs sure found a way. A monumental 26-9 UMD run suddenly left it with a 72-57 lead with only 4:13 to play. The Hornets sure didn't back down, as they proved to keep things interesting until the final horn. With 19 seconds left, UMD's lead was all the way down to four at 83-79. It's been said before, but it's time to say it again: this is why you build big leads. One more Drew Blair free throw was all she wrote for this one, the Bulldogs taking home an 85-79 victory in the Round of 32.

 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

UMD

• Blair: 29 points

• Jack Middleton: 13 points

• Charlie Katona: 13 points, 12 rebounds (second-straight double-double)

• Austin Andrews: 12 points (6-7 shooting), seven rebounds, three blocks

• Team: shot 16-29 from the field in the second half

ESU

• Owen Long: 25 points, five rebounds

• Alijah Comithier: 17 points

• Peyton Rogers-Schmidt: 12 points, 13 rebounds, four steals

• Atavian Butler: 12 points, eight rebounds

 

JUST KEEP DANCING
How sweet it is, indeed. UMD's followed up its first ever NCAA Tournament win with its first ever trip to the Sweet Sixteen . Might as well get as many "firsts" out of the way as you can in one year, right?

If you're following UMD women's hoops, too (which you should be) you know that that club made it Round Three, too- even a stop beyond that now. Inherently, then, this is the first time both UMD Basketball programs have made it this far in March in the same year. 

 

STATS STATUS REPORT
Blair leads the Bulldogs on the season in points per game, averaging 19.8 points a night to go along with five rebounds. 

Katona's next on the scoring charts with 12.4 points a night, tallies he earns at a 55% shooting clip and pairs with a team-leading 6.1 rebounds a contest. In the NCAA Tournament alone, Katona's been an even bigger menace on the boards. The junior forward's grabbed an average of 11.5 rebounds across two postseason contests. 

Joshua Brown's third on the team in average scoring with 11.7 points a night, and he couples his with 5.5 rebounds a game. Andrews notches 11.1 points per contest on a 58.1% efficiency mark to go along with an average of 5.6 rebounds. Joshua Strong has been the main facilitator of all this offense, tossing out a team-high 2.24 assists a game. 

A few more notable individual tournament tidbits: Middleton's tied for second in the entire tournament field in total three-pointers made with eight, while Lincoln Miester is sixth in the postseason in average blocks with 3.5.

Across the season at-large, UMD certainly holds some notable team stats. The Bulldogs have maintained a top-50 scoring offense nationally (47th at 80.3 PPG) with efficiency, holding the 22nd highest team field goal percentage at 49%. But in the tournament, UMD's stepped things up a notch- on the opposite side of the ball. The Bulldogs are currently at the top of the entire postseason field in blocks per game with nine. UMD's also at the top of the pack in terms of defensive rebounds per game with 33, a number that serves as the foundation for a 43 rebounds per game mark that's fourth-highest in the tourney. And it doesn't stop there- the Bulldogs have held opposing teams to the seventh-lowest overall field goal percentage in March at 37% and the 12th lowest mark from behind the arc at 28.6%

 

SECOND ROUND EFFORT --> SECOND ALL-TIME
I mean, it was only right, right?

With a game-high 29 points in Sunday's win over ESU, Blair was more than able to blow by Jay Guidinger's mark of 1953 for second on UMD's all-time scoring charts, currently sitting with 1974. At the top spot sits Brandon Myer with 2045… hey, anything's possible in March. If the Bulldogs keep dancing, this'll be something to keep an eye on. 

 

JB AIMS FOR HISTORY
Another name to watch: Brown. With six more points added to his name on Sunday, the junior guard now sits just nine shy of 1000 on his career. Just one more game might just be enough for him to hit the milestone… but who says you have to stop there?
 

SCOUTING REPORT ON SOUTHERN NAZARENE (NO. 15 NABC, NO. 19 D2SIDA) 
TOURNAMENT RESUME
It's fair to say that it ended up being a pretty successful season for the Storm. 

SNU finished the regular season at the top of the Great American Conference (GAC) with a 21-1 conference mark that tied the highest such record ever in GAC history- set by the 2017-18 incarnation of this very same program. The Storm won the conference by a whopping six points, setting a GAC record that this 2022-23 team's in sole possession of. This conference standing was the foundation for a 25-3 overall mark on the season.  It'd be an early exit for the Storm in the GAC Tournament, as they'd fall in upset fashion to eighth-seed Ouachita Baptist 70-67 in the quarterfinals. Still, SNU's regular season work ultimately spoke for itself, landing the Storm the No. 5 seed in the Central Regional.

 

THE ROAD SO FAR
There's no doubt that the Storm have earned every bit of their Sweet Sixteen appearance. It's been nothing short of a battle the whole way through.

SNU's First Round draw was a No. 4 MSU Moorhead squad fresh on the heels of winning its second-consecutive NSIC Tournament Championship. Made no difference to the Storm early on, though, as they rushed out to a huge 44-30 halftime lead. SNU shot 18-28 through the first 20 minutes. But the Dragons wouldn't be slayed that easily. MSUM proceeded to outscore the Storm 32-18 throughout the second half to knot the score right up at 62-all, Lorenzo McGhee sending things to OTl with a layup with just five seconds remaining. The ensuing overtime wasn't the most offensive bout of all time, but the Storm did enough to get the job done, ultimately taking the game 67-64. 

 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

• Tyler McGhie: 23 points (9-17 shooting)

•  Javon Jackson: 18 points, five assists

• Jalen Lynn: 11 points (4-7 shooting), five rebounds 

• Nick Davis: eight points, 10 rebounds

• Mo Wilson II: eight rebounds, four assists

 

Hope you enjoyed your conference tournament champion in the first round- how about another? Better yet, why not the reigning three-time NCAA Tournament Champions- and in their own backyard, no less?

These were the cards SNU was dealt when it met No. 1 Northwest Missouri State in the Round of 32. With the deck stacked against them, the Storm battled anyways. SNU may have been down seven at the half at a score of 32-25, but it'd shot 10-18 from the field in the process. There was reason for optimism- and that was vindicated throughout the second frame. By the 10:02 mark, the Storm had climbed all the way back to take the lead at 44-42- it'd been a 19-10 run. When the Bearcats tied things up at 44 shortly after, it initiated a bit of a stalemate. The score was still even at 57-57 with only 41 seconds left, and in the meantime, the largest lead either team had been able to muster was four (50-46 SNU). There ended up being something about that margin- the Storm would end up closing the game on a cold-blooded 4-0 run to silence the crowd and snag an unbelievable 61-57 win.

 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

• Jackson: 24 points, 9-13 shooting, four assists, two steals

• Davis: 15 points (7-9 shooting), seven rebounds, three assists

• McGhie: 10 points, three assists

• Team: shot 15-24 from the field in the second half
   

POSTSEASON PARALLELS PART TWO
It wasn't SNU's first go-around in Round Two, but life's never been as sweet in March as it is now for the Storm. As was the case with Emporia State, UMD will again be one of two teams playing in unfamiliar turf for the right to go somewhere even more elusive. 
 

STORM'S TOP SCORERS
It's been a fab four that's led SNU's offensive production throughout this historic season.

 Leading the charge is McGhie, who's scoring 16.9 points a night. The sophomore's shooting at a lights-out 45.2% from deep in the process. Behind McGhie is Jackson, who's averaging 15.7 points as just a freshman. In March, that number's jumped up to 19, 21st among all players in the tournament. The guard's also been a tough matchup from three-point land across the entire season, shooting 40.8% from beyond the arc. He's done all this while dishing out a team-leading 2.7 assists a game. 

Next up is Davis. The powerful junior forward's averaging 12.3 points a night on a 60.7% shooting clip while leading the club in rebounds per game with 7.2. Rounding out the list of double-digit scorers is Adokiye Iyaye, who's averaging 10 points a game. 

 

IT'S RAINING THREES
As it turns out, McGhie and Jackson are just two pieces of a SNU offensive arsenal that's lethal from three. Across the season at-large, the Storm are second in the entire country in team three-point percentage at 41.1%. The scariest part is… that number's only improved in the tournament. Through two games in March, SNU sits at a postseason-high 56.7% clip from deep. 

 

THUNDEROUS DEFENSE
Being able to score so reliably like that is one thing- pairing that ability with a shutdown defense is another. Well, there's a reason this squad resides in the top 25 in the national ranks. 

SNU's team defense this season is third in all the land, the Storm holding opponents to an average of just 57.6 points. That number's dipped ever-so-slightly to 60.5 across two tournament games, but that's still the sixth-lowest figure in the entire postseason field. 

 

BIG BAD BOHAC
At the eye of the Storm for what has now been 15 seasons is Adam Bohac. After six seasons of success in the NAIA, it was Bohac's job to help transition SNU into the DII ranks- and he's done a pretty good job of that. Dating back to the 2016-17 season, the Storm have secured seven-straight winning campaigns as an NCAA member. Five of those efforts entailed 20+ wins. It makes sense that Bohac is now a four-time GAC Coach of the Year, having earned the accolade once again this season. 

 

THE STORM IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Storm officially have four NCAA Tournament berths on record (including their run this season), but with the cancellation of the tourney in 2020, we'll never know how that dance might have worked out. The other two tournament journeys are well-documented, though- and both had run-ins with the NSIC. St. Cloud State, to be exact. In 2018, SCSU defeated SNU 81-68 to travel to the Round for 32. The next season, the Storm would get their revenge, defeating the Huskies 81-61 to move to the second round for the first time in program history.  

 

LAST ENCOUNTER
UMD and Southern Nazarene have only met each other once before in any capacity … and boy, was it a doozy. Just a regular season game, one played back on Nov. 8 of 2019, but you would have thought the National Title was one the line. In a contest that ended up seeing two overtimes, UMD ultimately prevailed by an eye-popping score of 115-109. 

Some familiar faces hit the statsheet in that one. Blair led the way in points with 29 to go with five boards. Middleton had 13 points on 4-7 shooting to go with six boards.

 

THE BROADCAST 
Watch the Bulldogs' shot at an Elite Eight berth live and free-of-charge through the MIAA Network by following the link below:

vs Southern Nazarene (Tuesday, March 14 @ 7:00 p.m.): bit.ly/3TgN2hE

 

REGIONAL INFO
For all of your Central Regional needs, including full team information and post game press conferences, check out the dedicated Regional website here.