LINCOLN, Neb.  – The Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball team will head to St. Louis, Missouri to face Maryville (Tenn.) in the first round of the NCAA III National Tournament.  The Prairie Wolves found out their seed when the tournament field was announced on Monday afternoon (Mar. 2) on an NCAA selection show. 
 
The 64-team 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball National Championships will get underway on March 2-3 with first two rounds at 16 sites across the country.  Washington University (Mo.) is the host school of NWU's first round bracket and will face Aurora in the other matchup.
 
NWU earned an automatic bid to the NCAA III National Tournament by finishing as the IIAC Tournament champions..  This will be the Prairie Wolves first trip to the NCAA III Tournament since 2001 and their 15^th overall appearance in the NCAA III Tournament.
 
Maryville earned an automatic bid to the championships by winning the USA South Tournament.  They finished the year 22-6 overall and are making their 19^th appearance at the NCAA III National Tournament.  The Scots are coached by Randy Lambert who went over the 700-win mark at the conference tournament.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan has won seven straight games to end the regular season at 24-3 overall.  The 24 wins are the most for a NWU men's basketball team since 1997.
 
NWU is averaging 96.2 points per game to rank 7^th in the nation in scoring.  The Prairie Wolves have six players scoring in double figures and rank third in the country in field goal percentage.
 
This is the second national tournament appearance in four years for the Prairie Wolves under coach Dale Wellman.  He led NWU to the NAIA II National Tournament in 2016.   
 
The winner of the NWU-Maryvile game will face the winner of the Washington/Aurora game on Saturday (March 3).