LINCOLN, Neb. – The 2019 NCAA III Tournament continues on Saturday night (March 2) and will feature a Top 15 matchup of national contenders when No. 1 Nebraska Wesleyan University meets No. 13 University of St. Thomas at 7 PM in Snyder Arena.
Doors open at 6 pm and another large crowd is expected to fill Snyder Arena. The winner of Saturday's game between the Prairie Wolves and Tommies advances to the Sweet 16.
These two teams have combined to win three of the last eight NCAA III National Championships with St. Thomas taking the crown in 2011 and 2016 while NWU is the returning 2018 NCAA III National Champion.
Nebraska Wesleyan (27-1) moved to the 2
nd round with a convincing 101-75 victory over Eureka College in the opening round Friday night. The 27 victories are the second highest win total in school history, behind last year's school record 30 wins.
Nate Schimonitz led the Prairie Wolves with 24 points on Friday night as he continues to thrive in the postseason. Jostens Trophy finalist
Cooper Cook added 23 points and
Ryan Garver posted another double-double with 14 points and 12 assists, tying his career high for assists. He now has a nation-leading 209 assists on the year, needing 10 more to break the NWU single season record of 218 set by Mitch Mosser.
The Prairie Wolves also have the advantage of playing in front of their home crowd at Snyder Arena, a place where NWU has won 23 straight games. Currently NWU has the 2
nd longest home active winning streak in NCAA III Basketball.
St. Thomas (23-4) adanced to Saturday's matchup with a 80-66 win over Wisconsin-La Crosse. The Tommies shot 53.6 percent from the field in the win over UW-La Crosse and made 12 3-pointers. Guard Ryan Linberg led St. Thomas with 24 points including six 3-pointers. Connor Bair was 7-11 from the floor to score 16 points. Point guard Anders Nelson dished out 11 assists with eight rebounds.
The Tommies were a top five team for most of the season before dropping three of their last four games heading into the NCAA III Tournament. St. Thomas was 21-1 on Feb. 6 before hitting that skid.
NWU and St. Thomas have a history in the NCAA III Tournament. The last time the two teams played was in the opening round of the 2000 NCAA III Tournament when the Tommies knocked NWU out of the tournament. In the 1995 tournament, NWU went to St. Paul, Minnesota and beat St. Thomas 94-74 in the sectional round, a game that was current Tommie coach Johnny Tauer's last game in a St. Thomas uniform.
