After a week of waiting, it’s finally time to play basketball in Evansville Indiana, as the NCAA Division Two Elite Eight gets underway today.
Atlantic Region champion IUP is the second seed in the tournament and will tip off the nighttime portion of the four-game slate at 7 PM against Hillsdale, the Midwest Region champion, which is seeded seventh.
IUP is 32-2 and is led by junior All-American Armoni Foster, who is averaging 18.3 points and 6.6 assists per game despite an injury-plagued season. Sophomore forward Ethan Porterfield is averaging 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and won MVP of both the PSAC and Atlantic Regional tournaments.
Yesterday, Foster and Porterfield were both named to the NABC All-Atlantic District. Foster was tabbed for the first team and Porterfield to the second team. And their coach, Joe Lombardi, was named NABC Coach of the Year for the third consecutive complete season.
Hillsdale is 23-7 and led by 6-8 junior All-American forward Patrick Cartier, who averages 22.1 points per game.
Lombardi says playing in the Elite Eight is a difficult challenge, and there’s a lot of variables at play.
Searching for a similar team to Hillsdale among this season’s IUP opponents, Lombardi says Hillsdale runs a very polished offense that is unlike any IUP has seen. He says it’s similar to UPJ’s offense, but more advanced.
The winner tonight will play the winner of today’s final game, between number three Augusta and number six Chico State. The afternoon session, on the other half of the bracket, opens at one o’clock with number four Bentley taking on number five Northwest Missouri State, followed by top seed Nova Southeastern against number eight Black Hills State.
We are on the air at six o’clock tonight with the Sheesley Electric Pregame Show, with Jack Benedict and Tony Coccagna, on 92.5 FM U92 and the U92 Sportschannel.
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