NAIA Tournament Bracket
Kansas City, MO – The Patriots reached their second-straight NAIA Final Site Round of 16 after winning the First and Second Rounds on their home court in Williamsburg, KY. Cumberlands first defeated Milligan, then took down Mobile, 93-77, to keep their season alive. This marks just the fifth time in program history that UC have reached the round of 16 in back-to-back years.
UC come to Kansas City, MO as a four seed and will take on the top-seeded Arizona Christian Firestorm to open tourney play at the Municipal Auditorium. ACU finished the regular season ranked third overall in the Coaches' Poll, and enter the final site 28-4 on the season, riding a 14-game winning streak.
The Pats come into this matchup 24-8 on the season and have won seven of their last eight games. Cumberlands average the third most points per game in the NAIA with 91.5 and lead all teams that are still alive in the national tournament. Anthony Johnson has been the Pats leading scorer all year adding 23.3 ppg. This is the fourth most of any player in the NAIA and leads all scorers here in Kansas City. Defensively, the Pats rim protectors really became a factor in the second half of the season, averaging 4.6 blocks per game in conference play, the 12th most in the nation. Matthew Cromer has played a pivotal role for the Pats as well, averaging 16.5 pts, 7.0 reb, and 2.3 stl per game. DJ Jones give UC 11.1 points and 3.8 assists a game while Anthony Harris adds 9.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and just under one block per game as well.
ACU enter the matchup with UC shooting 50.9% from the field, ranking sixth in the NAIA. They also force 16.6 turnovers per game on average, a top-10 statistical ranking in the country as well. This will be the first time these two team's faceoff in program history. The Pats and the Firestorm do have a comment opponent this season in Freed-Hardeman. ACU fell to FHU 84-76 back in November, while the Pats defeated FHU twice in the regular season and are 2-1 against the Lions on the year.
UC and ACU will tipoff at 1 PM CT / 2 PM ET on Thursday the 20th as the first game of the tournament. You can watch for free here and follow along with livestats here.
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