After a fairly lengthy bus ride and cheerful send off from the university, MUW’s men’s basketball team finds itself again in uncharted waters.
Almost a week after the team captured the first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in school history, the Owls are now in Atlanta excitedly preparing for the next biggest game in program history.
Today the ball tips off inside Emory University’s Woodruff PE Center at 7:15 p.m. between the Owls and Eagles for a first-round matchup of the NCAA Division III basketball tournament that pits the champions of the SLIAC against the winners of the University Athletic Association.
After pulling off the upset of Webster University to get to the national tournament, the Owls will once again play the role of underdogs to the heavyweight Eagles (22-3), who are making their 12th tournament appearance in the last 13 years. Emory clocks into the tournament as a No. 2 seed and boasts a roster that features all the makings of a national championship contender: physical size, length and skill all paired with a selfless brand of basketball.
“They’re big; they’re physical. They get on the glass and they take care of the basketball,” MUW head coach Dean Burrows said. “They move the basketball, and in my opinion they play the game the right way and that’s a credit to them as players and to (head coach Jason Zimmerman) to get them to do what they do.”
The Eagles are led by point guard Ben Pearce, the reigning UAA Player of the Year, who tops the team in points (24 ppg), assists (174) and 3-pointers made (62).
“He’s the straw that gets them going and stirs them,” Burrows said.
Down low in the paint are forwards AJ Harris (6-foot-5), Mario Awasum (6-foot-6) and Ethan Fauss (6-foot-9). Together Emory leads all of Division III in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.93).
“They shoot the ball really well. They are very good in transition,” he said. “They want to get the ball out in transition so they get on that glass.”
The Owls may be underdogs against the Eagles, but they bring in some firepower of their own. Tray Huguley comes into the game as the SLIAC’s Player of the Year with an average of 23 points a contest. He also is tied for fourth in the nation with 16 double-doubles and ranks 7th in Division III in field-goal percentage (64.08%) and third in field-goals made (223). Joe Haze Austin earned the SLIAC’s Defensive Player of the Year award. He’s been a pest to ball carriers all season and is third in Division III with 86 steals. Tyler Shephard brings an average of 14.7 points a game, and Devin McCaine produces an average of 14.2 points.
The Owls have a squad they believe can compete with anyone and that’s all they’re focused on until tipoff time.
“Honestly, it’s business as usual,” Burrows said. “We’re going to emphasize that if we do what we’re supposed to in the statistical categories that we emphasize, we’re going to have an opportunity to do something that a lot of people will talk about. But just like when we didn’t do those things throughout the course of the year, well, then a lot of times it didn’t end up well for us. … Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes. I don’t care which sport it is. We have to value the basketball, we have to get good shots. It’s going to be getting back in transition and keeping them off the glass because, God, they get on the glass very well.”
Emory is the host of a pod of teams for First Round and Second Round games. Before the Owls-Eagles tilt, Roanoke and Rhodes square off with the two games’ winners playing on Saturday at 6:15 p.m.
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