WARRENSBURG, Mo. - Midwestern State opens the NCAA Division II South Central Regionals against Incarnate Word Saturday night at the University of Central Missouri's Multipurpose Building.
The winner moves on to face the either host Central Missouri or No. 8 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville in the semifinals Sunday night at 6 p.m.
Catch all of the action live on 100.9 BOB FM in Wichita Falls or via live streaming audio on MSUMustangs.com.
Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m.
Midwestern State in the South Central Regional
The Mustangs will make their fourth appearance in the NCAA Division II South Central Regionals where they made a finalist appearance in 2000 and a pair of semifinalist showings in 1999 and 2007.
MSU qualified through automatic berths by virtue of winning the Lone Star Conference tournament in each of the seasons, but has declined in seeding in each of its subsequent appearances.
Midwestern claimed the top seed and hosted in 1999 and was the No. 2 seed when it advanced to the finals against Missouri Southern in 2000.
The Mustangs entered as the No. 3 seed in 2007 before qualifying at No. 4 this season.
Midwestern State in national tournaments
Midwestern State is 24-19 in 18 national tournament appearances.
MSU was 22-16 (.579) over 15 NAIA National Tournaments and is 2-3 (.400) in NCAA Division II postseasons since gaining the affiliation in 1995. Overall, Midwestern is 24-19 (.558) in 18 total appearances.
In NCAA Division II, MSU's deepest run cam in 2000 when it advanced to the South Central Region Final against Missouri Southern in Joplin. Midwestern also made regional semifinal appearances in 1999 and 2007.
Midwestern is 2-4 (.333) in national postseason appearances under coach Jeff Ray including an NAIA National Tournament showing in 1995 before earning NCAA II South Central Regional berths in 1999, 2000 and 2007.
MSU in opening round games
Midwestern is 10-5 (.667) all time in first rounds of national postseason tournaments and have claimed wins in each of the last two openers including a 91-88 win over Northeastern State in 2000 and an 86-81 victory over West Texas A&M in 2007.
Favorable Trends
Midwestern State is the hottest team in the South Central Region having won eight-straight games on its way to a Lone Star Confernece championship.
The Mustangs have won 21 of 23 games since starting the season with a 3-4 mark.
Mustangs are nationally ranked
Midwestern State jumped into the final NABC/NCAA Divison II national rankings this week at No. 21.
It's the Mustangs' first national ranking since closing the 2006-07 season at No. 18.
MSU is just one of five teams in the South Central receiving national recognition. Central Missouri is No. 6, Southwest Baptist is No. 7 and Central Oklahoma is No. 13 while Incarnate Word received votes.
Defense wins championships
Midwestern State may be 83rd in NCAA Division II in scoring defense allowing 68.5 points per game for the season, but the Mustangs turned up the defense down the stretch.
Over the last six games, MSU is yielding 64.8 points per contest and enjoys a scoring margin of 17.5 points a game and has done with defense.
The Mustangs are holding the opposition to a paltry 36.7 overall field goal percentage including measley 25.9 percent from the 3-point arc.
Richardson raking in honors
Senior guard Nolan Richardson garnered Daktronics and NABC All-South Central Region first-team honors this week after leading the region in scoring at 20.7 points per game.
The Daktronics team is selected by the region's sports information directors while the NABC is selected by the region's coaches.
Richardson is now eligible for the All-America ballot in both venues.
He would be the first player Damion McKinney to gain All-America mention. McKinney, who is an assistant women's coach at Baylor, was an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American in 1997.
Isaac Devore was the last Midwestern player to gain first All-America honors back in 1975.
MSU + UIW = 45 (minutes) X 5
Only one thing has been certain in the last five meetings between Midwestern State and Incarnate Word - overtime.
The Mustangs have won three of those contests including the last two as Chad Rickett hit a jumper with three seconds remaining in overtime to give MSU a 75-73 win on Nov. 21, 2006 in San Antonio.
Last season, Trajinski Grigsby hit a layup to tie the game with nine seconds to go in regulation before Midwestern survived a pair of missed free throws by Cameron Teague to take the game in to overtime. The Mustangs sprinted away for an 81-75 win.
Saturday's contest marks the 17th meeting between the schools. Incarnate Word holds a 10-6 advantage in the series.
The lone neutral site contest in the series came on Jan. 10, 1992 when MSU claimed an 81-73 win on the campus of St. Mary's.
This will be the first game beween the schools not played in San Antonio or Wichita Falls.
Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce offering free taxi service Saturday
The Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center is sponsoring free taxi service to visiting NCAA-II basketball fans on Saturday, March 14 between 10:30 a.m. and 11 p.m.
The free taxis will run between five local hotels and the UCM Multipurpose Building approximately every half hour.
Participating hotels include the Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Inn, Super 8, University Inn, & Days Inn. To check on the status of the cabs during the day, call 660-429-5523.
The first cabs will begin picking up at the hotels at 10:30 AM, and the last cab will leave the Multipurpose Building at 11:00 PM.
Cabs will be minivans with taxi signs.
On this Date (March 14)
1956 - O'Neal Weaver and Ray Schumann combine for 52 points to lead Midwestern to a 93-75 rout of Geneva (Pa.) in the second round of the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. Weaver knocks down 11 of 19 shots to finish with 27 points, while Schumann goes 11 for 21 for 25 points. Cotton Fitzsimmons hits 11-of-15 free throws for 15 points.
1974 - Midwestern State falls to Kentucky State 80-74 in the NAIA Final Four in Kansas City.
1975 - LeRoy Shaw pours in 21 points to lift Midwestern State into the NAIA nationals with a 65-60 win over St. Mary's in Kansas City. Long-time NBA player Robert Reid scored 19 points and snares nine rebounds for the Rattlers.
1978 - All-American Henry Crawford scores 20 points, but Midwestern fall to Drury in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament 90-70 in Kansas City. Bo Lanter adds 16 points while Alfred Clark scores 14 more.
1979 - Tony Forch and Kyle Williams score 14 points each to help Midwestern State to a 73-66 win over Central Washington in the second round of the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City.
1995 - David Bevis pours in 28 points as Arkansas Tech edges Midwestern 60-58 in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament in Tulsa. Roderick Hay scores 17 points and reels in seven rebounds to pace the Indians while Jerry Perry knocks down three 3-points on his way to 15 points.
Midwestern State is 3-3 all-time on March 14.
-- MSUMustangs.com --
