The West Liberty University men’s basketball team has earned a bid to the NCAA Divsion II Elite Eight for the seventh time in program history after winning the Atlantic Region on Tuesday over top-seeded IUP.
West Liberty held the Crimson Hawks to 30% shooting and back-to-back Atlantic Region and Mountain East Conference Player of the Year Bryce Butler had 30 points in the 70-53 victory at IUP. In the opening round, WLU handled Pitt-Johnstown, 112-88, then bounced back from a slow start to surge past third-seeded Mercyhurst, 86-72.
The Hilltoppers (31-3) will be the No. 2 seed in the Elite Eight and enter on a 16-game win streak. They will take on No. 7 seed New Haven in the opening round, who won the East Region as the No. 4 seed and sports a 23-10 record out of the Northeast-10 Conference entering its first-ever Elite Eight.
West Liberty has made four appearances in the national semifinal (2011, 2013, 2014, 2016) and went to the national championship game once (2014 – Loss to Central Missouri, 84-77). This is the second Elite Eight appearance under Head Coach Ben Howlett for West Liberty (2021 – Loss in Elite Eight).
FULL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (central / eastern time)
- Tuesday, March 21 (Elite Eight Quarterfinals)
- 12 noon / 1 pm — Game No. 1 – #6 Minnesota Duluth vs. #3 Black Hills State
- 2:30 / 3:30 pm — Game No. 2 – #7 New Haven vs. #2 West Liberty
- 6 / 7 pm — Game No. 3 – #8 Missouri – St. Louis vs. #1 Nova Southeastern
- 8:30 / 9:30 pm — Game No. 4 – #5 Lincoln Memorial vs. #4 Cal State San Bernadino
- Thursday, March 23 (DII National Semifinals)
- 1 / 2 pm — Game No. 5. (Winner Game No. 1 vs. Winner Game No. 2)
- 3:30 / 4:30 pm — Game No. 6. (Winner Game No. 3 vs. Winner Game No. 4)
- Saturday, March 25 (DII National Championship)
- 2 / 3 pm — Game No. 7. (Winner Game No. 5 vs. Winner Game No. 6)
Note: Evansville, Ind. is in the central time zone
HOST SITE
All games will be hosted inside the Ford Center in Evansville, IN.
1 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Evansville, IN 47708
Facility Information | Directions/Parking | Tourism Information
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased online via TicketMaster here.
LIVE COVERAGE
Live video will be available on NCAA.com for the Elite Eight and national semifinals, then the national championship will be aired nationally on CBS. Live statistics links for each game will be added to this article and the men’s basketball schedule page when they become available.
NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET
View an interactive bracket for the NCAA DII Men’s Basketball Tournament here and a printable bracket here.
Original source can be found here
