For Jon Teitel’s interview with Northern Kentucky F Dantez Walton – CLICK HERE
For Jon Teitel’s interview with Georgia State G Devin Mitchell – CLICK HERE
For today’s other postseason News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
Last night, we were treated to two good games in Dayton. In the opening game, Prairie View jumped out to a 9-point lead at halftime before Fairleigh Dickinson mounted a comeback in the 2nd half. The Knights outscored Prairie View 10-0 in a critical run with 2 minutes remaining in the game – Darnell Edge led FDU with 33 points en route to an 82-76 victory. They will travel to Salt Lake City to play Gonzaga in the first round on Thursday.
In the nightcap, Temple and Belmont traded runs with each other throughout the night, but Belmont was led by Kevin McClain (29 points) and Nick Muszynski (16 points) en route to an 81-70 victory. It was Belmont’s first ever NCAA Tournament victory, and Fran Dunphy will officially retire and hand over the head coaching reins for Temple to Aaron McKie.
(16) NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL VS. (16) NORTH DAKOTA STATE (6:40 PM, TruTV). For the third year in a row, NC Central earned an auto bid via the MEAC Championship and will be looking to improve upon last season where they lost to Texas Southern in the First Four. North Dakota State finds themselves in Dayton after defeating Omaha to win the Summit League championship.
(11) ARIZONA STATE VS. (11) ST. JOHN’S (9:10 PM, TruTV). Despite a late-season slide in the Big East, St. John’s found itself as the very last team in the field. One of the reasons they got here was going 3-2 against Marquette and Villanova, but they were smashed by Marquette in the Big East quarterfinal round at Madison Square Garden. Arizona State had a mix of quality wins and terrible losses, but it wasn’t a complete shock when they lost in the conference tournament semifinals to eventual Pac-12 champion Oregon, either.