Idaho hosts UCSB in CIT
MOSCOW, Idaho – (UI Media Relations) For the third time in four seasons, University of Idaho men’s basketball will enter postseason play under head coach Don Verlin when the team hosts UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).
We’re extremely excited at the opportunity to play more basketball and to continue to build this program,” Verlin said. “I’m excited for this program, our seniors, and our university.”
The Vandals and Gauchos will tip off on Wednesday, Mar. 14, at 7 p.m. (PT) in the Cowan Spectrum. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2005, when both were members of the Big West Conference.
Idaho is 18-13 overall after a third-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference, while UC Santa Barbara is 20-10 overall and tied for second in the Big West. The Gauchos lost to top-seeded Long Beach State in Sunday’s Big West Conference Championship Game.
UCSB leads the all-time series by a 12-7 margin, but the Vandals are 7-2 all-time in games played at Moscow, Idaho. This will be the first postseason meeting in series history.
Tickets to Wednesday’s game are $10 for all seats. Idaho basketball season ticket holders have the option of Club Room seating for $10 each. University of Idaho students will need to purchase tickets.
“A chance to host in our facility is great and having a home game tells you what kind of season we had and what kind of respect we’re getting from people in the basketball community,” Verlin said. “I also appreciate our university for stepping up and allowing us to host a game.”
The Gauchos feature three-time All-Big West First Team selection Orlando Johnson, a 6-5 senior guard who averages 19.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Senior guard James Nunnally, a Second-Team All-Big West pick, adds 15.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.7 rebounds per game.
UC Santa Barbara averages 72.6 points per game and allows 65.8 to its opponents. The Gauchos shoot 45.7 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from 3-point range and out-rebound opponents, 37.8-33.8 per game.
“This is a very good team coming in here,” Verlin said. “It’s a team that is experienced, that has two really powerful wing players – as good of wing players as you’ll see in our conference – and they’ve been to the NCAA tournament the last two years. I was excited to get someone of their caliber, because it challenges us as a team and it gives our fans a great opponent to watch.”
Wednesday’s game marks Idaho’s third appearance in the CIT under Verlin. The team is 1-2 overall in CIT play. In 2009, the Vandals hosted Drake in a 69-67 first-round victory, then fell in the quarterfinal at Pacific, 69-59. The Vandals lost at San Francisco in the first round last season, 81-73.
In its fourth season, the CIT expanded this season to 32 teams. The tournament will consist of five rounds with each game being played at on-campus sites, determined by seeding. The Championship Game will be broadcast live on Fox College Sports on Wednesday, Mar. 28, 2012.
Idaho is one of two WAC teams in the tournament. Utah State hosts Cal State Bakersfield in the opening round on Wednesday.
The last time Idaho qualified for postseason play three times in a four-year span was 1980-83, when the team went to the NCAA Tournament twice (1980-81, 1981-82) and the National Invitation Tournament once (1982-83) under Vandal Athletic Hall of Fame coach Don Monson.
Utah State to Host Cal State Bakersfield Wednesday in CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
LOGAN, Utah - (USU Media Relations) Utah State men's basketball will participate in postseason action for a school-record 13th-straight year after receiving and accepting an invitation Sunday evening to continue its season in the fourth annual CollegeInsider.com Tournament against Cal State Bakersfield. Overall, this will be USU's 30th postseason appearance in school history.
Utah State (17-15) will host independent Cal State Bakersfield (16-14) in the first round of the postseason CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. (MT), inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Overall, 32 teams will participate in this year's CIT.
"I'm pleased that we were able to finish league play on a positive note and make ourselves eligible for postseason competition," said veteran Utah State head coach Stew Morrill. "Once we were eliminated from our conference tournament we were hopeful we would get an opportunity to continue playing and I'm happy for our players that they played themselves into the postseason."
Utah State had participated in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments prior to this year and has played in eight NCAA Tournaments (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011) and four National Invitation Tournaments (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008) in the previous 12 years under Morrill. This year's appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament will be USU's first in school history.
"It's very positive that we are continuing our run in the postseason making our 13th-straight appearance this year. Obviously, you would like to play in the NCAA Tournament every year, but anytime you're invited to play in a postseason tournament that is definitely a positive for your program," added Morrill.
Overall, Utah State's 13 straight postseason appearances are tied for the 11th-longest active streak in the nation along with Notre Dame. USU's previous school record for consecutive postseason appearances was three from 1962-64 and from 1978-80.
All-time, Utah State is 8-31 (.205) in postseason play with a 6-22 (.214) record in 20 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and a 2-9 (.182) mark in nine trips to the NIT. Overall, USU has lost 11 straight postseason games with its last win coming against Ohio State, 77-68 OT, in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
This year's home game against Cal State Bakersfield marks the fifth time in school history that Utah State has hosted a postseason contest, but is 0-4 in those matchups, losing to Louisiana-Lafayette (94-92) in 1984, Illinois State (93-87 OT) in 1995, Montana State (77-69) in 2002, and Hawai'i (85-74) in 2004 as all four of those games were in the NIT.
Utah State is 17-15 on the season after losing to fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech (72-70) in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament last weekend in Las Vegas. USU entered the WAC Tournament as the fourth-seed after finishing league play with an 8-6 record. Overall, Utah State has won five of its last eight games heading into the CIT.
Cal State Bakersfield is 16-14 overall and has won each of its last three games as it defeated San Diego (72-63) and Nebraska-Omaha (84-63) at home, to go along with an overtime road win at New Jersey Tech (72-70). This year, CSUB posted the program's best-ever record in its short Division I history and their best record since the 2005-06 team finished 21-8 in their final season of NCAA Division II membership. During the regular season, the Roadrunners posted a 6-11 road record. This is Cal State Bakersfield's first-ever postseason appearance at the Division I level.
All-time, Utah State is 6-0 against Cal State Bakersfield including a 4-0 home record. The last time the two teams played one another was on Dec. 11, 2010 with the Aggies posting a 77-58 home win. Overall, this will be the sixth-straight year that the two teams will have met.
Overall, Utah State has a combined 5-9 (.357) record against postseason teams on its 2011-12 schedule as it went 1-3 against the 68-team NCAA Tournament field (1-0 vs. BYU, 0-1 vs. Wichita State, 0-2 vs. New Mexico State); 1-3 against the 32-team NIT field (1-0 vs. UT Arlington, 0-1 vs. Mississippi State, 0-2 vs. Nevada); and 3-3 against the 32-team CIT field (1-0 vs. Kent State, 1-0 vs. Utah Valley, 1-1 vs. Idaho, 0-1 vs. UC Santa Barbara, 0-1 vs. Weber State).
Utah State is led by sophomore guard Preston Medlin who is averaging 16.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists, while shooting 49.3 percent from the field, 42.6 percent from three-point range and 79.5 percent at the free throw line. Utah State has two other players scoring in double-figures as senior guard Brockeith Pane is averaging 12.4 points and 3.9 assists, while junior forward Kyisean Reed is averaging 9.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. Senior forward Morgan Grim is averaging 8.6 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds on the season. As a team, Utah State is averaging 67.2 points and shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from three-point range and 70.3 percent at the free throw line. Defensively, USU is allowing 64.0 points and its opponents are shooting 41.9 percent from the field, 32.9 percent from three-point range and 66.2 percent at the free throw line.
If Utah State advances, the second round of the tournament will be held from March 16-18. The quarterfinals are set for March 20-21 with the semi-finals being played on either March 23-24. The championship game is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28 and will be televised nationally on Fox College Sports.
Of the 32 teams in this years CollegeInsider.com Tournament, five are teams that Utah State has already played this season as it defeated Idaho (67-50), Kent State (81-62) and Utah Valley (63-54), and lost to Idaho (57-54), UC Santa Barbara (72-64) and Weber State (73-63).
Tickets for the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament will be available for purchase beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, March. 12. Ticket prices for the game are $17 for adults and $5 for USU students with a valid student ID, while current Jr. Aggie members will receive free admission. Fans can also purchase tickets on-line 24 hours a day at UtahStateAggies.com.
The fourth annual CIT will once again use the old NIT model in which matchups in future rounds are determined by the results of the previous round and as such there is no formal bracket for the tournament.
2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament Field
TUESDAY MARCH 13
Robert Morris @ Indiana State, 5:00
Tennessee State @ Mercer, 5:00
Coastal Carolina @ Old Dominion, 5:00
Tennessee Tech @ Georgia State, 5:00
McNeese State @ Toledo, 5:00
Utah Valley @ Weber State, 7:00
WEDNESDAY MARCH 14
Manhattan @ Albany, 5:00
Yale @ Fairfield, 5:00
Bowling Green @ Oakland, 5:00
Buffalo @ American, 5:30
North Dakota @ Drake, 6:00
Rice @ UL-Lafayette, 6:00
Cal State Bakersfield @ Utah State, 7:00
UC Santa Barbara @ Idaho, 8:00
Cal State Fullerton @ Loyola Marymount, 8:00
THURSDAY MARCH 15
Kent State @ USC Upstate, 5:00
Times listed are MT.