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Men's Basketball - NACC Tournament Preview

The Aurora University men's basketball team will enter the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament for the 12th time, marking an appearance in every year of the NACC's existence.  The Spartans finished the 2017-2018 regular season with a 17-8 overall record and 16-4 in the NACC to win the regular season title and host the inaugural NACC Final Four Championship.  With the new format to this season conference tournament the Spartans will matchup with the lowest remaining seed remaining after Tuesday's first round game matchups.
 
Match-up - 

- In Tuesday's NACC First Round matchups it was the two road teams earning the victory.  The No. 5 Falcons of Concordia Wisconsin traveled to Plymouth, Wisconsin and defeated No. 4 Lakeland University 99-85.  It was the No. 6 Eagles of Edgewood College defeating the No. 3 Raiders of MSOE on Tuesday night, 52-47 in Milwaukee.
- Lancaster Court inside Thornton Gymnasium will be the site of two semi-finals game on Friday, with Benedictine University earning the No. 2 seed taking on the No. 5 Falcons of Concordia Wisconsin at 5:00 p.m.  Benedictine defeated the Falcons on January 9 in Lisle, Illinois 78-65 and an 83-75 victory in Mequon, Wisconsin on February 6.  The Eagles have won the last three matchups over the Falcons, including last season's NACC Championship game 93-89.  
- Following the Benedictine, Concordia Wisconsin semi-final matchup No. 1 Aurora University is set to take on No. 6 Edgewood College with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.  The Spartans split the season series with the Eagles with both teams winning on their home court.  Edgewood defeated the Spartans 66-65 on a last second shot early in the season in a November 25 matchup.  It was the Spartans who got their revenge on Eagles inside Thornton Gymnasium on January 13 coming back from down 10 in the second half to force overtime winning 94-84.   
- On Saturday evening, Thornton Gymnasium will be the site of the 2018 NACC Men's Basketball Championship with the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  If the Spartans are able to get past the Edgewood Eagles in the semi-finals they could potentially face another Eagles team in Benedictine University who has won the last two NACC Tournament Championships.   

All-Time NACC Championship History –
  • - This year marks the third season of a six-team tournament bracket, prior to the change the NACC had an eight-team tournament.
  • - This is the first season that the No. 1 seed will host the semi-finals and championship games, prior to that the highest remaining seed hosted in each round.  
  • - AU is the only school to make the NACC Tournament since its inception (2006-2007) holds a record of 17-7, winning seven more tournament games than the second place school.
  • - AU has won four NACC Tournament titles going back to the start of the league in 2006-2007 (2006-2007, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2012-2013).
  • - Benedictine University has won the NACC Tournament each of the past two seasons and is the No. 2 seed in this year's tournament.
  • - In addition to AU, five other teams have claimed at least one NACC Tournament title, Concordia Wisconsin (2014-2015), Marian University (2013-2014), Edgewood College (2011-2012), Lakeland University (2007-2008) and Benedictine University (2010-2011, 2015-2016, 2016-2017).
About the Spartans – 
  • - Senior guard, Marcus Myers is the Spartans leading scorer averaging 21.0 points per game, while also being the leading rebounder averaging 7.0 per contest, and is second on the team in shooting percentage with 50.8-percent from the field .
  • - Junior forward, Ty Carlson is averaging 14.5 points per game while shooting 44.8-percent from the field, 38.6-percent from behind the three-point arc and averages 5.0 rebounds per contest.
  • - Junior forward, Max Vickers is averaging 16.2 points per game while shooting 48.5-percent from the field and averages 6.8 rebounds per contest.
  • - Junior guard, Matt Dunn is averaging 11.9 points per game while shooting a team high 51.9-percent from the field and averages 5.4 assists per contest.       
  • - AU enters as the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the eighth time in 12 NACC seasons.
 
About NACC Opponents –
  • - No. 2 seeded Benedictine enters the NACC Tournament with an overall record of 16-9, 15-5 in conference play.  However, the Eagles have dropped their last two conference games on the road to Wisconsin Lutheran and Edgewood which costs the Eagles the NACC regular season title and opportunity to be tournament hosts.  The Eagles have a NACC tournament record of 10-7 with three tournament titles in ten previous appearances. 
  • - No. 5 seeded Concordia Wisconsin enters the NACC Tournament with an overall record of 15-11, 12-8 in conference play.  The Falcons have won their last four games including Tuesday nights NACC First Round game at Lakeland University.  The Falcons have a NACC Tournament record of 8-8 with one tournament title in nine previous appearances.
  • - Benedictine defeated Concordia Wisconsin in both their matchups earlier this season 78-65 in Lisle, Illinois and 83-75 in Mequon, Wisconsin.  CUW's last win against BU was January 14, 2017, in Mequon, Wisconsin 83-80.
  • - No. 6 seeded Edgewood College enters the NACC Tournament with an overall record of 11-15, 10-10 in conference play.  The Eagles had to win their final three games of the regular season including the regular season finale against Benedictine to earn their ninth trip to post season.  Edgewood has a tournament record of 9-7 with one NACC Tournament title.
  • - Edgewood split the season series against the Spartans with each team winning on their home court.  Aurora holds a 14-6 overall record against Edgewood over the 12 years in the NACC, including being 2-0 against the Eagles in the NACC tournament.  Both games were played on Lancaster Court. 
 
Up Next for the Spartans –
With a victory on Friday night, the Spartans would play in the NACC Tournament Final for the ninth time in 12 years.  AU would take on the winner of the matchup between No. 2 Benedictine University and No. 5 Concordia Wisconsin who play right before the Spartans, Eagles matchup.  
  • - If the Spartans meet up with Benedictine it will be the seventh time the two teams have met in the NACC Tournament with AU winning 4 of the six.  The Spartans split the season series against the Eagles with each team winning on their home court.  AU enters the NACC Tournament as the hottest team in the league winning 11 of their last 12 games, and are 9-2 this season inside Thornton Gymnasium. 
  • - If the Spartans meet up with Concordia Wisconsin it will only be the third time the two teams have met in the NACC Tournament with the Falcons winning both previous matchups on Lancaster Court.  In the twelve years of the NACC, AU holds an overall record of 15-7 when matching up with the Falcons. 
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