STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The sectional rounds of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship come to Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse for the fifth time in 10 seasons this Friday & Saturday, March 13-14. Play begins on Friday at 5 p.m. when Northwestern (Minn.) plays East Texas Baptist, which will be followed by UW-Stevens Point against Emory at 8 p.m. The winners will meet on Saturday at 7 p.m. for a trip to the Final Four in Salem, Va.

UW-Stevens Point (23-5) | Home | Schedule | Roster | Stats

Projected Starters:
3 – Austin Ryf (Winneconne, WI/Winneconne) – First Team All-WIAC, 11.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.0 apg, .485 FG pct., .458 3PT pct.
5 –  Jordan Lutz (Amherst, WI/Amherst) – Honorable Mention All-WIAC, 10.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.0 apg, .469 FG pct., .462 3PT pct.
12 – Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall) – Honorable Mention All-WIAC, 11.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, .513 FG pct., .430 3PT pct.
32 – Joe Ritchay (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln) – First Team All-WIAC, 11.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.1 spg, .422 FG pct.
34 – Alex Richard (Spring Green, WI/River Valley) – First Team All-WIAC, 12.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.2 spg, .613 FG pct.

Notes:
UW-Stevens Point got an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and earned a share of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) regular season championship, the 29th title in program history.

UWSP is in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth-straight season and 14th time in program history. The Pointers are 32-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and have been in the field 11 of the past 12 seasons.

The Pointers are 8-4 all-time in the sectional rounds, including a 5-2 mark in the Round of 16. UWSP is 6-1 at home in the sectional rounds.

In 2010, UWSP became just the third school to win at least three national championships, all of which have come in the last 12 seasons (2004, 2005, 2010).

UW-Stevens Point's 76-73 overtime loss to Emory in the Round of 16 was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. UWSP won its only meeting with Northwestern 71-54 at home in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. The Pointers have never faced East Texas Baptist.

Since 1997, UWSP is 243-35 (.874) at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse. The Pointers are 14-4 at home in NCAA Tournament games.

UW-Stevens Point leads the country in scoring defense (55.6 ppg) and has led 21 of its 28 opponents to 60 points or fewer. St. Olaf is the only team to score 70 points against UWSP this season.

The Pointers rank second in the nation in turnovers per game (8.2) and are ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44). UWSP has committed single-digit turnovers in 21 of 28 games this season.

UW-Stevens Point was one of just four teams in the 62-team NCAA Tournament with five players averaging in double figures, along with St. John Fisher, Albertus Magnus and John Carroll.
 
Emory (22-5) | Home | Schedule | Roster | Stats

Projected Starters:
3 – Michael Florin – First Team All-UAA, 11.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 5.9 apg, 1.6 spg, .466 FG pct.
10 – Davis Rao – 8.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.9 spg, .421 FG pct., .411 3PT pct.
20 – Alex Foster – UAA Player of the Year, 20.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.0 apg, .451 FG pct., .410 3PT pct.
21 – Will Trawick – Second Team All-UAA, 11.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.3 apg, .448 FG pct., .385 3PT pct.
23 – Josh Schattie – UAA Defensive Player of the Year, 8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.0 spg, .497 FG pct.

Notes:
Emory's 22-5 overall mark represents the second-highest win total in program history and the fourth time that an Emory team has reached or surpassed the 20-win plateau. 
 
Emory won the University Athletic Association title with a 10-4 record, securing the league's automatic bid to the postseason.  The Eagles were picked fourth in the conference's preseason poll.
 
Emory is making its third straight and fourth-ever appearance in the D-III Tournament. The Eagles post an all-time mark of 7-3 in NCAA Tourney action.
 
Eighth-year head coach Jason Zimmerman ranks as the program's all-time winningest coach with a 132-75 won-lost slate. After going 17-33 his first two seasons, Zimmerman has compiled a record of 115-42 (.732) since the 2009-10 season.  
 
Emory seniors Alex Foster and Michael Florin were selected to the All-UAA First Team with junior Will Trawick garnering second-team acclaim. In addition, Foster was chosen as the UAA Player of the Year, the first Eagle to earn that distinction since 1990. Senior Josh Schattie brought home the conference's Defensive Player of the Year Award.
 
Alex Foster leads the UAA in overall scoring average with a 20.4 points-per-game mark. He has recorded double-figure scoring in 25 contests this year and has produced 20 or more points on 15 occasions. Career-wise, Foster ranks 12th all-time at Emory with 1,085 points.
 
Michael Florin is No. 2 in the UAA in both assists (5.9 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (2.7). Florin holds the program's third (159, 2014-15), fourth (158, 2012-13) and fifth (153, 2013-14) highest seasonal assists total in school history. His 506 career assists are No. 2 all-time at Emory.
 
Emory leads the UAA in scoring offense (80.7 ppg) and paced the UAA in the same category in league action (79.3 ppg). The Eagles have registered 80 or more points on 15 occasions this year and stand 13-2 in those contests.
 
The Eagles have knocked down a school-record 253 three-point field goals this year. Emory has 10 or more treys to its credit in 12 games this year (10-2).
 
Emory is 20-0 when leading at halftime this year, 106-15 during Jason Zimmerman's tenure as head coach.
 
Northwestern (Minn.) (20-9) | Home | Schedule | Roster | Stats

Projected Starters:
5 – Will Gisler – First Team All-UMAC, 9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.2 apg, 0.9 spg, .439 FG pct., .327 3PT pct.
10 – Michael Carney – UMAC Player of the Year, 15.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, .442 FG pct., .413 3PT pct.
11 – Caleb Janson – UMAC All-Defensive Team, 8.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, .479 FG pct.
21 – Porter Morrell – Second Team All-UMAC, 11.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.6 apg, .453 FG pct., .411 3PT pct.
31 – Kyle Ooms – 6.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.1 bpg, .524 FG pct.

Notes:
Northwestern defeated third-ranked (D3hoops.com) University of St. Thomas 71-70 last Friday on Porter Morrell's buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Eagles their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. UNW then handed Elmhurst College an 84-75 loss on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16. Both games were at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. Northwestern's NCAA Tournament wins last weekend were the first in program history.

Northwestern is currently 20-9 and went a perfect 14-0 in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play in 2014-2015. The Eagles won the UMAC Tournament to earn the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament. Northwestern has won its last 18 games, a program record.

Head coach Tim Grosz's teams have won 20 or more games in seven of his 15 years at the team's helm. In the same span of time, UNW has claimed 12 outright or shared UMAC regular season championships including the last three. The Eagles have won all of the last five UMAC Tournaments and have claimed all of the league's automatic qualifiers since the conference was granted an AQ in 2011. Grosz boasts the highest winning percentage of any other Northwestern men's basketball coach with a 287-152 (65.3) win-loss record. Coach Grosz's 287 all-time victories are tops among the six men who have coached the Eagles.

Junior Michael Carney scored 14 points in last Saturday's win over Elmhurst with his 14th point, which came on a three-pointer in the second half, being the 1,000th of his career. Carney was named the UMAC Player of the Year on March 3. Junior Caleb Janson has 491 career rebounds to his name in three years' time. Should Janson reach 500 career boards, he would be the 19th player in Northwestern's 41 years of sponsoring basketball to hit that mark. Janson was named as a member of the five-team All-UMAC Defensive Team in the same league postseason awards announcement.

As a team, Northwestern ranks 13th in the nation in turnovers per game, averaging 10.1 per contest. UNW is also one of the least fouling teams in Division III, committing 14.7 fouls per game, a number that ranks 15th nationwide.

Northwestern last played at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, losing to the then 14th-ranked Pointers 71-54.

Prior to 2015, three of Northwestern's last four NCAA Tournament opening-games were against the eventual national champion (St. Thomas, Wis.-Whitewater) from that specific year. Last Friday's battle against St. Thomas was the first time that the Eagles played an NCAA Tournament contest on a neutral court.

East Texas Baptist (25-5) | Home | Schedule | Roster | Stats

Projected Starters:
15 – Erby Thompson –Honorable Mention All-ASC,  7.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.3 apg, .408 FG pct., .346 3PT pct.
20 – Junior Mitchell – Honorable Mention All-ASC, 10.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.1 apg, .463 FG pct., 0.9 spg
21 – Dylan Augustine – Third Team All-ASC, 10.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.5 spg,  .478 FG pct., .444 3PT pct.
24 – Justin Felicia – 9.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.3 spg, .539 FG pct., .406 3PT pct.
35 – Jamil Samuel – Second Team All-ASC, 11.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.9 spg, 2.4 bpg, .522 FG pct.

Notes:
ETBU's 25 wins are the third-most in program history and the second time head coach Bert West has recorded a 20-win season.

The Eagles' 22-game home winning streak is third in NCAA Division III behind Defiance College's 23-game and Albert Magnus 57-game winning streak.

ETBU had two winning streaks that were program bests this year - starting the season off at 8-0 and then a 10-game winning streak from January 15 - February 14.

Jamil Samuel is eighth in the nation with 72 blocks.

ETBU's defense is seventh in the nation in shooting percentage at 37.9 percent.

This is the first time ETBU has made and advanced in the NCAA Tournament.

The ASC regular season and tournament championships were a first for ETBU in the NCAA Division III era and earned the team an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The national ranking of 25th by D3hoops.com is the first time in NCAA Division III era that ETBU has been ranked. ETBU moved to NCAA Division III in 2000.