Cal U starts NCAA tournament play today against West Liberty
Following his team’s regular season finale against Edinboro, California University coach Bill Brown said that his team’s motto for this season was taking care of last year’s unfinished business. Brown stated that the Vulcans next goal would be to take the PSAC tournament and earn an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.
While the Vulcans ultimately fell short in the PSAC, they did receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and will begin their run for the title at 2:30 p.m. today against second-seeded West Liberty State.
The Vulcans dropped an overtime thriller to Cheyney in the PSAC semi-finals, due in large part to some struggles from 3-point range, an area that Brown has talked about extensively late in the season.
“We went 2-for-19 and they went 3-for-6,” said Brown. “I said at halftime, let’s stop shooting 3-pointers and try to get the ball inside. Sometimes you want to get so enamored with that 3-point shot. When you shoot 19 3-pointers, only make two of them, and lose by two, well, it’s just one of those nights.”
For the second consecutive game the Vulcans will take on an opponent that can score points in bunches – whether it be by the 3-pointer or in transition – and they will again have to rely on their stout defense and be more decisive in their shot selection than they were against Cheyney last Friday.
“Sometimes it felt like we were rushing to get our shots,” said senior Osborne Gardner following the Cheyney game. “We might have been able to get the same shot if we had just swung the ball around and they might have actually ended up being better shots.”
The Hilltoppers enter todays game boasting six players who are averaging double-digits in points, including two players – senior guard Corey McDuffie and junior forward Shane Maynard – who are averaging over 20 per game. California only has three players averaging double-digits and nobody over 14 – James Petty leads the team averaging 13.7 per game.
McDuffie has been West Liberty’s most dangerous player this season as he has shot 49-percent from the field and is 79-for-169 from 3-point range. He is also an 80-percent free-throw shooter and is averaging over 2 steals per game.
Today’s game will mark the fifth time under Brown that the Vulcans have qualified for the NCAA tournament, and the first time since 2004 when they dropped a 76-59 decision to PSAC rival Cheyney in the opening round.
NOTES: Osborne Gardner and James Petty were named first-team PSAC All-Stars this week while Kelvin Green was given second-team honors…The Vulcans finished the regular season with the largest rebounding margin in the PSAC as they were a +7 per game. They out rebounded their opponents by a 1062-862 margin…West Liberty State has scored 100 points 16 times this season including six of its past eight games…The Hilltoppers are averaging over 10 steals per game as a team…The winner of the California-West Liberty State game will play the winner of the Millersville-Mount Oliver (N.C.) contest at 6p.m. Sunday.