Preview: @UNCO_MBB Hosts First Postseason Game in Four Years

Greeley, Colo.—The postseason is never guaranteed and it is more than just another game as the seniors on a roster receive one more chance to play. The College Insider Tournament (CIT) offers Andre Spight, Anthony Johnson, Tanner Morgan and Tyler Loose another chance to go out on top as the champion of the CIT will be crowned March 30. UNC's (22-12) first opponent is the Drake Bulldogs (17-16) of the Missouri Valley Conference.

The game is scheduled to begin at 3 pm Sunday, March 18 and will be broadcast on www.watchcit.com. You can listen to 1310 KFKA for the call of the game and follow stats live at uncbears.com. The first 250 students will receive free admission courtesy of Pepsi and we will have the cash cube there for your chance to win up to 250 dollars thanks to Bank of Colorado.

Opening Tip
This will be the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Bears but the two squads have three common opponents this season. UNC and DU have both competed against Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming with the Bears' record standing at 2-1 and the Bulldogs 0-3 but they did take Wyoming to two overtimes before losing 96-89.

This will be the Bears' first Missouri Valley Conference opponent since UNC had back-to-back games vs MVC foes when they lost to Wichita State and Northern Iowa back in the early part of the 2012-13 season.

Last Time Out
The Bears lost in an instant classic to the Montana Grizzlies during the semifinal match of the Big Sky Conference tournament. UNC led by six late in the game before UM tied it up with their only 3 of the game to send it to overtime where the Griz jumped out to a five-point lead and didn't give it up. UNC got the press with Jordan Davis' Sportscenter top play as he dunked on Fabijan Krslovic but Montana won the game and then went on to win the tournament.

Postseason History
Northern Colorado currently sits at 1-3 in postseason play. Their only win was against the University of Portland Pilots in the 2010 CIT, 81-73. Five Bears scored in double-digits and Will Figures led all scorers with 20 points in the victory. UNC fell to Pacific in the next round 63-69 to end their season.
Northern Colorado is no stranger to the CIT as their last postseason bid was in the CIT where the Bears were downed by Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 82-71. Derrick Barden was the top Bear with 18 points and it was the last postseason game UNC has played. Anthony Johnson was on that team and scored three points in the game vs Texas A&M CC and Ant is the only Bear currently with playoff experience.

Bear Tracks

Andre Spight has distanced himself from the rest of the pack when it comes to single-season records. Spight now holds four single-season high marks. His 745 points is the most impressive of the four as Dre is currently 58 points ahead of Devon Beitzel's previous record of 687. The other three records Spight holds are scoring average (21.9), 3-pointers made (106) and field goals made (225). The Arizona State transfer's 745 season points is fifth all-time in Big Sky and 35 points behind fourth-place Randy Onwuasor of Southern Utah (2016-17).
Jordan Davis is quickly approaching his numbers from last season for points scored. JD has 540 points so far this season and needs just 20 to match his 560-point season from a year ago. The 540 points puts the Las Vegas native at 1,440 for his career which sits him in fifth place…41 points behind Derek Chaney (1990-94) (1,491) for fourth place on the all-time points list for UNC.
Freshman Jalen Sanders has 20 more blocks than the previous record holder for a single season. Sanders has 48 swats on the season. Sanders averages 1.4 blocks per contest and that average is 117^th in the nation.
Anthony Johnson needs just 20 points to reach 1,000 for his career. Ant averages 9.6ppg but does have a 37-point game under his belt.
The overtime defeat to the hands of the Montana Grizzlies was the first time all season the Bears fell when they shot a higher field goal percentage. Northern Colorado is 18-1 on the season when shooting better and 28-3 while Jeff Linder has been the head coach.
Northern Colorado had the best regular season of any Bear team as they have scored 2,740 points on the season which obliterates the previous record of 2,426 in the 2010-11 season.
UNC bettered their rebounding average record from a season ago as the Bears have averaged 37.7 boards per game which is .6 more than a season ago.
This year's squad has climbed to the top of two other categories for a single season. With Sanders' 48 blocks and 123 total blocks, the Bears average 3.6 blocks per game and that is 1.1 rejections more than the previous record of 2,5 during the 2015-16 season.

Scouting Drake
Niko Medved was named the head men's basketball coach at Drake on March 26, 2017, after a successful four-year tenure building the program at Furman University. Medved, the 2017 Southern Conference Coach of the Year, served as the head coach at Furman for four seasons where he led the Paladins to the 2017 SoCon regular-season championship with a 13-3 conference record. The season's highlights included a 10-game win streak and a second-straight appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Medved guided the Paladins to the semifinals of the postseason tournament with a 23-11 record.

The Bulldogs leading scorer is Reed Timmer who averages 19.2 points per game and that average put Timmer second in the Missouri Valley behind Ryan Taylor of Evansville (21.3). DU has two other players that average in double digits: Nick McGlynn (11.4ppg) and De'Antae McMurray (10.2ppg).
C.J Rivers is the Bulldogs' leading rebounder with 5.9 boards per game and McGlynn is second with 5.6 rebounds per game. McGlynn is their leading shot blocker with 55 rejections on the season and there is only one other Bulldog who has double-digit blocks as Casey Schlatter has 10.
Drake puts in 73.8 points a contest and lets their opponents score 73.2 per game as their season total points is only 20 points more than the team that occupies the other bench. The Bulldogs have played in four overtime games on the season and won two of those games. Two of those OT tilts went to double overtime where they went 1-1. Their first game in the CIT went to an extra period where they beat Abilene Christian 80-73.
Drake finished 17-16 on the season and 10-6 in the MVC. DU lost their last two games of the season and fell to Bradley in the Missouri Valley Tournament.
The Bulldogs biggest win of the season was early on vs ACC opponent Wake Forest in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam as Drake edged out the Demon Deacons 77-74. Timmer had 29 and Graham Woodward came off the bench to score 20.
Drake is allowing their opponents to shoot 45% on the season while only shooting 43.8%.

What's Ahead
If the Bears win, UNC will move on to the quarterfinals of the CIT with their opponent to be determined.