TOPEKA, Kan. – Oklahoma Baptist (29-3) takes on Minnesota Duluth (23-11) in the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament Final on March 17 at 7 p.m. inside Lee Arena at Washburn University.
The Bison, the second seed, are into Tuesday's final after wins over Harding (77-68) and Central Missouri (75-63). As for the Bulldogs, the eight seed, they upset host and top seed Washburn 64-62 before a 61-55 win over St. Cloud State. UMD is on a tear recently too, winning 10 in a row.
This is the third all-time matchup between OBU and UMD. The two schools had a home-and-home series during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and the Bulldogs won by scores of 77-71 and 71-52.
Tuesday night's winner will move on to play in the "Elite Eight" which will be held at Duquesne University's UPMC Fieldhouse on March 25 in Pittsburg, Pa. As usual, Todd Miller and Dave Myrick will call the game on KGFF in Shawnee. Below are notes on the squads.
For the Bison:
OBU is in its first-ever "Sweet Sixteen" in the D2 era. Should they win on Tuesday, they'll become the first GAC men's squad to win a regional. Previously, Arkansas Tech lost to Midwestern State in a 2012 regional final and most recently, Southern Nazarene fell to Minnesota Duluth in 2023 in the same round.
The Bison's 29 wins this season are the most in its Division II history. A 30th win would mark the first time since 2011-12 (32) that the program reached that total.
In the two games in this regional,
Joshua Udoumoh has led the team with a 15.0 points average. He's made nearly 48 percent from the field and 6-of-8 (75.0) from the foul line.
Four other players have averaged double-figures:
Terry Coner Jr.,
Austin Coner,
Jackson Greene and
Christian Hodge. For Hodge, he's leading in rebounding as well at 9.5 per game with a whopping 10 steals too.
While OBU hasn't shot too hot from downtown (29.7), they are making 45 percent overall and 78 percent from the foul line. On the defensive end, the Bison held Harding and UCM to 38-percent shooting and 32 percent from three-land. Furthermore, the Bison have notched 22 steals in two games this week.
A Key Stat: Well, two stats actually. The Bison have outscored opponents 80-42 in the paint and OBU's bench has outpaced HU's and UCM's reserves 56-22.
Watch for This: Each of these teams do not commit many turnovers. In fact, heading into the NCAA Tournament, UMD ranked 11th averaging 10.0 miscues per contest. For OBU? It was one spot higher, ninth, committing 9.9 turnovers per game.
For the Bulldogs:
As mentioned earlier, Minnesota Duluth has won 10 in a row. On Feb. 7, UMD was 13-11 after an 85-83 loss to Minot State. Since then, they got into the NSIC Tournament, won that conference tourney as the six seed and then pulled off the upset of the college basketball season when it edged Washburn, a No. 1 seed, 64-62 this past Friday.
UMD is as efficient as it comes. While they rank 118th in scoring offense (77.9), they have eight different players that shoot at least 42 percent from the field.
Six-foot-nine redshirt senior Noah Paulson is a difficult matchup. He leads the team making 57.5 percent from the field. He also is making 78.9 percent from the charity stripe and has made 38.9 from deep (21-of-54).
Point guard Caleb Siwek leads UMD in scoring (15.3) and pulls down 4.1 rebounds. He has started every game for the Bulldogs and has scored as many as 34 points twice.
Lastly on the offensive front, Siwek and Kole Hanson have each hit 61 shots from three and each make at least 36 percent of their shots from behind the three-point line.
A Key Stat: In the two regional games so far, the Bulldogs have held opponents to a 58.5 points scoring average and limited Washburn and St. Cloud to a 10-of-49 (20.4) showing from deep.
Watch for This: While UMD's three-point defense has been good in its two games this week in Topeka, they came into the NCAA Tournament ranking 205th in the country in that category giving up nearly 35 percent from deep.
