2020 NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Regional • RIMAC Arena • La Jolla, Calif. (hosted by UC San Diego)
• Webcasts: https://ucsdtritons.com/watch
• LiveStats: https://ucsdtritons.com/sidearmstats/mbball
 
Friday, March 13 (First Round)
Game 1 – (#6) Point Loma vs. (#3) Cal Poly Pomona,  12:00 p.m.
Game 2 – (#7) CSU San Bernardino vs. (#2) Azusa Pacific,  2:30 p.m.
Game 3 – (#8) Western Washington vs. (#1) UC San Diego,  5:00 p.m.
Game 3 – (#5) Seattle Pacific vs. (#4) Chico State,  7:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, March 14 (Regional Semifinals)
Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2,  5:00 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4,  7:30 p.m.
 
Monday, March 16 (Regional Championship)
Game 7 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6,  7:00 p.m.
 
Fifth-seeded Seattle Pacific faces a familiar foe for the first round of the men's basketball West Regional when the 64-team NCAA Division II Tournament begins this weekend. The Falcons (22-7) have a first-round clash against No. 4 seed Chico State on Friday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in La Jolla, California. That will be a rematch as the Wildcats (23-7) were 75-53 victors at SPU on Nov. 8, 2019 in the season opener for both teams. Spectators will not be allowed to attend the games as the NCAA announce that all winter championships, including this weekend's regional, will be conducted with fans.
 
They're Back
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season champion Falcons return to the NCAA playoffs for the second straight season under Coach Grant Leep. They participated every year from 2005-16, a 12-year streak that was the longest in Division II at the time, before a two-year absence in 2017 and 2018. SPU, which lost just three times in its last 25 outings, was edged 86-85 by Alaska Anchorage on Mar. 6 in the GNAC Tournament semifinals. The Falcons are one of eight teams vying for the West Region title. This is the 29th NCAA Tournament appearance for SPU, which advanced to the national semifinals in 2000 and 2006 and placed third both times.
 
First-Round Feats
SPU has a stellar 18-10 record in NCAA opening-round playoff contests, including a 77-75 win over Chaminade last season in San Diego. The Falcons won seven of their last 10 NCAA first-round contests.
 
West Region Field
The SPU-Chico winner advances to Saturday's regional semifinals for a 7:30 p.m. meeting with the first-round victor between top-seeded and fourth-ranked UC San Diego (30-1) and GNAC Tournament champion Western Washington (20-10). In the other half of the regional bracket, No. 2 seed Azusa Pacific (25-4), ranked eighth nationally, has a first-round encounter with No. 7 seed Cal State San Bernardino (21-8) at 2:30 p.m. The winner of that game will meet the survivor of the noon matchup between No. 3 seed and 25th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona (23-7) and No. 6 Point Loma (24-6). The regional championship game is slated for Monday, Mar. 16 at 7 p.m.

DIVANT'E  MOFFITT INTERVIEW

The Venue
All three rounds of the West Regional will be played at RIMAC Arena on the campus of top seed UC San Diego. In their final year in NCAA Division II, the Tritons are transitioning to the Division I level. The West Regional has a Friday-Saturday-Monday format and the other seven other regions have a Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday structure.

UC San Diego and COVID-19
Earlier this week, UC San Diego announced new guidelines for gatherings on campus and university-hosted events through May 10 – including UC San Diego-sponsored events being "fan-less". Spectators will not be permitted to attend the NCAA West Regional at RIMAC Arena this weekend in accordance with the NCAA mandate that all winter championships be conducted without fans.

For the latest information on UC San Diego and COVID-19, please visit the University's information page.
 
Scouting Chico State (23-7, No. 4 seed)
> The fourth-seeded Wildcats are the only team to defeat the region's top seed, dealing UC San Diego an 81-73 loss on Dec. 5 in La Jolla.
 
> Malik Duffy, a 6-foot-8 forward, leads five Chico double-digit scorers with 12.4 points per game.
 
> The Falcons own a 13-3 series advantage despite losing the last meeting, 75-53, on Nov. 8 in the season opener in Seattle. Malik Duffy paced Chico with 25 points.
 
Scouting UC San Diego (30-1, No. 1 seed)
> The top-seeded and fourth-ranked Tritons sustained their lone loss on Dec. 5, an 81-73 home defeat versus Chico State. They have won 22 consecutive games since then.
 
> UCSD features 5-foot-11 guard Tyrell Roberts, the CCAA Player of the Year who scores at a 19.2-point clip. Christian Oshita averages 17.6 points and 6.6 rebounds.
 
> SPU owns a 2-1 edge in the all-time series, but they haven't met since the Tritons were 62-52 victors on Nov. 24, 2006 in Las Vegas. The Falcons won the first-two encounters, 87-57 on Dec. 16, 1978 in Seattle and 80-67 on Dec. 16, 2002 in La Jolla.
 
Scouting Western Washington (20-10, No. 8 seed)
> The GNAC Tournament champion Vikings won six of their last seven games, including a 73-68 victory at SPU on Feb. 22.
 
> Trevor Jasinsky tops four Vikings double-figure scorers with a 14.8-point average. He was the GNAC Tournament MVP.
 
> The Falcons own an 87-56 series advantage and won four straight meetings before losing on Feb. 22. SPU was a 74-65 road victor in this year's first matchup on Jan. 23.
 
NCAA Format
The NCAA Division II Tournament features a 64-team field with eight regionals of eight teams from that geographic area. Each regional champion earns a trip to the Elite Eight at The Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The national quarterfinals are Mar. 26 with the semifinals on Mar. 28. The championship game will be televised live by CBS on April 5 at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. It will be played on the Sunday of Final Four weekend at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, the site of the Division I championship. Point Loma captured last year's West Region crown and advanced to the national title game before losing 64-58 to 2019 champion Northwest Missouri State.
 
Court Report
Since losing its opening four games, SPU won 22 of its last 25 contests ... The Falcons reeled off 14 consecutive victories from Nov. 16 to Jan. 25 that was one shy of the school-record winning streak of 15 ... Divante Moffitt ranks second in the GNAC with 136 free throws made, 58 more than any of his teammates ... The Falcons boast a 15-1 record in games when they score 80 or more points ... Eight different Falcons have led the team in scoring in a game ... SPU has a 19-1 record when leading with five minutes remaining and has an 18-1 record when ahead at halftime.
 
Sharp Shooters
 

The SPU men rank No. 15 nationally in team field goal accuracy (49.7%), 19th in 3-point shooting (40.1%) and second in free throws (80.5%). They reached the 50-percent mark 14 times in 29 contests and winning all 14. They held all but five foes under 50-percent and won all 18 games when out-shooting opponents. SPU hit an astounding 70 percent of its attempts (42 of 60) in a Dec. 20 home win over Puget Sound, nearly eclipsing the school record of 71.2 percent (37 of 52) set against BYU-Hawaii on Jan. 29, 2000. Four Falcons are making more shots than they miss, led by the 57-percent accuracy (74 of 129) of Filip Fullerton. Shaw Anderson is SPU's best 3-point shooter at 56 percent (58 of 103). Six SPU players convert free throws at better than an 80-percent clip, topped by Braden Olsen at 85.7-percent (66 of 77).
 
Dynamic Divant'e
Point guard Divant'e Moffitt is in the midst of a stellar sophomore campaign and was honored as a unanimous first-team All-GNAC selection. His 17.1-point average ranks fourth in the GNAC and his 3.4 assists per game is seventh. Moffitt erupted for a career-high 33 points at Alaska Fairbanks (Jan. 30), his second 30-point performance. He reached double-digits 24 times, nine of them 20-plus point performances. Moffitt has been the Falcons top scorer in 13 games and leading assister 18 times. He shoots 51 percent from the field and 81% from the free throw line.
 
Tourney Veterans
Just three active Falcons have NCAA Tournament experience with two games apiece last year. Harry Cavell is the only one to have started a playoff game. Cavell had a 13-point performance in the 2019 regional semifinal versus Saint Martin's. Divant'e Moffitt tallied 11 points off the bench in that game. Sharif Khan tallied six points in last year's opening-round win over Chaminade.
 
Short Bench
The Falcons have just nine healthy players and four of them had never worn an SPU uniform before this year. They have been without the services of starting guard Gavin Long for the last 16 games due to a shoulder injury. The senior was SPU's leading scorer (14.4 ppg) and a second-team All-GNAC honoree in 2019.
 
Frosh Phenom
GNAC Freshman of the Year Shaw Anderson is a two-time Player of the Week (Jan. 6 & Jan. 13). He averages 12.8 points while shooting 55 percent from the field. The 6-foot-6 forward is even better outside the arc, nailing 56.3 percent of his 3-pointers (58 of 103). Anderson compiled a streak off 11 straight successful 3-pointers from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8. He netted a career-high 34 points at Western Oregon (Jan. 11). Anderson posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. CWU on Feb. 29.
 
20-Game Winners
The Falcons' 88-67 win at Simon Fraser on Feb. 20 clinched the second straight 20-win season under fourth-year coach Grant Leep. They achieved 20 wins for the 26th time in the program's 76-year history.
 
30-Point Producers
SPU players have produced four 30-point games, the most since there were four in 2017. Shaw Anderson tallied 33 points on Jan. 4, the most by a Falcon since 2017. Anderson then amassed 34 points on Jan. 11. Divant'e Moffitt compiled 30 points on Jan. 18 and erupted for a career-high 33 on Jan. 30.
 
Coach Leep
GNAC Coach of the Year Grant Leep, 40, is in his fourth season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 73-42 career record. Leep coached the 2019 team to a 22-7 record that featured a late 13-game winning streak. His Falcons won the GNAC Tournament and advanced to the West Regional semifinal of the NCAA Division II Tournament. Leep has strong basketball ties throughout the Northwest as an All-America player at Mount Vernon (Wash.) High School before lettering four years at Washington. Leep still owns the Huskies 3-point accuracy records for a season (52.7% in 2002) and career (42.9%). His coaching resumé includes stops at Eastern Washington and a pair of community colleges. SPU had a 165-51 (.764) record during his time as an assistant.
 
Youth Movement
Just six of the 13 players on the roster had previously worn an SPU uniform and only one active player was a primary starter last season (Harry Cavell). The current nine-player rotation includes five underclassmen. Three are freshmen, with true frosh Shaw Anderson joined by red-shirts Jacob Medjo and Filip Fullerton. Sophomores Divant'e Moffitt and Braden Olsen share point-guard duties. The infusion of newcomers includes reserve center Mehdi El Mardi, a junior transfer from Trevecca Nazarene.
 
Decade of Dominance
The winningest decade in the stellar history of SPU basketball came to a close on Dec. 20 with the program's 211th victory from 2010-19. The 211-88 record produced a 70.6 winning percentage that ranks second all-time, trailing only the 71.3 percent mark (206-83) compiled by the Falcons teams from 2000-09.
 
Quoting Coach Grant  Leep
 

"I'm just really excited because this tournament is so hard to get into. So, for us to be back into it again is a good honor and a validation of hard work for our guys and the things that we've gone through together this season."

On returning to the NCAA Tournament: "Having experienced this last year was huge. We have a handful of guys that got to play in the regional last year and not only that, but won a game and advanced to the next round. Even with some of our young guys, they have that experience of being able to play March basketball already. That's going to be really big and we're going to need them to transfer that on to the guys that haven't been in this situation before and help them to understand the urgency, and the desperation almost, that you have to play with on every possession in tournament basketball."
 
On the rematch with Chico State: "Chico State beat us to start the season. With as young as we are and as we're growing, maturing and developing as team and getting better, March is like a new season. Now we get to start this new season with the same team that we started our real season with back in November. The lessons that we've learned, the things that we've improved in, the ways in which we got better, we're hoping those will carry over when we go play Chico State this next time.
 
"Coach (Greg) Clink does such a great job with his guys. They always defend, they're always ready to play and they play extremely hard. They presented some very different matchups with their bigs, who have some good skill and size to them. Their guard play was great. When you have all of those things working together, you're in this tournament for a reason because of that.
 
"With the way that their season was impacted last year, this is a Chico team that can really handle adversity and they're not going to get rattled by the moment or any situation with what they all fought through last year with the fires that were going on there in November. This is going to be a really well-test, seasoned group. The No. 1 team from the region is in their conference as is the No. 3 team and the No. 7 team. So, they've been battle tested through-and-through and there's not going to be much that fazes them. We just have to hook it up and play."
 
On the GNAC semifinal loss: "It was a huge learning experience for us. We need to start games with the same mentality that we started that second half with. We just can't wait for it to get to the point where we're fighting uphill the whole time. It's just too hard. But if we start games the way that we started the second half on Friday then we're not going to have to ever be in those situations. That was more the team that we are and who we want to be for 40 minutes, not just for 20."