NCAC Tournament Notebook: Men's Basketball

Outlook: The North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament is here, and The College of Wooster men's basketball team (16-9, 12-4 NCAC) is the second seed. Wooster will host seventh-seeded DePauw University (12-13, 7-9 NCAC) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Other quarterfinals are NCAC champion Wabash College (17-8, 13-3 NCAC) hosting eighth-seeded Kenyon College (5-20, 3-13 NCAC) at 7 p.m., third-seeded Wittenberg University (17-8, 11-5 NCAC) taking on sixth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University (11-14, 8-8 NCAC) at 6 p.m., and fourth-seeded Denison University (14-11, 10-6 NCAC) taking on fifth-seeded Oberlin College (14-11, 8-8 NCAC) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday's winners advance to Friday's semifinals, which take place at the highest advancing seed. Friday's winners play in Saturday's 4 p.m. championship game, which takes place at the site of the semifinal contests.

 

Media Coverage: MCTV will produce the livestream of Wooster's quarterfinal game at it can be viewed at https://northcoastnetwork.com/wooster. MCTV customers living in Wayne and Stark Counties can catch replays of Wooster's game and should consult local listings for times. Mike Breckenridge's call of Wooster's game can be heard on WQKT 104.5 FM and online at https://wqkt.com. Fans can also follow the live stats link on Wooster's men's basketball schedule page.

 

Ticket Information: Ticket prices for the NCAC Tournament are set by the conference office. For the quarterfinals, ticket prices are $7 for adults (includes senior citizens and College of Wooster faculty and staff members), $5 for children (18 & under), $5 for holders of a NCAC guest pass, and $5 for students without an ID card from a NCAC institution. NCAC students are admitted free of charge, but must have a valid student ID card from a NCAC institution and must pick up a ticket at the ticket booth prior to entering Timken Gymnasium. A reminder, Wooster season ticket passes are not valid for postseason events, which include all NCAA and NCAC Tournament games hosted by Wooster. Ticket sales will start 60 minutes prior to tipoff.

 

NCAC Tournament History: Wooster has won the NCAC Tournament a league-best 17 times. Wittenberg is next with eight tournament crowns, while Ohio Wesleyan is in third-place with five. Wooster is a remarkable 79-21 all-time in the NCAC Tournament, and is 60-11 when playing at Timken Gymnasium. Wooster, winners of 26 consecutive NCAC Tournament quarterfinal games, is 33-5 all-time in the quarterfinals. Wooster has played in 24 of the last 26 championship games. In last year's quarterfinal, Carter Warstler more than doubled his career-high with 25 points on the strength of a 6-of-9 night from beyond the arc. Warstler's 25 points marked the 23rd time a Scot has scored at least 25 points in the NCAC Tournament. Wooster hit 17 three-pointers in a 92-77 win over Oberlin, tying for the sixth-most in program history and the top mark since hitting 18 against Hiram College on Jan. 20, 2019. Wooster's 42 three-point attempts were three off the single-game program record set in 2006.

 

2023 NCAC Tournament Recap: In 2023, Wooster won its quarterfinal game for the 26th consecutive year with a 92-77 win over Oberlin. In the semifinal, Wooster took a commanding lead on Denison halfway through the second half, then did not let the Big Red come close to threatening down the stretch, in a 79-54 victory. Wooster closed out Denison with a 23-12 stretch that ended with alumnus Najee Hardaway's turnaround jumper in the paint upping the Scots' lead to 63-43 at the 8:04 mark. Wooster's lead did not dip below 18 the rest of the night. Wooster had a chance for a second buzzer-beating game-winner over Wabash in an eight-day stretch, but the Scots did not get off a good look, enabling the Little Giants to hang on for an 81-80 win in the championship. Then-sophomore Jamir Billings (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain) broke Rick Hochstetler's 1997 single-game program record with 10 three-pointers. Wabash's Ahmoni Jones, who earned the Al Van Wie Award as the tournament's most outstanding player, hit the game-winner on a turnaround jumper from the foul line while heavily contested with 10.2 seconds remaining.

 

Talking Seeds and Stats: Wooster, which has been a top-three seed for the NCAC Tournament every year since 1989, is playing as the No. 2 seed for the sixth time since 2015. Wooster is 26-7 all-time as the No. 2 seed and five of Wooster's 17 NCAC Tournament titles have come as the No. 2 seed, with the most recent in 2017. Wooster has won its quarterfinal game every year since 1997 and is 4-1 all-time in the NCAC Tournament against DePauw. Wooster and DePauw last met up in the NCAC Tournament in the 2022 semifinals, where the Scots won 75-59. The teams played in the quarterfinals in 2018 (Wooster 70-63) and 2012 (Wooster 59-51).

 

Every Role is Important: Guys buying into their roles has fueled Wooster's success for nearly four decades. Wooster's bench plays a key role to the overall team success, and that has been especially evident the last several years in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals. In 2018, alumnus Blake Blair came through with 14 points and four rebounds during Wooster's 70-63 win over DePauw. A year later, fan favorite Khaylen Mahdi filled that role with 16 points and four assists in Wooster's 91-89 win over Allegheny. Four years ago, Hardaway keyed the Scots with 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds in Wooster's 92-66 win over Allegheny. Two years ago, Nick Everett (Salem, Ohio/West Branch) filled that role, finishing with a then-career-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Last year, Warstler delivered the top effort in the stretch of outcome-altering bench contributions with a career-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting, which included a 6-of-9 mark from beyond the arc.

 

Wooster is the Winningest NCAA Div. III Team of the 2000s: Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, Wooster has Div. III's highest winning percentage at .805 (581-141). In fact, Wooster's winning percentage in the 2000s is higher than every other NCAA Div. I, II, and III men's basketball program except for Gonzaga University (.834; 709-141), the University of Kansas (.811; 717-167), and Duke University (.808; 707-168). (records through games played Feb. 17)

 

Still in Search of No. 18: Wooster has some work left to do this season in order to keep its run of 18-win seasons intact. Wooster is looking to extend its run of 18-win seasons to 35, a simply remarkable run, considering there are only 25 regular season games in Div. III. Wooster's 24-year run of consecutive 20-win seasons was snapped two years ago. Wooster's 1,821 wins are the second-most in Div. III history trailing Wittenberg's 1,856.

 

Record-Breaking Billings: Billings is a very special player for Wooster and is one of the top point guards in program history. His record-breaking prowess was immediately evident as a first-year, starting by matching Mike Stoll's 49-year-old single-game record with 12 assists in a January 2022 game against Kenyon. Billings broke the single-game record for steals with 10 16 days later at Hiram and went on to break the program's single-season steals record with 84. Billings' 164 assists as a first-year were two shy of Sam Dixon's program-record 166 set back in 1979. As a sophomore, Billings logged a second game with 12 assists, then made 10 three-pointers in the championship game of the NCAC Tournament, besting Rick Hochstetler's nine from a 1997 NCAA Div. III Tournament game against Ohio Northern University. Most recently, Billings passed out career assist 445 in the Feb. 17 game at Wabash to move past Erich Riebe (1988-92) and Antwyan Reynolds (1998-02) for the most all-time at Wooster. Billings is four steals shy of matching his single-season record, while two more assists this year will make Billings the lone player with two of the top-four current single-season marks in program history.

 

The Record Chaser: Everett has played a big part of Wooster's success since transferring in from NCAA Div. II Edinboro University. He is averaging a career-high 13.2 points per game this season, and should his field-goal percentage remain above 69.565 percent (128-of-184), he will break Matt Schlingman's single-season NCAC and Wooster records. Everett enters the NCAC Tournament shooting 70.1 percent (115-of-164) for the season and has made 79.6 percent (78-of-98) of field goals since Dec. 29, a span of 16 games. Everett set the program record with 24 consecutive field-goal makes spanning Jan. 17-Feb. 3 and came up two shy of Anna Maria College's Mike Rapoza's NCAA Div. III record of 26 consecutive makes.

 

Transferring Success: Wooster's success over the last few years is partially attributed to impactful transfers. Everett came in with Edinboro teammate Turner Kurt, who enjoyed an all-conference career at Wooster. This year, three transfers found their way to Wooster, including junior Ashton Price (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay), who is the team's leading scorer at 15.7 points per game. Price, who leads the NCAC (minimum of five field goals made per game) with a 50.6 field-goal percentage, has six 20-point games on the season. He has scored in double figures in 15 of Wooster's last 16 games. Price was Baldwin Wallace University's second-leading scorer at 14.3 points per night during the 2022-23 season.

 

Hometown Pride: Senior JJ Cline (Wooster, Ohio/Northwestern) has been around the program since before he could dribble a basketball. The son of head coach Doug Cline is a two-year starter in the program and is having his best season yet, ranking fourth on the team with 8.7 points per game. Cline dropped in 20 points for the first time in a win at Ohio Wesleyan on Jan. 24 and was 7-of-9 from the floor in the victory. He is one of the leaders on defense, drawing a team-leading eight charges this season. Known more as an effort and hustle player earlier in his career, Cline's game has transformed, which has made him a legitimate offensive weapon. Cline's outside shooting is where he is most improved, as the senior is connecting at 43.5 percent (30-of-69) from downtown this season.

 

Sophomore Class Very Important to Team: Wooster's roster is a little greener in terms of overall game experience this season. Those who have followed the program closely for years do not notice a big difference though, thanks to Jaiden Cox-Holloway (Cleveland, Ohio/Richmond Heights), EJ Kapihe (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Kamehameha Schools), Isaac Roeder (Monroeville, Ohio/Monroeville), Isaiah Johnson (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South), and Vinni Veikalas (Joniškis, Lithuania/Western Reserve Academy (Ohio)), who have all played big roles this year. Cox-Holloway has started every game this calendar year and logged his first collegiate double-double the first time Wooster and Wabash met. Kapihe dropped in 20 points against Rowan University on the opening weekend of the year and upped his career-high to 21 against Oberlin on a perfect 9-of-9 night from the floor. The Oberlin game marked Kapihe's first time playing in front of his parents since coming to Wooster as they made the trip in from Hawaii for the game. Roeder earned time in the regular rotation as the season progressed last year and is a well-rounded offensive threat who can both shoot and drive. Johnson and Veikalas are both reserve guards who play key minutes for the Scots. If the theme of bench contributions in the quarterfinals continues, look for someone from the group of Kapihe, Roeder, Johnson, and Veikalas to be that difference-maker.

 

Notable Wooster Alumni in Basketball: Wooster has several notable alumni in prominent coaching and administrative roles in college and professional basketball. L.W. St. John '06 served head men's basketball coach at Ohio State University from 1911-19, and was the Buckeyes' athletic director for over 30 years. Reggie Minton '63, an alternate for the 1964 United States Olympic Team, went on to have a decorated career as a coach and administrator, including a near two-decade tenure as a top administrator for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Minton was selected by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to receive the 2022 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and the honor is considered to be the top award given out by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside of enshrinement. Larry Shyatt '73 was an assistant coach at numerous programs, including the University of Florida, when the Gators won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2006 and 2007. Shyatt had two stints as head coach at the University of Wyoming, was the man in charge at Clemson University for a five-year stretch, and worked in the Dallas Mavericks organization. Lamont Paris '96 was on staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven seasons, during which the Badgers made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four (2014-15), including the 2015 title game. Paris then became the head coach at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he went 87-72 over five years, including 65-29 over his final three seasons. At present, Paris is in his second season as head coach at the University of South Carolina, where he is excelling, reaching as high as No. 11 in the national polls. Ryan Pedon '00 spent five years as the lead assistant at Ohio State, which ranked as high as second in the AP Top-25, before taking the head coaching position at Illinois State University, where he is in year two.