Montevallo, Ala.----For the second straight season, the Wingate University men’s basketball team is playing its best basketball at the end of the year. Unlike this time last year, the Bulldogs will have a chance to continue their winning ways into the second week of March as they begin play Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. The 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament champions enter the regionals, hosted by the University of Montevallo, as the seven seed.

Wingate (20-11 overall) owns an impressive 19-3 record during February and March the past two seasons, including a 10-1 ledger this year. “I think the main credit to that is the high quality of competition we schedule in the non-conference,” Wingate head coach Brian Good says. “We don’t schedule wins in November and December and because of it, those teams expose our weaknesses which allows us to continue to improve through January and be ready for a late-season run.”

The three defeats were to Anderson University and Lincoln Memorial University, both of whom have made the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years. “The other factor is that we are a very well-balanced team,” the fourth-year Wingate mentor says. “This is evident in that 10 guys have scored 12 points or more in a game for us this year.”

Wingate will take on the second-seeded Pacers of USC Aiken in the first round on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EST in BankTrust Arena. The Pacers (21-7 overall) won the Peach Belt Conference regular season and are making their sixth NCAA appearance. USC Aiken is 4-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with an appearance in the 2009 Sweet Sixteen.

The Bulldogs are making their eighth NCAA tournament appearance and first since the 2008 season. In seven previous trips, Wingate is 5-7 overall including a 3-2 record in the first round. In 2007, Wingate won the regional at Augusta State and became the first SAC men’s team to make the Division II Elite Eight. The ’07 team also entered the NCAA tourney as SAC tournament champions.

The ‘Dogs own NCAA post-season experience on the coaching staff, but all twelve of the student-athletes will be embarking on their first regional experience. USC Aiken is making their fourth trip in the last five seasons. Wingate senior guard Chase Smith (Upper Marlboro, Md.) is excited for the opportunity regardless of the lack of experience. “Making the tournament is a great feeling,” Smith says. “As a college basketball player, you want to make it to the big dance.  Now that we are here, the feeling has diminished a little and it’s not enough to only be here. We want to win and accomplish another goal we have set for ourselves.”

Both teams are shooting 45 percent this season. The Bulldogs rely heavily on the defensive side of the ball as they come in to the tourney 21st in the nation in field goal defense and hold opponents to only 31 percent from beyond the arc, which ranks top in the SAC and 28th in the country. USC Aiken will look to 40 minutes of full-court pressure to lead to easy baskets and points off turnovers. The Pacers are sixth in NCAA Division II with 10 steals per game and ninth in turnover margin.

The Bulldogs and Pacers share five common opponents in 2011-12. Wingate is 4-2 against the five teams, with two victories over Mars Hill and one each against UNC Pembroke and Virginia Union. The losses came to Armstrong and Clayton State. USC Aiken is 6-3 against those teams, as they beat Armstrong twice, while splitting with Clayton State, Virginia Union, and UNCP. The Pacers also picked up a victory in the first week of the season over SAC member Mars Hill.

With the region rankings changing frequently during the final two weeks of the season, including Montevallo’s jump from fourth to first in the last week, the Southeast Region appears as wide open as ever. The Bulldogs can look to take a page out of fellow SAC member Anderson’s book, as the Trojans made a run to the Elite Eight last season as the seven seed. It’s clear the ‘Dogs are eager for their chance at making history and are as motivated as ever.

"The thing I’m most excited about the team right now is that we had some of our best practices after the end of the regular season,” Good says. “These guys are hungry for more, haven’t let up at all and are growing more confident. We are ready.”

WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,500 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. The university offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, physician assistant studies and sports administration and doctorates in pharmacy and education.
 
Wingate students gain the tools and support they need to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. The campus community offers in-class learning, out-of-class experiences, strong mentors, a competitive yet caring environment and rewarding community service opportunities for a complete educational experience.
 
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past five years.
 
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 51 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.
 
(Wingate University Director of Broadcasting and Productions and sports information assistant Ryan Brown wrote this article. Brown is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)