NCAA South Regional Central

VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 21-ranked Valdosta State men's basketball team learned Sunday evening it is the No. 4-seed in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship South Regional and will face No. 5-seed West Alabama Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., at Nova Southeastern University.  
 
Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming, ticket information for the regional and more at vstateblazers.com on the men's basketball schedule page.  The game will be broadcast on 92.1 WDDQ FM with Mike Chason having the call. 
 
Nova Southeastern is the host team and will face No. 8-seed Miles at 5 p.m., while No. 3 Lynn battles No. 6 Alabama Huntsville at 12 p.m. and No. 2 Florida Southern faces No. 7 Delta State at 2:30 p.m. The semifinals are set for 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 17, with the championship set for Mar. 19 at 7 p.m. The winner of Tuesday's regional championship advances to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind., Mar. 27-30.  
 
If the Blazers were to get past the Tigers, they would play the winner of the 1/8 matchup between Nova Southeastern and Miles College on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.  This is the first time Nova Southeastern has made the NCAA postseason in program history.  
 
With NSU making its first appearance in the NCAA Championship and VSU making its 11^th, Florida Southern leads the way with its 31^stappearance with a 45-31 record, while Lynn is making its sixth trip with an 11-5 record.  West Alabama also is making its fifth trip with a 2-4 mark, while Alabama Huntsville is making its 11^thtrip with a 13-10 mark.  Delta State is 16-15 in 15 trips to the NCAA Tournament and Miles is making its second trip to the Big Dance (1974) and is 0-1.  
 
VSU (24-6) is coming off a heartbreaking 70-69 loss to Delta State in the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference Championship, snapping a season-long ten game winning streak for the Blazers. Senior Beau Justice was named to the GSC All-Tournament Team.  He earned first team all-conference honors and senior Winston Morgan was named second team all-conference this year.
 
This marks VSU's 11^thtrip to the NCAA Championship as the team is 8-10 all-time in the championship.  This year marks the first time the team has reached the championship in three-straight years (76, 77 and 09, 10) as the Blazers earned berths in 2017 and 2018.  VSU has not advanced past the round of 64 since 2010, when it reached its only Elite Eight in program history.  
 
The Blazers won their third-straight Gulf South Conference regular season title this season with a 16-4 record, sharing the title with West Alabama.  VSU downed UWA twice this season and was the top-seed in the Gulf South Conference Championship.   The Blazers defeated Union 92-76 at VSU in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, before the heartbreaking 70-69 loss to DSU, who won the league tournament title, in the semifinal round.  
 
Over the last three years, VSU has had its best three-year run in program history as head coach Mike Helfer is 76-17 during that span, with three regular season conference titles and three NCAA postseason appearances.  The previous-best three-year mark was 74-23 by former head coach Gary Colson from 1966-68. 
 
Last time out, VSU led for a majority of the game in a GSC semifinal rematch from a season ago.  After DSU took the lead in the final five minutes, VSU trailed by five with 2:02 left and used a 6-0 run for a 69-68 lead with 17 seconds remaining. DSU's Cedric Harper hit a jumper with eight seconds left for a 70-69 lead as a shot by the Blazers missed at the buzzer.  VSU struggled from beyond the arc, going just 4 of 18 and was 21 of 56 from the field (.467), while going 23 of 28 from the line.  Justice had a team-high 17 points, while junior Clay Guillozet added 15 points and senior Greg Zuppas chipped in 14 points.  VSU led by a as many as 12 points early in the game and DSU had its first lead with 3:49 left on a triple from Matt Wilson, who earned GSC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
 
VSU's opponent is no stranger as the teams tied for the league regular season title with VSU winning both matchups this season. VSU is 50 of 128 from the field (.391) against the Tigers this season, while going 14 of 49 (.286) from beyond the arc and 31 of 46 from the line (.674).  The Blazers average 44 rebounds against UWA 72.5 points per game. Conversely, UWA is shooting .420 on 50 of 119 from the field, while going 14 of 40 (.350) from beyond the arc and 15 of 23 (.652) from the line.  UWA is averaging 34.5 rebounds per game against the Blazers and 64.5 points per game.
 
In the two meetings this season against West Alabama, VSU battled back from 19 down for a thrilling 78-75 win in Valdosta on Jan. 5, as Justice buried a triple from basically the press table for the winner.  In the second game, the Blazers held on for a 67-54 win with a strong final five minutes to pull away for the win.  Guillozet leads the team averaging 19.0 points per game against the Tigers this season as he is 13 of 25 from the field (.520) and 11 of 14 from the line (.786), while averaging a team-high 9.5 rebounds per game.  Justice is second on the team in scoring at 15.5 points. 
 
Nationally speaking, VSU ranks eighth nationally in scoring offense at 89.8 points per game, while ranking 10^thin scoring margin at 13.5 as both lead the conference.  VSU is 10^thin assists with a school-record 542 for the season, while ranking seventh in assist/turnover ratio at 1.65 and ninth in assists per game at 18.1.  VSU is 25^thnationally and second in the league to Alabama Huntsville in field goal percentage at a 49.0 clip, while leading the league in free throws made (454), free throw percentage (76.6), and free throw attempts (593). The Blazers are 27^thnationally and second in the league in 3-point field goals per game (10.4), 29^thin 3-point field goal percentage (39.5) and 27^thin 3-point field goals made (311). VSU is 18^thnationally and first in the league in turnover margin at a 3.7 clip. 
 
Individually, Morgan is 32^ndnationally in 3-point field goal attempts with 226, while ranking second in the conference and 13^thnationally in 3-point field goals made with 99.  He is 21^stand first in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage at a .438 clip.  Justice leads the conference in free throw percentage at an 86.1 clip on 124 of 144.  He is 23^rdnationally and second in the league in scoring at 21.5 points per game on 221 of 447.  His 221 field goals made ranks 26^thnationally, while the 447 attempts is good for 31^stnationally.  Justice has scored 646 points for 19^thnationally.  
 
West Alabama enters with a 22-7 record after and 82-69 loss to Alabama Huntsville in the semifinal round of the GSC Championship last week.  UWA's Charles Tripp was named to the Gulf South Conference All-Tournament Team. For the Tigers this season, LaJuan Hardy, who earned first team all-conference honors, leads the team averaging 13.5 points per game.  He is 124 of 296 from the field (.419) with 61 triples to lead the team and is a team-high 82 of 120 from the line.  Hardy has 156 assists with 45 steals as both lead the team.  Josh Fleming is second in scoring at 13.0 points per game on 128 of 319 from the floor.  He has 53 triples and is 42 of 69 from the line.  Ricky Dunnaway is third in scoring at 9.7 points per game and leads the team averaging 6.5 rebounds per contest.
 
As a team, the Tigers are shooting at a .447 clip on 711 of 1589, while going 222 of 616 from beyond the arc (.360) and 373 of 555 from the line (.672).  UWA averages 35 rebounds per game and allows 32.6, while scoring 69.5 points per game and allows 66.1.