The University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä (27-7) men's basketball team has earned an at-large selection for the NCAA Tournament and will play Texas (19-14) on Friday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., in the South Region The game will air on TBS at 1:30 p.m. The winner plays the winner of the Cincinnati and Georgia State contest.
ÁùºÏ±¦µä is making its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and eighth in school history. It is the first back-to-back appearances since the Pack played if four in a row from 2004-2007. Last year the Pack fell 84-73 to Iowa State in Milwaukee as the 12th seed. The Pack captured its second consecutive MW Championship this season, winning a school record 15 conference games and went 27-7 overall.
The Wolf Pack are seeded seventh in the South Region and the Longhorns are the 10th seed. The seventh seed ties the 2006-07 team for the second best seed by a Wolf Pack team. The 2005-06 Wolf Pack earned the fifth seed.
Third-year head coach Eric Musselman, the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year is 79-28 at ÁùºÏ±¦µä. Musselman has guided the Pack to consecutive MW regular season championships and the 2017 MW Tournament title.
The Pack is led by 2018 MW Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, Caleb Martin, who averages 19.1 points per game. Junior Jordan Caroline, a first-team All-MW selection, scores 17.9 points per contest and leads the team grabbing 8.8 rebounds per game.
Cody Martin, the 2018 MW Defensive Player of the Year and second team MW selection, averages 13.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.7 steals per game. Senior Kendall Stephens, a third-team All-MW selection, set the school record with his 118 made 3-pointers. Stephens is fourth on the team averaging 13.2 points per game and is among the national leaders shooting 44.4 percent from behind the arc.
