The battle begins with the Willingham Brothers of Waseca, Minnesota, as No. 2-ranked Minnesota State University takes on Arkansas Tech University in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Malik Willingham, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, and Kyreese Willingham, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, are the Mavericks' top two scorers. Malik averaged 19.1 points and 4.4 assists per game, while Kyres contributed 14.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
“They're long and can really make plays,” ATU men's basketball head coach Mark Downey said of the Willingham brothers. “Everyone (on the Mavericks) can shoot and they're pretty athletic. They're just explosive. They can score in bunches and they can score pretty quickly. We're pretty confident in our defense, and if we can keep them off the glass and off transition, we might be able to give them a game. I'm looking forward to seeing how things are going.”
Arkansas Tech (25-6) and Minnesota State (29-2) will face off at Taylor Center in Mankato, Minnesota on Saturday, March 16 at 5 p.m. Live coverage on his KCJC 102.3 FM, www.arkansastechsports.com, and the EAB Media Group app.
Both teams will enter the NCAA Tournament on 10-game winning streaks. The Wonder Boys are the regular season co-champions and postseason champions of the Great American Conference. The Mavericks are the regular season and postseason champions of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Arkansas Tech won the GAC Tournament title last weekend despite below-average 3-point shooting. The Wonderboys made 18 of 66 (27 percent) from beyond range in their three wins at Fire Lake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma. This season, Arkansas Tech is shooting 39 percent from 3-point range, which leads the GAC and ranks 12th in all of NCAA Division II.
The Wonder Boys' perimeter shooting struggles last week had to do with GAC Player of the Year Terron Peter's recovery from a wrist injury sustained in the final regular season game on March 2nd.
Peter, a junior guard from Russellville, is averaging 19 points per game this season. Although he averaged 6.3 points per game at Shawnee, he notably did not have his injured right wrist taped during ATU's 72-57 victory over Southern Nazarene University in the GAC Tournament championship game.
Whether it was a sign of recovery, a show of toughness, or both, only he knows. Despite this, he bounced back to score 10 points against the Crimson Storm. The Wonder Boys and head coach hope the progress continues Saturday in Mankato.
“We need to get Terron Peter back to Terron Peter,” Downey said. “We didn't shoot particularly well in the conference tournament. Hopefully if we can come here and shoot the ball better and move the ball, we'll have a chance to win. He doesn't…guard, rebound, handle the ball and make shots.”
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Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU Director of University Relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
