KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- (
COMPLETE GAME NOTES) The 10th-seeded Biola University Men's Basketball team (25-8 overall) makes its fourth-straight trip to the NAIA Tournament, opening against No. 23 Campbellsville University (Tenn.) (21-11) on Wednesday at the 2012 Buffalo Funds NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. The Eagles, who are the No. 10 seed in the tournament, face the Tigers at 4:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. PT).
Biola is making its 19th NAIA Tournament appearance overall and its fourth-straight overall. The Eagles have the fourth-most appearances by current NAIA teams and are 23-18 overall. Among their 18 previous appearances, Biola has placed in the top four twice (2nd, 1981-82; 3rd, 1999-00) and reached the NAIA Quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons.
Last year, Biola once again reached the NAIA Quarterfinals before falling to Martin Methodist College (Tenn.), 66-63, despite holding a seven-point halftime lead. The Eagles finished the season with a record of 28-6, but graduated all nine of its roster players.
LIVE STATS AND VIDEO: Fans can follow the game with live stats, which are available through the NAIA website by clicking here. Biola will be providing free, live audio broadcasts on the athletics website with Sports Information Director Jeff Hoffman providing the commentary. The link for the broadcasts can be found at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/biola.portal with the pregame show beginning at 4:15 p.m. CT.
The NAIA is providing live stats and video for all 31 tournament games. For video, visit http://www.watchnaia.com to order and watch the pay-per-view broadcast online.
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Biola enters the NAIA Tournament riding a hot streak, winning eight-straight games and 13 of its last 14 including taking its first GSAC Tournament Championship with an 81-77 win over Concordia University. The victory gave the Eagles an automatic berth into the 32-team field and moved them into the NAIA Top 10 for the first time this season.
DEFENSE CARRIES BIOLA: For the fifth-straight year, the Eagles ranked as one of the top five teams in the NAIA in scoring defense, finishing fifth in Division I by allowing just 62.2 points per game. Biola is 14-3 when holding opponents to 62 or fewer points and has only seen a team score in the 70's or higher just four times this season with the Eagles holding a 3-1 mark in those games.
SCOUTING CAMPBELLSVILLE: The Tigers enter the tournament as one of the final teams in the field, but have an impressive resume coming in. Campbellsville lept up to No. 23 in the final NAIA po ll to earn the 12th of 14 at-large berths. The berth was in jeopardy late in the season after they lost three of their final four games. However, the Tigers were 5-6against teams in the tournament field which helped solidify a spot.
Campbellsville, a member of the Mid-South Conference, will be making its ninth NAIA Tournament appearance and is 5-8 all-time. The Tigers last appearance came in 2010 and resulted in a 71-64 opening round loss to Fresno Pacific.
Campbellsville is a solid three-point shooting team which ranks ninth in the NAIA in three-pointers made. The Tigers also guard the peremeter well, holding opposing teams to just 31% from beyond the arc–the 23rd-best mark in the NAIA.
The offense is led by senior guard Cedric Henderson, a transfer from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Henderson is a fantastic defender, ranking second in the NAIA in steals per game with just over four and ranks fifth in assists. He is averaging 16.6 points per game this season and shooting 48% from the field.
Close behind him is junior guard Justin Ennis at 12.3 points per game with senior forward Reggie Smith contributing 10.2 points and a team-best 5.5 rebounds per contest.
BIOLA IN THE NAIA TOURNAMENT: The Eagles are making their 19th trip to the NAIA Tournament, their fourth-straight trip and eighth in the last 11 years. Biola has the fourth-most appearances by active NAIA members and has a 23-18 tournament record.
Over the years, Biola has reached the semifinals on a pair of occasions, the last coming in 1999-2000 when the Eagles lost 118-108 in a 4-OT semifinal game to Georgetown (Ky.).
Biola reached the championship game in just its third NAIA tournament appearance, going 39-0 before losing 51-38 to South Carolina-Spartanburg in the final game.
Last season, Biola reached the NAIA Quarterfinals for the seventh time in program history. The Eagles opened the tournament with a 59-48 victory over Montana State-Northern and followed with a 71-70 win over LSU-Shreveport in the second round. Despite holding a seven-point halftime lead over Martin Methodist (Tenn.) in the quarterfinals, the Eagles were unable to hold on and lost 66-63 to end their run.
ALL-GSAC: Biola had just one player selected for this season's All-GSAC squad. That was junior guard Given Kalipinde. Kalipinde was Biola's leader in numerous offensive categories and leads the GSAC in steals with 75. He also ranks second in the conference with 7.7 rebounds per game and leads the team with 95 assists. Kalipinde also ranks second on the team in blocks with 15 and is third in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game.
He seemed to have saved his best for last, recording three double-doubles over his final eight games, reaching double-digits in scoring in seven of those contests. For the month of February, Kalipinde scored 14.4 points and 8.4 rebounds while adding 26 steals and 25 assists.
BIOLA IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: The Eagles wrapped up the regular season ranked No. 10 in the final NAIA Poll. Biola started out the season ranked No. 15 in the Preseason Poll and stayed there through December. However, they fell completely out of the poll which came out Jan. 17 and–despite the late season run–did not get back into the top 25 until the next-to-last poll released on Feb. 27 had them at No. 19.
20 WIN SEASON, AGAIN: With 25 wins so far this year, Biola wrapped up its fourth-straight 20-win season and its 32nd in the last 41 seasons. It was also the 27th in 31 seasons under the direction of Coach Dave Holmquist, who has Biola averaging around 25 wins per season.
BIOLA'S NAIA LEADERS: Biola finished the regular season among the top teams in the NAIA in numerous categories. The Eagles were second in the NAIA in rebounding margin (+9.5), third in defensive rebounds per game (29.4) and fifth in scoring defense, allowing just 62.2 points per game.
Individually, Given Kalipinde ranked among the leaders in five categories including 18th in steals per game (2.5), 24th in defensive rebounds per game (5.5) and 40th in total rebounds per game (7.7). Chase Adams ranked 37th in three-pointers made with 68.
