Biola and Langston have met one other time over the course of their program histories. The meeting does not inform us much on what to expect in this meeting though as it occurred all the way back in the 1991-92 season. That season was Holmquist's 12^th at the helm of this Biola Men's Basketball program. The Eagles' 86-79 win in that contest was his 326^th at Biola and 362^nd overall. He's now up to 947 and a good tournament run could help him get win 950.
 
Langston is a high-flying, super athletic team from a very good Red River Conference. They come into play at this tournament ranking fifth in the NAIA Division I in field goal percentage (.498) and 13^th in overall points-per-game at just over 86.
 
The Lions have nine losses this season. Six of them have been in Red River Conference play and a seventh came as the Lions gave No. 1 LSU-Alexandria (31-0) a run for its money in the RRC Championship game last week. Langston's two non-conference losses came to solid sides. One was to tournament team Oklahoma City, and the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference runner-up, Southwestern College.
 
The Red River Conference, like the Golden State Athletic Conference, has four teams in the field at the national tournament.
 
The Lions have three players scoring in double digits this season and another three that are right on the cusp as they average between 9.5 and 9.9 points-per-game.
 
The best scorer on this Langston side is a senior guard out of Chicago, Curtis Jones (#2). Jones is one of five all-conference players on the Lions' roster. He is averaging just over 17 points-per-game this season and has played in all but two of the Langston games. He shoots 51 percent from the floor and is one of three Lions to have made more than 50 three-point field goals this year.
 
Jones scored 17, 25 and 17 in the Lions' run through the RRC Tournament last week.
 
The other guy to watch is the Lions' biggest threat on the inside, a senior forward from Memphis, Terrell Jones (#1). This Jones is averaging nearly 12 points-per-game and also pulls down a team-high 8.9 rebounds-per-game. Look for the Eagles to key in on him defensively to help maintain an advantage on the glass.
 
Rebounding is one area of relative weakness for this Langston team that Biola will look to exploit. Over the course of its 31-game schedule to this point the Lions have only pulled down 21 more rebounds than their opponents. In comparison, the Eagles pull down an average of 11 more rebounds than their opponents in each and every game, having more than 300 more rebounds than their opponents this year. The margin ranks fifth in the NAIA.
 
Biola's student-athletes combined to bring down a jaw-dropping 22 offensive rebounds in a losing effort against No. 8 The Master's in the GSAC Tournament Semifinals last week. The Eagles could not take advantage of that staggering number because they were having a poor shooting night. However, if the team rebounds like normal and can make shots closer to its season average of 48 percent it could bode well for Biola as it creates opportunity to take advantage of more possessions.
 
It will also be important for the Eagles to get out to a strong start defensively. If the Eagles can come out focused in their defensive half they have the advantage over Langston. While the Lions have the fifth-best field goal percentage in the nation, the Eagles have the second-best field goal percentage AGAINST in the NAIA. They hold opponents to 39 percent shooting (on average) this year.
 
Last season, in the second round, the Eagles did not come out focused defensively and it resulted in a quick 24-5 advantage for their opponents, the eventual national champions, MidAmerica Christian. If BU is able to control the pace of play and keep the game from turning into a shootout they should have the advantage in this one.
 
All eyes will be on Dakari Archer as he leads this team through the postseason for one final time. The 2015-16 GSAC Player of the Year and two-time all-conference point guard is averaging a team-best 15.1 points-per-game this year and will be looked to for at least that many if the Eagles hope to make a deep tournament run this year.

Watch the game LIVE via NAIANetwork.com. The NAIA offers a single-day video pass for $9.95, a tournament pass for $39.95 or an ALL tournament pass (all NAIA tournaments for 2016-17) for $75.00.

The NAIA also provides live statistics of the match via DakStats Webcasts. Visit this page for live statistics throughout the tournament. Fans can also follow us on our social media (@BiolaAthletics). Live Twitter updates will be available throughout the tournament.

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