PIKEVILLE, Ky. — In its third straight trip to the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship, seventh-seeded University of Pikeville will open up against Bethel (Tenn.) at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 19 in first-round play at Municipal Auditorium.
The Bears (26-5) received the NAIA’s No. 1 at-large bid and are the No. 7 overall seed in the tournament. UPIKE is in the Liston Bracket and with a win, would play either No. 10 Concordia (Calif.) or Oklahoma City on Friday.
Bethel qualified for the tournament as the 13th at-large selection after finishing 23-9 overall and 12-6 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. This is the Wildcats’ first national tournament appearance as an NAIA Div. I member. Its previous trip came in 2002 in the NAIA Division II Tournament.
The Wildcats are one of four teams making their first appearance at the national tournament, including Dalton State LSU-Alexandria and Mid-America Christian (Okla.).
UPIKE and Bethel have three common opponents from the regular season which they both won against, including Ohio Mid-Western, Tennessee Temple and Cumberland (Tenn.).
Caleb Hardy is the player to watch for Bethel, pouring in 20 points per game and hitting over 52 percent of his shots from the field. The 6-5 senior is also the team’s leading rebounder, grabbing 7.3 boards per contest.
UPIKE is making its ninth overall appearance at nationals where it is 9-7 overall and 3-5 in first-round games. This is the Bears’ first meeting with Bethel in postseason play.
All of the national championship action will be video-streamed live on NAIANetwork.com, the NAIA’s official video-streaming platform provided by Stretch Internet on a pay-per-view basis. For more information, click here.
