CAA Champion UNCW and Elon Readies for National Postseason Slate
Dylan Smith
CAA MBB BASKETBALL WEEKLY RELEASE – MARCH 19
RICHMOND, Va. – The 14th-seeded UNCW Seahawks will open the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday night as it squares off with third-seeded Texas Tech inside Intrust Bank Arena. Elon will begin the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) on Sunday when it takes on Army West Point from Daytona Beach, Fla.
Tip-off for the Seahawks' First Round matchup is slated for approximately 10:10 p.m., from Wichita, Kan. TruTV will carry the national broadcast with Tom McCarthy, Deb Antonelli and Steve Smith on the call with AJ Ross reporting from the sidelines.
The Phoenix will take on Army at 2 p.m., from Ocean Center. FloCollege will broadcast the opening-round contest.
UNCW will make its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since its back-to-back conference titles in 2016 and 2017 allowed the Seahawks to receive an automatic bid. UNCW will also look to become the first CAA school to earn a postseason victory in the national tournament since 12th-seeded VCU upset fifth-seeded Wichita State, 62-59, in 2012.
It marks the ninth time a CAA program has been selected as the 14th seed in the NCAA, the first since Northeastern in 2015. UNCW will look to join Old Dominion and Richmond as the only conference teams to upset the third seed. ODU took down Villanova, 89-81, in a triple-overtime thriller during the 1995 tournament, while the Spiders knocked off South Carolina, 62-61, three years later in 1998.
Thursday’s matchup will mark just the fourth showdown in the NCAA Tournament between the CAA and the Big 12. UNCW will look to even the score at 2-2 when it takes on Texas Tech. Only VCU has earned a win in the NCAA Tournament over a Big 12 opponent with its 71-61 shocker over Kansas to advance to the Final Four in 2011. Northeastern most recently faced off with the Jayhawks in 2019.
UNCW enters the national postseason tournament on the heels of a 27-7 season that featured a 10-3 record in non-conference play. During league play, UNCW made a tremendous midseason run with nine straight wins, the second-longest streak in the league this year.
The Seahawks also have 10 players averaging seven points or more this season, being the only team in the West Region with more than seven players to do so. Donovan Newby leads the way with 14.6 points per game. The Seahawks are 20th in the nation averaging 29.3 points per contest from its reserves.
The winner of Thursday’s contest will advance to face the winner of sixth-seeded Missouri and 11th-seeded Drake on Saturday, March 22.
Elon will look to become the second CAA team in the last four seasons to capture the CBI crown after UNCW earned the title in 2022. Elon will make just its second postseason appearance since making the jump to Division I, recently competing in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) in 2013.
The five-day tournament includes a 12-team field, featuring Cleveland State, Florida Gulf Coast, Illinois State, Incarnate Word, Jacksonville, Manhattan, Northern Arizona, Presbyterian, Queens and UC Riverside.
The Phoenix will face Army for the first time in program history when the two teams square off on Thursday.