FHSU Sports Information Department<\/p>\n
Fort Hays State Men’s Basketball gets a chance to take on the nation’s top-ranked team on Saturday (Jan. 21) when it faces Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo. FHSU is 10-6 overall, 4-4 in the MIAA, while NWMSU is 17-0, 9-0 in the MIAA.<\/p>\n
Northwest Missouri State has had a year for the ages already, seeing both its football and men’s basketball teams hold the No. 1 ranking in the nation. The football team ran the table for the second straight year at 15-0, earning their second straight national title as the nation’s top-ranked team all year. But the men’s basketball team rose to No. 1 in the nation on December 13 and has remained there ever since and has built a three and a half game cushion in the MIAA standings. Combined, Northwest Missouri State’s football and men’s basketball teams have gone 32-0 overall this year.<\/p>\n
The catalyst for the Bearcats is junior point guard Justin Pitts who averages 19.8 points per game. He was the MIAA Player of the Year last year as just a sophomore. His quickness has been a thorn in the side of all teams, being able to score in several ways, but he also does a great job distributing the ball to some of the top 3-point shooters in the conference. The all-time MIAA leader in 3-point field goals made, Zach Schneider has 58 makes from beyond the arc this year shooting at a 47.9 percent rate. All but one of his shot attempts this year have been beyond the arc. Then Ryan Welty is on an absurd pace at 73.9 percent beyond the 3-point line, hitting 34-of-46 attempts. Couple that with Pitts hitting at a 44.1 percent clip beyond the arc, the Bearcats are one of the most deadly 3-point shooting teams in the country at 45.3 percent as a team.<\/p>\n
The Tigers will counter with the MIAA’s leading scorer in Rob Davis at 23.1 points per game. Davis reached 20 or more points in a game for the 11th time on Thursday night in a five-point win at Missouri Western. Hadley Gillum also averages double figures at 12.6 points per game. Brady Werth has emerged as a threat for the Tigers, scoring in double figures three of the last five games. That includes a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double in the game at Missouri Western. He is the top scorer off the bench for FHSU at 7.1 points per game.<\/p>\n
This will be the third time the Tigers have faced a No. 1 nationally ranked team in their NCAA Division II history, and all three occurrences have been road games. The Tigers are 1-1 so far against No. 1 ranked teams, taking a 97-82 loss at Metro State on February 26, 2004, before winning at Central Missouri 81-71 on January 4, 2010. The Tigers were ranked No. 13 in the nation when they knocked off Central Missouri in 2010, but they have never defeated a No. 1 while unranked.<\/p>\n
This game will be the end of a three-game road swing for the Tigers as they return home next week to take on Lincoln and Lindenwood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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