FHSU Sports Information Department
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.