For the first time since 1996, the men’s basketball team will return to the Sweet 16 of the Division-III NCAA Tournament.
“It feels great and I’m really happy for this team,” head coach Pat Miller said. “We’ve had some good teams that haven’t been able to achieve that and lost to some great teams on the road.”
The Warhawks road to the Final Four will start this weekend as they host another two rounds and face Wheaton College at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game will face the winner of the Virginia Wesleyan College and Whitworth University game at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Miller said the ’Hawks played some of the best basketball of the season this weekend, defeating Northwestern College 83-68 and the defending national champions St. Thomas 91-62.
The Warhawks shot 69.2 percent against Northwestern and 61.4 percent against St. Thomas, something Miller said was important because he believes his team is a defensive-minded team.
“They’ve played hard all year, played great defensively all year and this weekend was amazing how well we shot the ball in both games,” Miller said. “To have back-to-back games like that was something special.”
In the first game against the Eagles, senior Chris Davis showed why he was named the WIAC player of the year by hitting 15 of 18 shots. Davis scored a game-high 35 points.
“Once I get going, it’s hard to miss,” Davis said. “Some games I struggle to start. If I start good, it usually keeps going.”
Miller said the team followed the game plan well once the Eagles started to double-team Davis.
“I thought we did a good job getting the ball inside and they were clearly trying to guard Chris with multiple players and that opened up our perimeter game,” Miller said. “Once the ball goes in it’s contagious, so I thought our start was key.”
Game two was a little different for the ’Hawks. Instead of Davis dominating the game, sophomores Cody Odegaard (29) and Alex Merg (17) scored career highs in points.
Odegaard found his rhythm in the second half, scoring 24 of his game-high 29 points.
“For the first time all year I finally was in a zone,” Odegaard said. “I guess my release point on my shot has kind of been inconsistent. I think that’s why my shooting woes have been happening, but tonight it finally felt good.”
Odegaard went 9 of 11 shooting, and hit 7 of 8 three-pointers.
In the ’Hawks first two games, Miller and Davis said they credit a lot of their shooting success to the student section, who for the first time this season showed spirit.
“They were actually loud tonight,” Davis said. “We definitely fed off of it.”
Miller agreed.
“It was great to see them come out, wearing jerseys and getting into the game,” Miller said. “It’s a great advantage for us in a sport like basketball where there is so much proximity between the fans and the players; it has an impact on the game.”
