Wooster Off to Denison for NCAC Semifinals

Outlook: The College of Wooster men's basketball team (20-6, 11-5 North Coast Athletic Conference) travels to Denison University for Friday's 5 p.m. tournament semifinal contest against Wabash College (17-8, 13-3 NCAC). NCAC champion Denison (22-3, 14-2 NCAC) hosts Ohio Wesleyan University (15-11, 9-7 NCAC) in the 7:30 p.m. semifinal contest. The winners advance to play in Saturday's 4 p.m. championship game at Livingston Gymnasium.

 

Media Coverage: Denison will stream both semifinal contests and the championship game at https://northcoastnetwork.com/denison. Local Sports Ohio will carry Wooster's games locally on 102.9 FM and 960 AM, plus online at https://glory.radio/.

 

Ticket Information: Ticket prices for Friday are $7 for adults (includes senior citizens and College of Wooster employees), $5 for children (18 and under), $5 for holders of a NCAC guest pass, and free for students with an ID card from a NCAC institution. NCAC students are admitted free of charge, but must have a valid student ID card from a NCAC institution and must pick up a ticket at the ticket booth prior to entering Livingston Gymnasium. As Livingston Gymnasium has a capcity under 2,000, the gym will be cleared between semifinal games and those wishing to attend both Friday games will need to buy a separate ticket for the 7:30 p.m. game. Adult tickets are $10 for Saturday's championship game, while childen and those with a NCAC guest pass are still $5.

 

NCAC Tournament History: Wooster has won the NCAC Tournament a league-best 17 times. Wittenberg University is next with eight tournament crowns, while Ohio Wesleyan is in third with five. Wooster is a remarkable 82-22 all-time in the NCAC Tournament and is 15-5 when playing at a neutral site. Wooster is 30-4 in the semifinals. Wooster has played in 25 of the last 27 championship games. 

 

A Look at Last Year's Semifinal: Wooster turned on the jets late to run away from archrival Wittenberg 79-62 at Wabash's Chadwick Court on Feb. 23, 2024. Wooster and Wittenberg were deadlocked at 59 with 8:20 to play, then the Scots went on a 20-2 run. The 2024 semifinal contest marked just the second of 16 NCAC Tournament games between Div. III's two winningest programs that did not take place in the championship game. Wooster's win extended the program's run of 18-win seasons to 35 straight. Additionally, Wooster matched the longest winning streak in rivalry history at eight games and took a 69-60 lead on its archrival, marking the first nine-game advantage since Wittenberg led 50-41 following an 87-86 win on Jan. 19, 2008. Wooster went on to win an unprecedented ninth straight game over Wittenberg this year and opened a 10-game lead in the rivalry, marking the largest ever.

 

Talking Seeds and Stats: Wooster has been a top-three seed for the NCAC Tournament every year since 1989. Wooster is 12-2 all-time as the No. 3 seed and three of Wooster's 17 NCAC Tournament titles have come as the third seed, with the most recent being a 87-63 rout of Wittenberg in 2020. Wooster has played in the semifinals every year since 1997 and is 7-4 all-time in the NCAC Tournament against Wabash. A Wooster-Wabash semifinal snaps a three-year run of the teams playing for the touranment title. Wabash won 85-84 in overtime in 2022, 81-80 in 2023, and 75-64 in 2024. Wooster's last tournament win over Wabash was 89-68 in the 2017 quarterfinals. The teams last played in the semifinals in 2015, a game won by Wooster 68-55. The teams also met in the semifinals in 2002 (Wooster 83-80), 2003 (Wooster 76-66), 2007 (Wooster 92-80), and 2008 (Wabash 87-63). Wabash (2008) and Ohio Wesleyan (2018) are the only teams to beat Wooster in the semifinals since 1997.

 

Wooster is the Winningest NCAA Div. III Team of the 2000s: Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, Wooster has Div. III's highest winning percentage at .803 (603-148). In fact, Wooster's winning percentage in the 2000s is higher than every other NCAA Div. I, II, and III men's basketball program except for Gonzaga University (.830; 738-151), Duke University (.809; 739-175), and the University of Kansas (.803; 739-181).

 

One of the Nation's Elite Programs: Wooster extended its run of 18-win seasons to 36 straight on Feb. 15 when the Scots took down Ohio Wesleyan 82-58. Wooster saw its simply remarkable run of 24 consecutive 20-win seasons snapped in 2021-22 (there are only 25 games in the regular season in Div. III). Wooster's 1,843 wins are the second-most in NCAA Div. III history, trailing archrival Wittenberg University's 1,865.

 

Record-Setting Billings: Senior Jamir Billings' (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain) name is found throughout Wooster's record book. As a first-year, he broke the program's single-season record with 84 steals and passed out 164 assists, two shy of the single-season record of 166 set by Sam Dixon in the 1978-79 season. Billings went on to be the first player in NCAC history to be named the Top Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Year in the same season. The 2021-22 D3hoops.com Region 7 Rookie of the Year earned an elevation to first-team All-NCAC as a sophomore. As a sophomore, Billings logged the third-most steals in single-season program history with 69 and moved into the program's top-10 list all-time. Also as a sophomore, he became the first Scot with two seasons with at least 140 assists. Last year, Billings became the first two-time winner of the NCAC Top Defensive Player award, earned a third All-NCAC honor, and was named to the NCAC 40th Anniversary All-Decade Team. Billings ranked third nationally with 164 assists and eighth nationally with 5.9 assists per game and was fifth nationally with 84 steals. Billings matched his first-year assists and steals totals and became the program's all-time leader in assists in the regular season finale, surpassing Erich Riebe, who held the top spot since 1992. This year, Billings scored his 1,000th point, broke the program's all-time record for steals, moved into the top-20 in NCAA Div. III history in steals, and is just six steals shy from tying the NCAC career record. Billings is also four steals shy of his single-season school record and three shy of a top-15 spot in Div. III history. He was one of the 100 players on the Bevo Francis Award Watch List in January. The award is given to the top small college (non-Div. I) men's basketball player.

 

1,000 x3: Three Wooster players scored their 1,000th collegiate point this season. Senior Ashton Price (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) was the first to get there. His 1,000th point came as part of a career-high 29 points in Wooster's 92-80 win over Oberlin on Nov. 30. Next, Billings hit 1,000 points in Wooster's 84-53 win over DePauw on Dec. 15, the same game he broke the program's all-time steals record. Senior Nick Everett (Salem, Ohio/West Branch) joined the 1,000-point club during the 114-96 win over the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford on Dec. 29. Billings is 18 points shy of a top-20 spot in program history and Everett moved into the top-25 with a game-high 19 points in the 97-80 NCAC Tournament quarterfinal win over Oberlin College.

 

Back at It: Wooster climbed into D3hoops.com's Top 25 Poll, checking in at No. 16 in the Nov. 25 poll. The national ranking was the program's 250th time in the poll, which dates back to the 1999-00 season. It was Wooster's first national ranking since Jan. 26, 2020. Wooster moved into the top 10 of the poll in early December, for its highest ranking since the 2016-17 season. Wooster started the year 11-0, marking its fifth time starting a year 10-0 or better. Wooster's 11-game winning streak to start the year was the 43rd 10-game winning streak in program history. Wooster's other 10-0 starts came in 1930, 2000-01, 2004-05, and 2010-11. The 11-game winning streak marked the second straight year the program has logged a double-digit run, marking a first since the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

 

NCAA Tournament Success: Wooster holds the NCAA Div. III record with 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. The 2021-2022 season marked the first time Wooster did not make the NCAA Tournament since the 2001-2002 season.  Wooster's 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is tied for the seventh-longest streak in NCAA men's basketball history, trailing Kansas (34, 1990-present), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (27, 1975-2001),  Michigan State University (26, 1998-present), Duke (24, 1996-2019), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (19, 1999-2017). Wooster's run is tied with Indiana University Bloomington, which had an 18-year tournament streak from 1986-2003. Wooster has made 29 NCAA Tournaments since the formation of Div. III, which is second all-time. Longtime nemesis Wittenberg has made a Div. III-leading 30 Div. III Tournaments, and the University of Scranton is tied with Wooster for the second-most all-time trips.

 

Scots Second in Div. III to Hit This Number: Wooster won its 1,800th all-time game on Feb. 1, 2023, marking the second time a NCAA Div. III institution hit that number. Only archrival Wittenberg has more all-time wins in Div. III history. Overall, Wooster was the 25th NCAA basketball program to hit the 1,800-win milestone. 

 

All-America Success: Wooster is the only Div. III program to have five different players selected as first-team NABC All-Americans in the 2000s. Bryan Nelson (2002-03, NABC Div. III Player of the Year), Tom Port (2006-07), Ian Franks (2009-10), Doug Thorpe (2013-14), and Danyon Hempy (2019-20) are Wooster's first-team NABC All-American selections in the 2000s.

 

Notable Wooster Alumni in Basketball: Wooster has several notable alumni in prominent coaching and administrative roles in college and professional basketball. L.W. St. John '06 served head men's basketball coach at Ohio State University from 1911-19, and was the Buckeyes' athletic director for over 30 years. Reggie Minton '63, an alternate for the 1964 United States Olympic Team, went on to have a decorated career as a coach and administrator, including a near two-decade tenure as a top administrator for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Minton was selected by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to receive the 2022 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, and the honor is considered to be the top award given out by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame outside of enshrinement. Larry Shyatt '73 was an assistant coach at numerous programs, including the University of Florida, when the Gators won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2006 and 2007. Shyatt had two stints as head coach at the University of Wyoming, was the man in charge at Clemson University for a five-year stretch, and worked in the Dallas Mavericks organization. Lamont Paris '96 was on staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven seasons, during which the Badgers made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four (2014-15), including the 2015 title game. Paris then became the head coach at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he went 87-72 over five years, including 65-29 over his final three seasons. At present, Paris is in his third season as head coach at the University of South Carolina, where he is excelling. Paris was the 2024 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year honor after leading the Gamecocks to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. South Carolina's 15-win improvement was tied for the second-best mark in the nation, and Paris' program reached as high as No. 11 in the national polls. Ryan Pedon '00 spent five years as the lead assistant at Ohio State, which ranked as high as second in the AP Top-25, before taking the head coaching position at Illinois State University, where he is in year three.

 

Scots Go Abroad: Wooster's team spent fall break in 2022 in France. The NCAA permits such international trips every three years. The trip to France marked the seventh for the program, which previously traveled to England, Ireland, and Scotland (2017), Spain (2014), Ireland and Scotland (2011), Italy (2008), Germany and Austria (2004), and England and Scotland (2000).