Moccasins' Final Four Notes vs. Bellarmine
#1 Florida Southern (34-1) vs.
#3 Bellarmine (31-3)
NCAA FINAL FOUR SEMIFINAL #2 |
| Date & Time |
Thursday, March 26, 9:30 p.m. ET
|
| Location |
The Ford Center (8.930) | Evansville, Indiana
|
| Audio |
FSCMocs.com (Jim Henderson) |
| Video |
NCAA.com
|
| Live Stats |
NCAA.com (StatBroadcast)
|
| Television |
CBS Sports Network (Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas) |
| Twitter |
@FSC_Athletics | @D2SSC | @NCAADII
|
| Hash Tags |
#FSCMocs | #EliteEight
|
| Series |
Series tied, 1-1 |
| Last Meeting |
FSC, 101-96 OT (12/13/14 @Bellarmine) |
Complete NCAA Division II Tournament bracket
Interactive NCAA Bracket
EVANSVILLE - Top-ranked Florida Southern and third-ranked Bellarmine will meet here Thursday evening at 9:30 p.m. Eastern in the NCAA Division II Final Four for a spot in Saturday's Division II National Championship game at the Ford Center.
Thursday's meeting between the two Top 5 nationally ranked programs will be the second of the season as the Moccasins picked up a 101-96 overtime win in Louisville over the Knights on Dec. 13, 2014. Additionally, Thursday's game will be just the third ever meeting between the teams as Bellarmine won the first meeting, 62-60, at the USI Bill Joergens Memorial Classic in Evansville on Nov. 28, 2008.
The Moccasins, who have won a school record 23 consecutive games and are sporting a 34-1 overall record on the season, earned its seventh all-time spot in the Final Four following its 81-70 win in Wednesday's Elite Eight national quarterfinal game over Southern New Hampshire. The Mocs are 2-4 all-time in Final Four games and will be playing in its first Final Four game since suffering an 87-67 loss to to eventual national champion Kentucky Wesleyan in 1999.
FSC won the Division II National Championship in 1981 and finished as the national runner-up in 1982.
"We are excited to have advanced to the Final Four and are one of the last four teams left playing. We know we'll be in a huge challenge tonight, but I think the fact that we've played them already once this season will help us out," Moccasin head coach Linc Darner said. "The last time we played, it was a great, great college basketball game and I expect the same thing this time around. Bellarmine is really playing well right now."
Meanwhile, Bellarmine comes into Thursday's Final Four showdown having won four straight games and 19 of its last 20 overall to move its record to 31-3 on the season. The Knights, who are making their third Final Four appearance since 2011, advanced to Thursday's Final Four game after picking up an impressive 92-75 win over fourth-ranked Minnesota State-Moorhead in the final Elite Eight national quarterfinal round game. In that win, the Knights shot 60.7 percent from the field 39 percent from the 3-point line.
Bellarmine won the 2011 Division II national title and lost in the national semifinals in 2012 to Montevallo.
"Florida Southern is a great basketball team that is ranked number one and are a veteran team," Knights head coach Scott Davenport said following his team's win over MSU-Moorhead. "They are solid in every facet of the game. They defend it, pass it and are great shooters.
"It will be two great teams playing Thursday night."
The winner of the FSC-Bellarmine Final Four game will advance to Saturday's National Championship game to face the winner of Thursday's other Final Four match-up between seventh-ranked Tarleton State (31-3) and 25th-ranked Indiana (Pa.) (30-6). Those two teams will open Thursday's action with a 7 p.m. game.
Thursday's Final Four games will be shown live on television on CBS Sports Network (Bright House Network Channel 139 in Lakeland), while Saturday's national title game will be shown live on CBS (Bright House Channel 10 in Lakeland) and also heard live on Westwood One Radio.
