A Quick Look At Friday's Sweet 16 Games For GAC And UST

There's an old saying that goes something along the lines of "Two out of three ain't bad" and I think that definitely applies to the two MIAC teams left in the NCAA Tournament - GAC and UST.  While CSB was unceremoniously dumped by George Fox down in Waverly, Iowa last Friday night, both GAC and UST were able to win their first- and second-round games and both move to their respective regional pods in the Sweet 16 - GAC at the Hope Regional in Holland, Michigan to take on Thomas More and UST at the Wartburg Regional in Waverly, Iowa to take on East Texas Baptist.  Let's take a glance at both of these games:


GAC vs Thomas More (at Holland, MI) - It was one thing for the Gusties to finally, FINALLY win a big game when the knocked off a very good Rose-Hulman team in the first round at the UW-Whitewater pod but quite another when they turned around the next evening and knocked off the host Warhawks in the second round - thumping them in the end by a 74-60 count.  After that one, as happy as I was, I couldn't help but ponder the thought of if the Gusties have now unleashed a monster that is now on a roll.  I haven't totally discounted that proposition but you can bet that GAC will have its hands absolutely full and then some when they take on a great Thomas More team out of the PAC that currently stands at 28-1 overall; with the only blemish on the year coming on the opening weekend of the season at a tournament at Rochester where they lost a tough, three-point game to host Rochester on 11-18-17.  The Saints are a scoring machine as they average 87.1 ppg and defensively give up only 50.2 ppg.  Yikes.  Thomas More has three players who average in double-figures and they're led by junior 6'0 guard Madison Temple at 17.6 ppg while senior guard Abby Owings averages 14.8 ppg and fellow senior forward Nikki Kiernan averages 11.8 ppg - not too shabby.  This team is a monster on the boards as well as they average snaring 43.6 rebounds a game.  This is a team that knows how to protect the rock (11.9 turnovers a game) and that can hit the big bomb as well as they normally shoot 41.6% from behind the arc.  This is a team that definitely has a nice blend of size and speed in the backcourt and with only two seniors on the team (Owings and Kiernan), their best days may be ahead of them.  Some of the more notable victories they've had this season was a romp over NCAA participant Christopher Newport out in Hawaii right before Christmas with an 86-53 win.  They routinely cruised on conference opponents such as Geneva and Bethany; beating them by 60+ points and they rolled to easy wins in their first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games over both Oglethorpe and Juniata.  That said, I'm not going to be too surprised or shocked if GAC's somewhat Cinderella season comes to a halt on this night.  Then again, it's not totally out of the realm of possibility to pull off another shocker as well.  But to do that, they're likely going to have to play the game of their life to do that.  Both Mikayla Miller and Miranda Rice will have to play like all-Americans and they'll have to get help from Kendall Thompson, Justine Lee, Ava Gonsorowski along with Taylor Anderson and Emee Udo off the bench.  It all has to click tonight for GAC and they've got to contest EVERY shot and EVERY loose ball.  It's that simple.


UST vs East Texas Baptist (at Waverly, IA) - On paper anyway, this looks to be a "W" for the Tommies but, as well all know too well, NCAA Tournament games aren't played on paper and UST has to be ready to go and clicking on all cylinders on this night if they hope to get to the Region Championship Game.  The Tigers; out of the ASC, currently stand at 24-6 overall and advanced to the Sweet 16 by virtue of wins over Whitman in the first round and then upset conference rival Texas-Dallas in the second round.  East Texas Baptist certainly isn't the scoring machine that Thomas More is as they average 67.8 ppg and normally give up 58.7 ppg which isn't that impressive.  One stat that jumped out at me is that East Texas Baptist really struggles at the charity stripe; shooting only 68.5% from the line and that's normally a death sentence once you get into the NCAA Tournament.  They have been permissive as well with turnovers; normally guilty of 18.9 turnovers a game which is another red flag.  They're not terrible on the rebounding front as they normally grab 38.8 rebounds a game but opponents are not far behind either as they would normally get 34.8 rebounds a game.  So again, there's a lot to be cautious about when it comes to the Saints.  East Texas Baptist has only one players who averages double-figures in scoring - sophomore Kim Childress at 14.1 ppg.  This is an incredibly young team as well with only one senior - Katy Boren while the rest of the roster is peppered with sophomores and freshmen along with three juniors.  They were swept by Texas-Dallas during the regular season but got revenge on them in the ASC Tournament and then knocked them off again in the second round of the NCAA Tournament so you have to give the Saints their due for that but not much else is out there that impresses me too much.  You would have to think that the Tommies can handle business here without too much trouble but they can ill afford to take the Saints lightly and I can only imagine that Ruth Sinn has her squad ready to go tonight.


So there you have it.  We'll have to see how things pan out here tonight.  The GAC - Thomas More game will begin at approximately 4:30 P.M. (Central time) while the East Texas Baptist - UST game will start at approximately 5:30 P.M. (Central time).  I haven't seen the links provided yet but you should be able to view these games on D3Hoops.com.  Go Gusties and Go Tommies!!!!