ABOUT THE GAME

• Millersville makes its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance all-time Friday night while its opponent, No. 16 West Liberty, makes its 14th consecutive appearance. Millersville is in the tournament for the second time in the last three seasons. In 2022, the Marauders were knocked out in the first round by Mercyhurst--a team it had beaten one week earlier in the PSAC Tournament. Last season, West Liberty reached the national championship game before falling to Nova Southeastern, 111-101. West Liberty has had a first-round exit in three of the last seven seasons, but over the last 14 seasons, West Liberty has made seven Elite Eight appearances and played in the regional final 10 times. Millersville is 14-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament games and 7-5 in first-round games. This is Millersville’s second trip to the tournament under Casey Stitzel and Stitzel’s fifth overall as he led Delaware Valley to the Division III Tournament three times. Six of the top 23 teams in Division II in winning percentage are in the Atlantic Regional. Millersville and West Liberty are two of 23 teams in the nation with a winning percentage of .800 or better. 
• Millersville went 3-3 against nationally ranked opponents and 5-4 against teams ranked in the Atlantic Region’s top 10. West Liberty posted a 6-5 record against that same grouping. Millersville has never before played a team currently in the Mountain East Conference in the NCAA Tournament. West Liberty is 11-5 against PSAC teams in NCAA Tournament play and went 3-0 against the conference in 2023. Millersville went 8-5 on the road this season but did not play a neutral site game. Millersville has not lost back-to-back games this season. West Liberty went 9-2 on the road and 2-3 in neutral games.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville’s Jaden Faulkner and Matt Dade were named All-PSAC East for the third time, and both earned their second first team selection. Drew Stover was a second team selection for the first time. It is the third time in four years that Millersville has produced three or more All-PSAC East honorees. While Dade picked up his first while at West Chester, he is the first Marauder forward to earn two first team honors since hall of famer Jamal Palmer (1997-99). Faulkner is one of 15 players in program history recognized three times. 
• All three players have made their way into the record books. Stover is on his way to breaking a school record for field goal percentage, which has stood since 1985. At 72.1%, Stover leads the nation in field goal percentage and should become the fifth player in PSAC history to shoot over 70% for a season. Dade can be just the fourth player in program history (and first since 1993) to average over 18 points per game while shooting at least 54% from the field. Faulkner is tracking toward being the first Marauder ever to average 16.0 points and 5.0 assists in a season. Dade has 1,409 points and ranks 20th all-time. Dade’s 561 points this season rank 12th-most in a single-season at Millersville and are the most since by a Marauder since 2008. Faulkner ranks 15th in career scoring with 1,459 points and is ninth in steals (144), and third in assists (465). His 4.9 assists average ranks second all-time. He is just the second player in program history with two seasons of at least 145 assists. He’s made 158 free throws this season, which rank fourth all-time and are the most since 1993. Dade is only two makes behind Faulkner with 156
• Millersville is averaging its most points per game and shooting its highest percentage since 1993 and posting its best 3-point shooting percentage since 2003. Millersville is 17-1 when scoring at least 80 points and 16-0 when hitting that mark in regulation. Millersville is also 20-0 when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent. However, the Marauders have experienced a slump in the postseason, hitting 9 of 41 threes in two PSAC Tournament games. Defense is ultimately key to Millersville’s success. The Marauders are 3-4 when allowing 50% shooting and 4-6 when shooting a lower percentage. Millersville is just 7-5 when allowing more than 80 points. Rebounding is also important as Millersville is 16-0 when out-rebound its opponent. 
   

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS

• While Millersville hasn't played West Liberty in more than a decade, the Marauders are no stranger to West Liberty's up-tempo style. The Hilltoppers rank fourth in Division II in scoring offense (97.4) and first in 3-pointers attempted (33.7). The Hilltoppers also press the full 40 minutes, similar to what the Marauders saw in two games against Gannon and three against East Stroudsburg. Millersville went 3-2 against Gannon and East Stroudsburg this season but committed over 20 turnovers in three of those games. West Liberty thrives on creating turnovers as they rank sixth in the nation in turnovers forced. Gannon ranks second and East Stroudsburg ranks fifth. West Liberty also ranks sixth nationally in steals per game (10.8) and third in turnover margin (8.4). 
• While the Hilltoppers can score in bunches, they've scored 77 and 68 in their last two games. It's a balanced scoring attack as no player averages more than 11.4 points per game but nine players average between 8.5 and 11.4 points per game. Five players have attempted more than 100 3-pointers, and all five players in that group are shooting at least 35.3%. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Millersville and West Liberty have met just twice before and not since 2009, when the teams played on a neutral floor in December. That Millersville team went 8-19 while West Liberty went 29-3. The first meeting was in 2009 at Millersville. Neither head coach has coached against the opponent or gone head-to-head.