MOUNT ST. MARY’S VS. NEW ORLEANS
■ Who: Mount St. Mary’s (19-15) vs. New Orleans (20-11)
■ What: NCAA Tournament First Four game ■ Where: Dayton, Ohio ■ When: 3:40 p.m. PT Tuesday ■ TV: truTV ■ Line: New Orleans -2; total 131½ ■ Storyline: A guaranteed berth into the NCAA Tournament appeared to be the unlikeliest of endings for Mount St. Mary’s after a woeful start, but an inspiring midseason turnaround has the Northeast Conference Champions in the Tournament for the fifth time in school history. Mount St. Mary’s paid the price for scheduling aggressively during its non-conference slate, going 1-11 during a stretch in which it faced six NCAA Tournament teams, highlighted by three conference tournament champions in Iowa State, Michigan and Bucknell. The Mountaineers’ fortunes changed immediately after their Dec. 19 loss to the Bison, however, as a rout of Coppin State triggered an 18-4 finish. The Privateers, meanwhile, ended a 21-year NCAA Tournament drought by claiming the Southland Conference regular-season and tournament title en route to posting their first 20-win campaign since 1996-97.
The winner of this contest will face the tall task of trying to defeat No. 1 overall seed Villanova in Buffalo, New York, in secondround action Thursday.
■ Mount St. Mary’s: The Mountaineers are led by their undersized backcourt duo of 6-foot guard Elijah Long (team-high marks of 15.4 points, NEC-high 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals to go along with 5.4 rebounds) and 5-5 Junior Robinson (14.1 points), who combined for 46 points in Tuesday’s 71-61 NEC titlegame win over St. Francis (Pa.). Long was named the tournament Most Valuable Player after averaging 21.7 points during Mount St. Mary’s three-game run and has recorded multiple steals in five straight games. The Mountaineers’ only other double-digit scorer is fellow guard Miles Wilson (11.3 points, 3.6 rebounds), a 6-5 freshman who posted 15 points and a season-high 10 boards for his first career double-double last Tuesday.
■ New Orleans: Southland Conference Player of the Year Erik Thomas has scored in double figures in every game this season and earned tournament MVP honors after averaging 16 points and seven boards in the Privateers’ two-game march through the league tournament. The 6-5 senior forward, who ranks first in the conference in fieldgoal percentage (59.1), second in scoring (19.5 points) and fifth in rebounding (7.8), posted his 11th double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 boards in the titlegame overtime win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Travin Thibodeaux (8.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, team-high 3.3 assists) — a 6-9, 240-pound forward — gives New Orleans an all-around inside presence, while senior guards Christavious Gill (11.6 points) and Nate Frye (10.3) join Thomas in double figures. ■ Tip-ins: — Since joining the conference in 198990, Long is only the third Mountaineer to be named first-team All-NEC and first since 2009-10.
— New Orleans is first in the Southland in field-goal percentage (47.1), but its 138 made 3-pointers ranks third-to-last in Division I.
— Mount St. Mary’s led the NEC in turnover margin (plus-1.8) but ranks 341st in Division I with a conference-worst minus-7.4 rebounding margin.
■ Mount St. Mary’s 75, New Orleans 70