Westmont College Athletics

By Tim Heiduk
March 11, 2020
 
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) The Westmont men's basketball team (26-5), ranked seventh in the final NAIA Coaches' Poll released on Wednesday, is seeded second in the Liston Bracket of the 32-team NAIA National Tournament, which begins in a week's time in Kansas City, Missouri.
 
The number two seed is the program's highest under the current NAIA National Tournament format. The Warriors' First Round opponent is seven-seed Stillman (Ala.), who received votes in the latest national rankings. It will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
 
"We're really happy," Westmont head coach John Moore said. "I was on a conference call this morning and found out all about the ratings. I had a very confident sense that we were going to be a number two seed. I had some fear going into that call and even coming into here today, that we might be a three seed."
 
Westmont is making its 22nd ever appearance at the NAIA National Tournament, the third most among this year's participants, and has an all-time record of 21-21 at Nationals.
 
The Warriors extended their program record of consecutive appearances at the National Tournament to six after earning an automatic bid by virtue of winning the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title.
 
Stillman (20-10) is making its second ever appearance at the National Tournament after making its inaugural appearance last year, losing to Oklahoma City in the First Round.
 
The Tigers earned an at-large berth this year after tying for third in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) regular season and losing in the SSAC Tournament semifinals to Dalton State (Ga.), one of four number one seeds in this year's NAIA Tournament and the team that beat Westmont in the National Championship Game in 2015. Stillman is one of four teams from the SSAC set to compete at the National Tournament.
 
Westmont's First Round matchup with Stillman will take place on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. CDT / 1:00 p.m. PDT.
 
Moore is pleased to play on Wednesday because it would allow for an extra day of rest before Westmont's Second Round game if the Warriors were to prevail over the Tigers. He is also happy with the time slot, citing his team playing a handful of afternoon conference games against opponents from further away.
 
Since reaching the NAIA National Championship Game in 2015, Westmont has only won one National Tournament game in the last four years, a trend Moore is hoping to reverse.
 
"This is the type of team that is much different than the teams that we've gone with in recent years," Moore said. "This is a very confident team, especially since we're at full strength. I think we're the type of team that does well back at the National Tournament. We've been back quite a number of times and my experience tells me that this team will perform at a very high level because of the tight-knit component of it."
 
Despite entering Nationals on a two-game losing streak, Moore echoes his team's confidence ahead of the tournament, especially with the Warriors welcoming back two injured players to the fold, Cade Roth and Tristan Lloyd.
 
"We will be at full strength for the first time since our Menlo game at home on Feb. 8," Moore said. "Cade's been practicing really well and so has Tristan. I had forgotten how good we are with Cade Roth in the lineup. Just to have him out there and playing the way he's playing, it gives us so much more confidence as a team going into this tournament."
 
Westmont is one of five GSAC teams to make the field, including Arizona Christian (GSAC Tournament champion), The Master's (at-large), Menlo (at-large) and Hope International (at-large).
 
"To have this kind of representation from the GSAC tells you how good our conference was this year," Moore said. "It's nice to get five teams in. It's very good for the conference. I hope all the teams win except for one team that loses in the final eight game to go to the semifinals. It would be great to have four teams in the semifinals and the Warriors of Westmont being one of them."
 
Hope International is the eighth seed in Westmont's bracket, meaning the two conference rivals could potentially face off in the national quarterfinals if they were to reach that point.
 
On Wednesday, the NAIA released a statement from President and CEO Jim Carr regarding the organization's response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
 
"Championship attendance will be limited to only essential staff and limited family members," Carr said in the statement. "We know this is disappointing to participating student-athletes and fans, but the health and wellness of all those involved with our championship events is our top priority."
 
Essential staff includes members of the media, such as Sports Information Directors and radio broadcasters, but all will be limited to covering just the games their specific school is involved in.
 
For more NAIA National Tournament information, visit: https://www.naia.org/sports/mbkb/index