Kennesaw State Prepares to Face Xavier in NCAA Tournament First Round
NCAA Bracket
ATLANTA - After earning its first ASUN Conference Men's Basketball Championship, Kennesaw State earned the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and prepares for its first March Madness appearance. The Owls drew a No. 14 seed in last Sunday's selection show and face No. 3 Xavier in the First Round on Friday at 12:40 PM ET. The game will be broadcasted live on truTV with Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel on the call and Evan Washburn sideline reporting from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
Be sure to follow @ASUNMBB on Twitter for live updates throughout the postseason.
ASUN BEAMS
ASUN Championship Recap
- Kennesaw State became the 21st program to capture the ASUN Championship with the team's victory against Liberty in the tournament final on March 5
- The Flames made their fourth appearance in the Championship Final but ended as runner-ups for the first time after capturing titles in 2019, 2020 and 2021
- The showdown between the Owls and Flames was the first time the two sides have met in the ASUN Championship
- Bellarmine and Liberty faced off in the postseason for the second year in-a-row; the Flames avenged last season's semifinal defeat with a quarterfinal victory
- KSU battled Lipscomb for the third time in ASUN postseason history; the Bisons and the Hatters also squared off for the third time in the conference tournament
- This year featured several first-time matchups including Eastern Kentucky/North Alabama, Bellarmine/North Florida and EKU/Liberty
- Queens made its first ASUN Championship appearance in its first season as a member of the conference; the Royals defeated FGCU for their first Division I postseason win
- Five of the 10 teams in the tournament field qualified for postseason action beyond the ASUN Championship: KSU (NCAA), Liberty (NIT), EKU, North Alabama and Stetson (CBI)
Postseason Award Recognition
Eastern Kentucky's Michael Moreno, Kennesaw State's Terrell Burden and Chris Youngblood, Liberty's Darius McGhee and Kyle Rode, Lipscomb's Jacob Ogancevic and Queens' Kenny Dye all earned All-District 3 honors from the NABC. Owls' Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim was named the Coach of the Year of District 3 by the NABC.
TEAM NOTES
Kennesaw State (26-8, 15-3 ASUN)
Twitter: @KSUOWLSMBB
- Kennesaw State enters the Friday afternoon contest winners of eight of its last nine contests as the Owls are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament
- ASUN Head Coach of the Year Amir Abdur-Rahim has guided his squad to the 20-win plateau for the first time in its Division I history
- This year's team set a new program-high for conference wins with 15, topping the 10-10 mark in 2005-06
- Kennesaw State defeated Central Arkansas to close out the regular season by earning the top seed in the 2023 ASUN Championship
- KSU's winning streak of 14 home games from Feb. 23, 2022, to Feb. 18, 2023, was a Division I program record and ranked sixth-longest in the nation
- The team's 10 road victories this season are tied for the fourth-most in the nation
- The Owls held a halftime lead in 25 of 33 games this year and were 20-5 when doing so
- Kennesaw State entered the season bringing back all five starters from a year ago and ranked second in the nation in minutes continuity (81.2%)
- On Feb. 13, the team appeared in the CollegeInsider.com Men's Mid-Major Top-25 Poll, entering at No. 25; the team is currently ranked No. 15
- During KSU's 16-2 run to end the season, one of the two losses (Queens) came with KSU missing a starter due to a concussion, Kasen Jennings. He is healthy and has played in the past five games
- The 2022-23 Owls only lost three times after Christmas, two of the three coming by just three points on the road, one on a 35-foot buzzer beater
- KSU was 2-0 in Quad 2 wins this season with the first top-50 NET wins in school history both coming against Liberty
- The Owls are within the top five in several league statistical categories: total points, free throws made and attempted per game, steals per game (2nd), assists per game (3rd), points per game allowed (4th)
- This season's roster featured three players that have scored 20 or more points in a game: Chris Youngblood (6), Terrell Burden (3), Demond Robinson (2)
- First Team All-Conference Selection unanimous ranked 13th in the conference with a scoring average of 14.7 points per game
- Terrell Burden, an All-Conference Second Team member and the ASUN Championship MVP, posted at least three assists in 30 of 33 games this season
- Brandon Stroud became the first Owl to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor and ranked third in the league for total rebounds and eighth in steals per game
- Demond Robinson finished the season ranked second in the ASUN for offensive rebounds and fourth in blocks
- Kennesaw State's NCAA Tournament First-Round opponent Xavier ranks first nationally in assists per game (19.3), second in three-point percentage (39.5) and fifth in field-goal percentage (49.4)
- The Musketeers enter the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 25-9 and were the runner-ups in the Big East Tournament, falling in the final to Marquette
- This is the 29th appearance in March Madness for Xavier and the team is 28-28 all-time in NCAA Tournament games; Xavier has been a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament two other times (2003, 2008)
- Friday's contest marks the second meeting between KSU and Xavier with the teams last facing off on Nov. 11, 2004, before the Owls made the transition to Division I
ASUN Conference, Atlanta - the only DI conference headquartered in the ATL, our footprint's primary media, sports, business, transportation and cultural hub
The ASUN, a Division I conference member of the NCAA, boasts a membership of institutions that share visionary leadership, bold ambition and creative innovation. As a nimble adaptive conference, unafraid to blaze a national pathway for better service to our student-athletes, teams, and institutions, the ASUN has a proud history of firsts, national academic and athletic achievements and a conference culture that walks the walk with its four ASUN Beams. Students First! Rise. Connect. Impact. #ASUNBuilt by Austin Peay (Clarksville, Tenn.), Bellarmine (Louisville, Ky.), Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky (Richmond, Ky.), FGCU (Fort Myers, Fla.), Jacksonville (Fla.), Jacksonville State (Jacksonville, Ala.), Kennesaw State (Ga.), Liberty (Lynchburg, Va.), Lipscomb (Nashville, Tenn.), North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), North Florida (Jacksonville, Fla.), Queens (Charlotte, N.C.) and Stetson (DeLand, Fla.).