MAC Men's Basketball Postseason Daily - Tuesday, March 13
McNeese State (17-15, 10-6 Southland) at Toledo (18-16, 7-9 MAC)
CollegeInsider.com Tournmanet
7 p.m. • First Meeting
• The Rockets made a strong late-season push to extend their season by winning seven of eight games before falling to eventual champion Ohio, 65-57, in the MAC Quarterfinals. Over its last nine games (dating back to Feb. 15), Toledo has a 46.6 FG% and is holding its opponents to a 40.0 FG%. Toledo features a balanced scoring attack with four players scoring in double figures. Sophomore G Rian Pearson leads the way with a 16.4 scoring mark. MAC Freshman of the Year Julius Brown’s 405 points rank third for most points scored by a freshman in school history. Only Ken Epperson (420) and Jake Barnett (414) have scored more... McNeese State is led by senior G and Southland Conference Player of the Year Patrick Richard (18.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.2 apg). The Cowboys dropped a 70-49 decision to Lamar in the Southland title game on March 10.
Akron (22-11, 13-3 MAC) vs. Northwestern (18-13, 8-10 Big Ten)
National Invitation Tournament
9 p.m. • First Meeting
Watch LIVE on ESPN2
• Akron will play in its first NIT game since the 2007-08 season. UA earned an automatic spot in the 2012 NIT after winning the Mid-American Conference regular season championship. Sophomore guard Alex Abreu was named to the MAC All-Tournament team after averaging 16.0 points, 5.5 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.0 rebounds and a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ration per game in two tournament games. Northwestern (18-13, 8-10 Big Ten) is making its school-record fourth-consecutive postseason appearance. The Wildcats advanced to the NIT quarterfinal round a year ago before falling at Washington State in overtime. The Wildcats have two players scoring in double figures, including John Shurna (19.8 ppg) and Drew Crawford (16.1 ppg).