This Week: Notre Dame College men's basketball is the five seed in the Mountain East Conference Tournament and will play the four seed, West Virginia State University, on March 3. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

Tournament Central: To get more information on the MEC Tournament, click here. The No. 1 seed West Liberty will play the No. 8 seed Concord, on March 3, at 6 p.m. The winner of that game will face the winner of the NDC-WVSU contest.
 
Tickets: To buy tickets, click here.

Records: Notre Dame has a record of 16-12, while going 12-10 in Mountain East Conference play during the regular season. West Virginia State enters the tournament with a record of 20-8, overall, and 14-8 in the MEC.

Coaches Corner: Mark Richmond is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Falcons. He has an overall record of 48-55 and his teams have gone 39-45 against the MEC. Bryan Poore is in his 24th season on the sideline at WVSU. He has a coaching record of 396-300.

Rankings: In the latest NCAA Division II regional rankings, West Virginia State is ninth in the Atlantic Region. The top eight teams in each region earn a bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament. Neither of these teams are ranked in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Top 25 Poll.

Series History: NDC and West Virginia State first met in the 2013-14 season. The Yellow Jackets lead the series 12-10, after going 2-0 against the Falcons this season.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame fell twice in the final week of the regular season. On Feb. 22, NDC lost to No. 8 ranked West Liberty, 100-57. Last Saturday, Alderson Broaddus came back in the second half for a 79-73 win. In a tough contest against West Liberty, Obinna Ugwuakazi had 10 points and nine rebounds. Kaleb Torrence and Daylin Lee both had 10 points off the bench. Over the weekend, the Falcons led 41-32 against Alderson Broaddus, at halftime, but the Battlers scored 47 points in the second half to take the win. Jaedon Willis scored 28 points, knocked down 10 shots from the field and six 3-pointers, and played all 40 minutes. Obinna Ugwuakazi posted 15 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Tyland Crawford added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Jaedon Willis ranks second in the conference, and 20th in NCAA Division II, in points per game, at 21.2. He also ranks second in the MEC in free throw percentage (89-percent), third in three-point percentage (39.9-percent) and fourth in threes made per game (2.8). He is seventh in country in free throws made, with 162. Obinna Ugwuakazi was averaging 3.8 rebounds per game on Jan. 14, and he is now 13th in the MEC in rebounding at 6.3 per game. DeAirius Barker is averaging three assists each game, which is 13th-best in the conference.

The Falcons average 80.9 points per game. The team ranks second in the Mountain East Conference with a free throw percentage of 75.6-percent, rank fourth with a three-point percentage of 36.4-percent and sixth in three-pointers made per game, at 8.7. On the defensive side, the Falcons rank second in the conference by allowing just 76.6 points per game. They are third in opponent field goal percentage (43.4-percent) and lead the MEC, while also ranking 10th in all of Division II, in opponent three-point percentage (30.2-percent). NDC brings down 38.5 boards per game, which is fifth best in the MEC. They also total an average of 27.1 defensive rebounds per game, which ranks fourth. Notre Dame is fifth in the conference in turnover margin (plus-0.82) and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.01).

Noting the Yellow Jackets: West Virginia State picked up two impressive road wins last week. They defeated Concord, 90-85, on Wednesday, and Charleston, 92-81, on Saturday. Against Concord, WVSU led 44-43 at halftime and outscored the Mountain Lions 46-42 in the final 20 minutes. Taevon Horton made four 3-pointers and totaled 17 points and eight rebounds in that game. Malik Whitaker went 7-for-10 at the free throw line and scored 14 points, with seven assists. Noah Jordan went 5-for-10 from the field and had 17 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Over the weekend, West Virginia State was trailing Charleston by two at halftime, but outscored the Golden Eagles, 48-35, in the second half to win. Dwaine Jones went 7-for-13 from the field for 19 points. Taevon Horton and Antonio Carter each had 15 points. The Yellow Jackets outrebounded UC, 30-21, and had 33 points off of 18 Charleston turnovers.

Samier Kinsler leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring and ranks ninth in the MEC with 16.6 points per game. He is second in three-point field goal percentage (43.6-percent), third in three pointers made per game (3) and sixth in free throw percentage (81.7-percent). Malik Whitaker is 18th in the conference in scoring (14.1 points) and tied for sixth in rebounding (7.2). He leads the MEC, and is 16th in D2, in free throw percentage, shooting 89.3-percent. Whitaker is 10th in the MEC by averaging 0.8 blocked shots per game and is tied for 13th, with teammate Samier Kinsler, with 1.4 steals per game. Dwaine Jones ranks fourth in assists per game (4.4) and sixth in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.9).

West Virginia State ranks third in the conference, and seventh in the country, in scoring, averaging 89 points per game. The team is third in the MEC in three-pointers made per game, with 10.3. They shoot the ball at 46.8-percent from the field, ranking fourth, and 38.1-percent from three, which ranks second. The Yellow Jackets are top five in total rebounding per game (38.6), offensive rebounds per game (11.6) and defensive rebounds per game (27). The team is also fourth in both turnover margin (plus-1.18) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.12). They average 15.1 assists each game. Although the Yellow Jackets' defense is middle of the road in points allowed per game and opponent field goal percentage, they are second in the conference in opponent three-point percentage (31-percent), second in blocked shots per game (4.1) and fifth in steals per game (8.18).