Men's Basketball | 11/19/2017 2:54:09 PM
Kansas City, Mo. (November 19, 2017) – The inaugural MIAA Men’s Basketball Challenge will tip-off on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 4:00 p.m., with three games involving four teams from the MIAA and one each from the GAC and Heartland Conferences. The games will be held at historic Municipal Auditorium, home to the MIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships for the past fifteen years.
East Central vs. Central Missouri 4:00 p.m.
Central Missouri was picked 2
nd in the MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll and is off to a 3-1 start this season. They won 21 games last season losing to eventual national champion Northwest Missouri in the MIAA Tournament title game. Head Coach
Doug Karleskint is in his fourth season leading the Mules and his roster includes six players from the Kansas City area including sophomores
Matt Wilkinson (Blue Valley Southwest) and
Blake Spellman (Lee’s Summit), who received the 2016 DiRenna Award, presented annually to the top high school player in the Kansas City area.
East Central University (Ada, Okla.) is a member of the Great American Conference (GAC) and led by Head Coach
Ja Havens. The Tigers, picked to finish 3
rd in the GAC Preseason Poll are currently 2-0 this season with wins over fellow GAC members Arkansas Tech and Harding. ECU returns five players that helped the Tigers advance to the NCAA Central Regional for the first time in school history and claim the GAC regular-season and conference tournament titles in 2016-17.
Newman vs. Pittsburg State 6:00 p.m.
Pittsburg State picked 8
th in the MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll is off to a 3-1 start this season. The Gorillas are led by first-year head coach
Kim Anderson, who joins Pitt State after serving the past three seasons as head men’s basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Missouri. Prior to Mizzou, Anderson coached 12 seasons at MIAA rival University of Central Missouri, leading the Mules to the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship as well as two additional Division II Final Four appearances (2007, 2009). The roster includes two players from the Kansas City area in junior
Lucas Wilson (Paola) and freshman
Isaiah Burton (Raytown).
Newman University (Wichita, Kan.) is a member of the Heartland Conference. The Jets picked to finish 8
th in the Heartland Preseason Poll are 2-1 this season and are led by first-year head coach
R.J. Allen, a Wichita native who served as an assistant coach for the Jets the past six seasons including the last two as associate head coach.
Washburn vs. Northwest Missouri 8:00 p.m.
Northwest Missouri is 4-0 this season and picked 1
st in the MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll. In addition, they were the No. 1 ranked team in the country in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Preseason Poll. The Bearcats had a historic season in 2016-17 winning 35 games and the DII National Championship. They are led by Head Coach
Ben McCollum who was named the NABC Coach of the Year last season and senior point guard
Justin Pitts who was named the NABC Player of the Year and received Small College Basketball's Bevo Francis Award. Pitts played high school basketball at Blue Springs South and is joined by four other Kansas City area players including sophomore
Ryan Welty (Park Hill South) on the Bearcats roster.
Washburn is coming off a 20-win campaign last year and was picked 3
rd in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll. First year Head Coach
Brett Ballard has the Ichabods off to a 2-2 start this season. Ballard began his coaching career at the University of Kansas after playing for the Jayhawks and was part of the staff that won the 2008 NCAA National Championship. He also spent two years as the Head Coach at Baker before joining Danny Manning’s staff at Tulsa and most recently at Wake Forest. The Ichabods roster includes nine players from the KC area including two-time MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, senior
Brady Skeens (Shawnee Mission Northwest) and junior
Javion Blake (Olathe East).
About Municipal Auditorium
Historic Municipal Auditorium has a rich history in College Basketball, and has served as the home of the MIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships since 2003. Over 80 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games have been played in the Arena, including 9 Final Fours, which is more than any other facility.
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Ticket Info
All tickets are general admission and are good for all three contests. Ticket prices are $7 for students (age 6 and under are admitted free) and $12 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the Municipal Auditorium box office in the lobby of the main entrance located on 13th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets or through
Ticketmaster.
2018 MIAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships
Municipal Auditorium will host for the sixteenth consecutive year the MIAA post-season basketball tournament, which will determine the MIAA Men's and Women's automatic qualifers to the NCAA tournament. The tournament will be held from March 1-4, 2018.