St. Norbert men’s basketball prepares for Division III NCAA Tournament after upset win

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The St. Norbert College men’s basketball team had the best defense in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference this season.

It’s not a surprise the Green Knights would take pride in it. After all, they are led by longtime coach Gary Grzesk, a four-time defensive team MVP during his playing days at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and — as your annual March reminder — shut down Jason Kidd in the NCAA Tournament in 1994.

It might not be quite as epic as that upset over California and Kidd, but SNC’s 70-52 win at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Sunday in the championship game of the conference tournament won’t be forgotten any time soon.

SNC earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament with the victory.

The opportunity to go dancing required finding a way to beat a Warriors team ranked No. 17 in the country, because the Green Knights weren’t going to be invited to the party otherwise.

They held Wisconsin Lutheran to a season-low 29.3% shooting and just 16 points in the second half.

The 52 points were the fewest scored by the Warriors since putting up the same number in a loss to Trine University in December 2017. They hadn’t scored fewer than that since 2012.

Indeed, that’s some classic Gary Grzesk defense.

“They had a very good, mature, level-headed approach to it, understanding that this is what needed to be done to go down there and win,” Grzesk said about his team, which avenged a 72-60 loss to Wisconsin Lutheran in January. “We’ve always relied on our defense, and certainly, they missed some open ones in the second half. But for a good portion of that second half, our defense was as good as it has been all year against arguably our best opponent.”

Next up: No. 25 Carthage in the NCAAs

SNC (22-6) will play No. 25 Carthage College (21-6) in a first-round game at 4:20 p.m. Friday at the La Crosse Center, avoiding playing a team on its home court in the opening round.

It’s the 11th appearance in the NCAAs for the Green Knights and…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/st-norbert-mens-basketball-prepares-110752157.html

Author : Green Bay Press-Gazette

Publish date : 2025-03-05 11:07:00

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