No. 4 Men's Hoops Ready to Battle No. 9 Wheaton (Ill.) in NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The nationally-ranked No. 4 University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team remains on the hunt for its first NCAA National Championship, facing off with the nationally-ranked No. 9 Wheaton College (Ill.) Thunder Friday evening in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. Tipoff between the Blue Jays and Thunder is set for 4:30 p.m. inside the Freeman Center on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.

PHOTO GALLERY | GAME NOTES

#4 USJ BLUE JAYS (29-1) vs. #9 WHEATON COLLEGE (Ill.) THUNDER (24-4) 
LOCATION:  Freeman Center (Newport News, Va.) 
DATE/TIME: Friday, March 10 (4:30 p.m.)  
WATCH: Live Stream 
LIVE STATS: Live Stats 
TICKETS: Purchase Here!
TWITTER: @USJ_BlueJays | #FearTheFlock | #GoBlueJays
 
USJ QUICK HITTERS 

• USJ advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen after defeating Williams University, 75-54, this past Saturday in the NCAA Tournament Second Round in West Hartford, Conn.
• With the win, the Blue Jays became the third-ever team from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to advance to the second weekend, and the first since Johnson & Wales reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2016.
• Graduate student wing Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.) paced USJ against Williams, dropping a game-high 21 points. Freshman guard Malcolm Eley (Bronx, N.Y.) had a career game for USJ against the Ephs, tallying a career-high 14 points off an efficient 4-of-6 shooting clip from the field.
• The Blue Jays grounded the Ephs high-flying offense, limiting the visitors to a 37.3 percent shooting mark (19-for-51) from the field, including a 27.3 percent mark (6-for-22) from long range.
• O'Neill leads the USJ offense on the season, averaging a team-best 16.0 points per game. O'Neill shoots 45.8 percent from the floor and 39.4 percent from three.
• Senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) is a do-it-all point guard for the Blue Jays, ranking second on the team in scoring (11.9 ppg), while dishing out 3.2 assists, and tallying 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals per contest.
• Senior forward Jalen Samuels (Franklin, Mass.) and graduate student forward Alec Kinder (West Haven, Conn.) form a formidable one-two punch at the center position for USJ. Samuels, the two-time reigning Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Defensive Player of the Year, has put up 7.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. Kinder leads the team in rebounding, hauling in 8.1 per game, while recording 1.2 blocks, 0.9 steals and 7.1 points per contest.
• Senior guard Chaylyn Martin (Hartford, Conn.), brother of Jaecee Martin, has been a sparkplug off the bench for USJ in the postseason. In the two NCAA Tournament games, Chaylyn Martin is averaging 11.0 points and 3.0 rebounds, playing 11.5 minutes per game.
• The Blue Jays are one of the best defensive teams in the nation, leading Division III in both field-goal percentage defense (35.7%) and three-point field-goal percentage defense (26.8%). USJ also ranks inside the top-15 in turnovers forced per game, tallying 19.20 to rank 11th in the nation.
• Last season, USJ saw their campaign come to a close in the NCAA Tournament First Round, falling to Penn State Harrisburg during the Worcester Regional at WPI.
• USJ has reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons. The team now boasts a 2-2 record in the national tournament, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history this past weekend.

SCOUTING WHEATON

• No. 9 Wheaton earned its spot in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen after defeating Illinois College, 79-66, in the First Round and St. Norbert College, 75-71 during the Second Round of the Wheaton Regional.
• The Thunder earned an at-large bid to the Big Dance after falling in the semifinals of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament to Elmhurst. Wheaton won the CCIW regular season after finishing with a conference record of 14-2.
• Wheaton is led by the CCIW Fred Young Most Outstanding Student-Athlete, graduate student Tyson Cruickshank (Highlands Ranch, Colo.). Cruickshank averages 19.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. He also shoots a lofty 50.3 percent from the floor and a 42.4 percent clip from three-point range.
• Classmate TJ Askew (San Diego, Calif.) is a presence in the post for the Thunder, joining Cruickshank on the All-CCIW First Team. Askew is second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 points per game, while leading the Thunder at 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.
• Junior guard Nick Schiavello (Columbus, Ind.) rounded out the All-Conference honorees for Wheaton, being named to the All-CCIW Second Team, and averages 10.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest.
• Wheaton is one of the most efficient shooting teams in the country, posting a 50.5 field-goal percentage as a team, the fifth-best clip in the country. The Thunder are also great playmakers, dishing out 14.5 assists per game, the 15th-best mark in the nation, while posting a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio, the 24th-best rate in the country.

INSIDE THE SERIES 

• Friday marks the inaugural meeting on the hardwood between Wheaton and USJ, as the Blue Jays are currently in just their fourth full season in program history.
• The Thunder are 2-1 all-time against GNAC schools, posting an 0-1 record against Colby-Sawyer, and a 2-0 mark versus Rivier. Wheaton most recently took on the Raiders in the 2007-08 season, as the Thunder took home a 72-65 win during a neutral-site game in Pasadena, Calif.
• USJ is 1-0 all-time against schools from the CCIW, defeating then-ranked No. 21 Illinois Wesleyan in overtime, 73-64, during the Small College Basketball Champions Classic, earlier this season.

UP NEXT 
With a victory, the Blue Jays would advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and take on the winner of the No. 2 Christopher Newport University/No. 17 University of Mary-Hardin Baylor matchup on Saturday, March 11. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. inside the Freeman Center in Newport News, Va.

FOLLOW
For the latest on University of Saint Joseph Athletics, follow the Blue Jays on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Fans can also download the USJ Front Row Mobile App and subscribe to our Newsletter and Text Alerts. #FearTheFlock #GoBlueJays