KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Evangel University men’s basketball team found out its destination Thursday evening in the NAIA National Tournament after earning one of the NAIA at-large bids. The Valor will head to Waxahachie, Texas, as the No. 15 seed and face No. 2 seed Florida Memorial Lions on Friday, March 15.
Evangel and Florida Memorial will tip off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday (Mar. 15) at the Shaeffer Center on the campus of Southwestern Assemblies of God University. A link to purchase tickets will be made available soon.
The Valor return to the NAIA National Tournament for the third consecutive season under Bert Capel. Evangel will head to the Waxahachie Opening Round hosted by SAGU, as four teams will take part in one of 16 opening round sites around the country with the winner at each site advancing to the NAIA National Championship Final Site in Kansas City as the fourth year for the updated basketball format in the NAIA. No. 7 seed and host SAGU (Texas) will take on No. 10 seed Baker (Kan.) in the other first-round game.
Evangel earned its bid by receiving an at large nomination by the NAIA selection committee. The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference brings four teams to this season’s tournament, (2) Oklahoma Wesleyan, (5) Kansas Wesleyan, and (8) Southwestern.
The Valor enter the tournament at 18-10 under the direction of third-year head coach Bert Capel. Capel, who was a member of the 2002 NAIA National Championship team at Evangel, has helped guide the Valor to the postseason in all three of his seasons at the helm.
