MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Huntington University men’s basketball team learned they will be hitting the road to Alexandria, La. to compete in the 2023 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship Opening Round slated for March 7-8 at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.

For Alford and crew, it’s their second straight trip to the big stage. The Foresters received an at-large bid and will face No. 13 Pikeville (Ky.) on Tuesday, March 7 with tip-off slated for 1:00 p.m. CT. It will be the first meeting between these two squads.

Huntington heads into the tourney as the 4th seed with a record of 24-7 which includes four wins over ranked opponents. This is the tenth time the Foresters have advanced to an NAIA postseason tournament.

Pikeville, seeded 13th, also received an at-large bid. The Bears bring a 19-12 record into the tourney. As a member of the Mid-South Conference, Pikeville finished fourth in the regular season standings with a 13-9 record. .

HU is one of 33 repeat qualifiers from 2022. The Crossroads League is one of five conferences with five representatives in the field.

The 64-team field includes 37 automatic qualifiers, 26 at-large selections and one host berth. The tournament will begin with the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship First & Second Rounds at 16 host sites throughout the country. The winner from each site will advance to the final site in Kansas City (Mo.) for a 16-team single-elimination tournament that runs from March 13-18 at Municipal Auditorium.