In all of Division II, there may not be two teams that approach the game of basketball more differently than Atlantic Regional Final opponents Hillsdale College and West Liberty University.
Hillsdale is one of the most deliberate teams in the country, built around strong defense and post play. The Chargers regularly use the entire shot clock offensively and try to shorten the game by limiting possessions.
The Hilltoppers, meanwhile, play at arguably the fastest pace of any team in the country, pressing and trapping with abandon and putting a shot up with an average of 12 seconds into the shot clock. West Liberty's goal is to maximize the number of possessions to push their shooting and conditioning advantage over opponents.
Which team can impose their will in Tuesday's clash of styles will likely take home not just a victory, but the Atlantic Regional title and a berth in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Division II tournament. For Hillsdale, an appearance in the Elite Eight would be a program first, while West Liberty is looking for their fifth appearance in the final eight in a decade.
Tuesday's final, scheduled for 7 p.m. at West Liberty in West Virginia, was the hottest ticket in town, selling out a limited allotment in the first minute they went on sale. So if you can't attend in person, make sure you follow along with live stats and a live video stream of the game at the links below.
Schedule
#1 Hillsdale (21-2, 19-1 G-MAC) vs #3 West Liberty (17-4, 13-3 MEC) | 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, March 16 | ASRC | West Liberty, WV – Atlantic Regional Final
Follow/Watch
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | 2020-21 Hillsdale Stats | West Liberty Roster | 2020-21 West Liberty Stats
Projected Starters
Hillsdale: #15 Patrick Cartier, So., F, Brookfield, WI/East (21.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg); #21 Davis Larson, Sr., F, Sheboygan, WI/North (10.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.6 apg); #24 Austen Yarian, Sr., F, Cleveland, OH/St. Ignatius (12.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.3 apg); #11 Connor Hill, Sr., G, Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission South (11.5 ppg, 3.9 apg, 1.6 spg); #1 Tavon Brown, So., F, Columbus, OH, St. Charles Prep (7.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.1 bpg)
West Liberty: #2 Bryce Butler, So., G, Latrobe, PA/Greater Latrobe (11.1 ppg, 5 rpg); #4 Elijah Watson, Fr., F, Chicago Heights, IL/Thornton Fractional South (3.9 ppg, 3 rpg); #5 Dalton Bolon, G, Sr., Gnadenhutten, OH/Indian Valley (21.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.5 apg); #12 Luke Dyer, Sr., G, Clarksburg, WV/Robert C. Byrd (5.4 ppg, 4.2 apg, 2.2 spg); #23 Pat Robinson III, Jr., G, Chesterfield, NJ/Conwell-Egan, Holy Family (20.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
Scouting the Opposition
West Liberty: A program that's been among the Division II elite for a solid decade, with five Elite Eight appearances in the last 10 years and a national runner-up finish in 2014, the Hilltoppers are famous for their iconic style.
No team in Division II plays faster or scores more prolifically than West Liberty, who leads the country at 103.2 points per game. The Hilltoppers employ an extremely fast-paced game reminiscent of the Loyola Marymount teams in the late 80s and early 90s, with an aggressive full-court press for the entire game, looking to force turnovers as often as possible.
At the offensive end, West Liberty also plays at a frenetic pace, thriving on transition layups and 3-pointers and aggressively hunting for the first open look they can find.
The goal is simple – maximize the number of possessions, look to trade made 3-pointers for layups to slowly pull away, and wear teams down to the breaking point, leading to massive runs that allow the Hilltoppers to pull away for good.
West Liberty has a number of extremely talented guards including 20+ point per game scorers Dalton Bolon and Pat Robinson, and eight players shooting 33.3% or better from 3-point range.
As befitting a team that's focused on running and gunning, however, the Hilltoppers are undersized in the post, with no one over 6-foot-7 to match up with Hillsdale's three 6-foot-8 starters down low. That means Tuesday's game will be decided by which team can better impose its style and pace on the other – Hillsdale will struggle to play at West Liberty's preferred pace, and it's hard to see the Hilltoppers winning a drawn-out, half-court contest.
West Liberty is coached by Ben Howlett, who tutored under legendary Hilltopper head coach Jim Crutchfield for six seasons before taking the head job in the 2017-18 season. He had an 81-13 mark entering this season, reaching the NCAA Tournament all three previous seasons and reaching the Atlantic Regional Final in 2019.
Scouting the Chargers
The top seed in this year's Atlantic Regional, Hillsdale won its first NCAA Tournament game in 20 years with a 67-48 win over Mercyhurst on Sunday to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. At 21-2 overall, Hillsdale is looking to make more history with its first ever NCAA regional title on Tuesday.
Hillsdale boasts the best combination off offense and defense in the G-MAC this season, as shown by its league best 13.9 point scoring margin. The Chargers have the G-MAC's best scoring defense and the sixth-best scoring defense in the country at 62.4 points conceded per game, and are third in the conference offensively, scoring 76.3 points per contest. Hillsdale's patience, size and physicality make it one of the toughest teams in the country to break down defensively.
Unselfish passing and ball movement have been keys to Hillsdale's offensive success. 57% of all of Hillsdale's field goals this season have been assisted, and the Chargers have the best field goal percentage in the G-MAC at 51%, as well as the second-best assist to turnover ratio (1.54).
2020-21 G-MAC Player of the Year Patrick Cartier (21.0 ppg) and All-G-MAC first-teamer Austen Yarian (12.3 ppg) remain the focal point offensively, but the Chargers are getting strong contributions from all five starters, including wing Davis Larson (10.9 ppg) and point guard Connor Hill (11.5 ppg).
Directing the Chargers for the 14th straight season is head coach John Tharp, who is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a 245-134 record. Tharp became the longest-tenured head coach in Hillsdale men's basketball history at the start of this season, surpassing Dwight Harwood, who coached for 13 years from 1926-34 and 1940-46. Joining Tharp on Hillsdale's bench this year are three new assistants: associate head coach Keven Bradley, as well as assistant coaches Eric Weiss and David Choi.
Other Notes
- Sophomore Patrick Cartier the 2020-21 G-MAC Player of the Year, is having one of the finest individual seasons in Hillsdale College men's basketball history. Cartier is one of just four players in Hillsdale College history to win a conference player of the year award, joining Ted Hauptman (1981-82), Dave Springer (1983-84) and Kyle Cooper (2015-16). Cartier leads the G-MAC in scoring (20.6 ppg) and field goal percentage (65.2%) and is currently 8th in the nation in Division II in field goal percentage, with a significantly higher usage rate than any player ahead of him. He set Hillsdale NCAA Tournament single-game records for field goals (10) and field-goal percentage (83.3%) in the win over Mercyhurst on Sunday and his 29 points were one behind Mike Lake's record of 30 set in 1995 against Southern Indiana in a Midwest Regional Quarterfinal game.
- All five of the Chargers' starters earned an All-Conference honor from the G-MAC this season, the first time in recorded program history that five separate players have received conference awards. Cartier and senior Austen Yarian made the All-G-MAC First Team, seniors Davis Larson and Connor Hill earned second-team All-G-MAC honors, and sophomore Tavon Brown was named to the conference All-Defensive team for 2020-21. Head coach John Tharp was also named G-MAC Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
- Hillsdale has made five NCAA Tournament appearances prior to this season, most recently in 2017-18, with a 1-5 record all time. The Chargers' lone win before Sunday's victory over Mercyhurst came on March 8, 2001, when Hillsdale beat Gannon 60-58 in a Midwest Regional Quarterfinal. The Chargers fell in the next round to eventual national champion Kentucky Wesleyan in a 73-71 thriller in the regional semifinal the next night.
- By making the Sweet 16 this season, Hillsdale has now reached the deepest point in the NCAA Tournament in program history, since joining the NCAA in 1990. As a member of the NAIA, prior to 1990 the Chargers made the Round of 16 in the NAIA Tournament twice, in 1981 and 1985, reaching the Final Four in the 1980-81 season.
- Two Charger players are fast approaching 1,000 points for their careers – senior Davis Larson, who, at 979 points, needs 21 this season to achieve the mark, and sophomore Patrick Cartier, who, at 933, has a chance to reach that mark in his second season if the Chargers can continue their run.