Harrelson: It's time 'to go perform'

Bracket
It will be 22 days since Wayland Baptist's last game in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament and Wednesday's first-round contest in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championships. To say the Pioneers are ready to take the court again would be a bit of an understatement.
 
"By the time we play it will be a three-week break for us, so the guys are excited to play," Wayland coach Ty Harrelson said. "We've had some really good practices, and I think we'll be well-prepared.
 
"They say you have to plan, prepare and perform. We've done the planning, we've done the preparation, now it's time to go perform."
 
The eighth-ranked Pioneers (24-7) open play in the national tournament against Arizona Christian (23-8), ranked the equivalent of 28^th in the NAIA, at 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.
 
All games prior to the March 26 final, which will be shown on ESPN3, will be available at www.NAIANetwork.com. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament package is available at $34.95.

For the first time this season, fans can also download the new Experience NAIA Championships App, which provides real-time updates on every game, including live stats, push notifications, team and player information, plus much more. Fans can download the app for both Apple and Android devices here.
 
Wednesday's Wayland-Arizona Christian game – the last on the first of two days for first-round contests in the 32-team tournament – will mark the first-ever meeting between the Pioneers and Firestorm.
 
Harrelson, whose team arrived in Kansas City on Monday afternoon after a Sunday workout at Wichita State, said Arizona Christian features a "high-powered offense.
 
"They're one of the leading scoring teams in the nation. They can shoot the 3," he said. "They run a lot of great sets and also get out in transition. Coach (Jeff) Rutter does a really good job with them."
 
With seven games over 100 points (including a high of 144) and a dozen more over 90, the Firestorm average 93.7 a game to rank second in the NAIA. They're also second in 3-pointers made per game at 11.2, third in free-throw percentage (78), and eighth in field goal percentage (49.6).
 
"It's a high-octane offense. We're going to have to play a really good defensive game," Harrelson said. "We'll have our hands full."
 
Leading five Firestorm players who average in double-figures is Callum Lawson, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior forward from England who gets 21.8 ppg, third in the NAIA. Lawson also is his team's top rebounder, and No. 10 in the NAIA, at 9.1 boards an outing.
 
On the perimeter, Emilio Acedo, a 6-4 senior, ranks second in the NAIA in 3-point percentage at almost 52 percent (82-of-158). He's one of six Firestorm players (the same as Wayland) with at least 27 3-pointers on the season. Terence Shelby Jr., a 6-3 junior, has hit a team-best 93 3s, good for eighth in the NAIA.
 
Inside, Anton Ivy, one of two 6-8 players on the ACU roster, is ninth in the NAIA with 55 blocks.
 
"It's a tough matchup for us," Harrelson said. "We'll do our best to be prepared and try to slow them down a little bit."
 
Arizona Christian, which competes alongside Wayland in the Sooner Athletic Conference in football only, is making its fifth overall appearance at nationals, and first since 2016. The Firestorm, who are 2-4 all-time at nationals, finished fourth in the Golden State Athletic Conference, which like the SAC has a tournament-best five teams in Kansas City.
 
Both the Pioneers, the first-time SAC regular-season champion, and Firestorm suffered first-round losses in their conference tournaments. Arizona Christian won 14 of its first 15 games this season to rise to as high as 11^th in the NAIA, but the Firestorm have lost three of their last five.
 
Wayland, ranked fifth prior to falling to Oklahoma-Panhandle State in the conference tournament opener, is seeded second in its quadrant; ACU is seeded seventh.
 
The Pioneers are making their 19^th appearance at nationals, and fifth in six years. They had their best showing since 1985 a year ago when they made it to the quarterfinals.
 
"About half of our roster and three starters are back from last year's Elite Eight team. Hopefully that's an advantage," Harrelson said.
 
Should Wayland win Wednesday, the Pioneers would next play at 4 p.m. Friday against either No. 9 Missouri Baptist (28-4) or No. 24 Loyola, La. (21-10). If WBU continues to win, its games would be at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals and 6 p.m. Monday, March 25 in the semifinals, with the championship set for 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 26.

The top seed in Wayland's quadrant is overall No. 1 seed Georgetown, Ky. (28-4), the school that eliminated the Pioneers in the first round at nationals in 2014 and 2016, when the Tigers went on to lose to Mid-America Christian in the championship game.