by Russell Vannozzi | Apr 1, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Belmont basketball coach Rick Byrd is retiring, and it’s not an April Fools’ joke. The longtime Bruin head coach announced the news in a statement posted on the school’s athletics website Monday. “For the past 33 years, it has been my privilege to work with, and for, a remarkable community of men and women at Belmont University,” Byrd said. “Throughout my tenure as men’s basketball coach, our program has received great support from Belmont’s administration, faculty, staff and students. For this, I am forever grateful. “Personally, I have been the beneficiary of a very supportive family that I could count on every single day, a loyal circle of friends who consistently offered encouragement, and a terrific fan base that has embraced our program and our players for over three decades. Most importantly, it has been an honor to coach the young men that have brought credit to Belmont University, not only by how they played the game, but how they represented our university all over our country.” Byrd won his first NCAA tournament game March 19 with a 81-70 victory over Temple in the First Four. The Bruins then lost a 79-77 heartbreaker to Maryland in the second round two days later. The Knoxville native won 805 career games, which ranks 12th all-time among Division I coaches. He served as head coach at Lincoln Memorial and Maryville College before spending 33 seasons as the Belmont skipper. He transitioned the program from NAIA to NCAA Division I in the late 1990s and helped it rise to national prominence. Under Byrd’s leadership, the Bruins made eight NCAA tournament appearances in the last 14 years....
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 28, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Garrison Mathews wasn’t ready for his college career to end Wednesday in the NIT quarterfinals at NC State. Instead, the Lipscomb senior dropped a career-high 44 points to lead the Bisons to a 94-93 upset victory over NC State in Reynolds Coliseum. But it was Kenny Cooper that made the game-winning shot, an off-balance jumper with 1.7 seconds remaining. That advanced Lipscomb to the NIT Final Four in New York City. “We’ve won big road games already. We’ve got a lot of experience,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “Every time they came over to the huddle, they thought they were going to win. These guys believe in what they’re doing, they’re performing when their number is called and we got the result we wanted.” The Bisons (28-7) are set to battle Wichita State April 2 at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. Mathews set the tone by scoring Lipscomb’s first 11 points, and he didn’t stop there. The senior guard finished the first half with 20 points and added 22 more in the second half. That included eight three-point makes. “My teammates were giving me great passes, great screens,” he said. “They were helping me get open a little bit. It was just nice to get off to a little bit of a start, and it just kept going. NC State guard Torin Dorn nearly kept pace with Mathews and finished with 34 points, 21 of which came in the first half. Junior guard Markell Johnson scored all 19 of his points in the final 20 minutes for the Wolfpack. The contest was...
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 27, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Michael Buckland will play the fourth postseason game of his Lipscomb career Wednesday night when the Bisons take on North Carolina State in the NIT quarterfinals. And, conveniently, that will allow the North Carolina native to play in front of his family and friends yet again. Buckland, who hails from High Point, has family scattered across the state, so each postseason game has offered a slightly different group of people a chance to see him in action. “Every time that we’ve had these games, it’s been in a different place in North Carolina,” he said. “I’ve had friends and family at all of them, but I’ve had different people at every game.” Lipscomb played North Carolina in Charlotte in the 2018 NCAA tournament, and the Bisons played two more postseason games in the Tar Heel State last week when they beat Davidson and UNCG in the first two rounds of the NIT. UNCG is less than 20 miles from High Point, so the Buckland family opened their home to the Bisons last Friday for a night of food, ping-pong, pool and March Madness. The arrangements were made on short notice because Lipscomb did not find out the date and time for the UNCG game until Wednesday afternoon. When Lipscomb Director of Basketball Operations Adam Notteboom asked Buckland for restaurant recommendations, the Lipscomb junior offered his house as an option. Big THANK YOU to the @MBuckland23 family for hosting us tonight. #OurTeam #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/SRdXb9giaB — LipscombMBB (@LipscombMBB) March 23, 2019 “I was like, ‘I’m not sure how my family feels about this, but they’d probably be [happy] to have us...
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 25, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s basketball team is heading back to North Carolina for the third time in the NIT. North Carolina State beat Harvard 78-77 Sunday night to advance to the tournament quarterfinals. The Wolfpack will host the Bisons on Wednesday, March 27 in Reynolds Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The winner of Wednesday’s battle will advance to the NIT Final Four, which will be played in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on April 2 and 4. Lipscomb (27-7) returned to Nashville Saturday night after handing UNCG an 86-69 defeat in Greensboro Coliseum. The Bisons also took down Davidson 89-81 in the first round last Tuesday. The team traveled to and from North Carolina on charter flights for both games. Before escaping with a one-point win over the Crimson in the second round, NC State opened the NIT with an 84-78 victory over Hofstra on March 19. The Wolfpack (24-11) narrowly missed the NCAA tournament despite finishing No. 32 in the NET rankings. The NCAA selection committee cited NC State’s 3-9 Quadrant 1 record as the main reason it was left out. NC State is led in scoring by three experienced guards, including senior Torin Dorn (13.5 PPG), junior Markell Johnson (12.4 PPG) and redshirt junior CJ Bryce (11.5 PPG). Tickets are $15 and can be requested by clicking HERE. Reynolds Coliseum seats just 5,600 fans, so tickets are expected to go quickly. The NC State-Harvard game was sold out Sunday...
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 23, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
GREENSBORO, N.C – Road games simply don’t bother the Lipscomb men’s basketball team. In front of a mostly-hostile Greensboro Coliseum crowd, the Bisons delivered a dominant performance in an 86-69 blowout of UNCG Saturday in the NIT. The Bisons will play the winner of NC State-Harvard on Wednesday, March 27 in the tournament quarterfinals. Lipscomb continued to add to its NCAA Division I-era road win record with its 13th of the season. The Bisons had 10 road wins last season, but they eclipsed that mark with an 87-75 victory over North Alabama on March 1. “I don’t know what it is,” Lipscomb senior Garrison Mathews said of playing on the road. “It’s a good feeling that we can come [play] in front of the great crowd that [UNCG] had and play well.” Mathews and fellow senior Rob Marberry were at their best against the Spartans. Marberry led the way with 24 points on 12-of-13 shooting, while Mathews produced a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. The Spartans jumped out to an early lead behind the hot hands of senior Francis Alonso and junior Isaiah Miller. But Lipscomb made 10 of its final 11 shots in the first half to take a 43-35 advantage into the break. After Mathews made a three with 1:38 remaining in the first, the Bisons never relinquished their lead. Much of that run was thanks to crisp passing – including a long runner from Marberry to Nathan Moran to end the half with a layup and a 10-2 run. Lipscomb finished with 20 assists to UNCG’s seven. “Any time that we can get a bunch...
