NAIA Championship Central | Watch | Listen | Stats | Game Notes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – With 32 teams coming to one city for the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship, there's plenty of games to watch and plenty to talk about, but just mere hours away for its first challenge, the University of Pikeville men's basketball team is "just ready to get started."
The No. 2-seed Bears (30-2) open play at 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday against first-year NAIA member Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) (22-8) at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo.
There are plenty of ways to follow the action, including
live video on a pay-per-view basis, a radio broadcast on
Z-Rock 107.5 FM with Rick Bentley and Andrew Joyce calling the action, as well as
live stats and Twitter updates
@UPIKEAthletics.
A full recap, including photos, video and stats will be posted at
UPIKEBears.com following the game.
With another day of practice, rest and waiting, the UPIKE film crew got another chance to catch up with the team, spending part of the day talking to seniors
Bruce Reed and
Elisha Justice.
The duo comes from different places: Reed a native of Olathe, Kan., just over 20 miles from Kansas City and Justice, a native of Dorton, Ky., which sits just 20 miles from the UPIKE campus.
But the pair, along with
Josh Whitaker,
Keala King,
Devante McClung and
Chris Cantino, grew up loving the game and none of them are ready to see this season end.
"You can learn from your games in the regular season, you make a few mistakes and lose a game, you're still in good shape because you can learn from that," said Justice. "Now it's postseason, you lose, you're done.
"I've always loved to play basketball. It's sad to think this is going to be my last tournament. I feel like I've had a good run. I'm excited about this tournament and just ready to get started."
For Reed, he's hoping this homecoming of sorts will produce a fitting end to a collegiate career he's been building to since the seventh grade.
"I started playing when I was in seventh grade and, I don't know, it just kind of grew on me after that," said Reed. "This isn't just another game, but it really is, the game is still basketball and we got to go out and perform just like we have all season."
Reed, the Mid-South Conference Player of the Year and first player in conference history to earn three straight player of the week honors, is an NAIA Player of the Year candidate. The senior averages a team-best 18.2 points per game and ranks sixth in the NAIA in blocks (59) and is 12th nationally in field-goal percentage at 55.6.
Justice is a well decorated and known basketball player in Kentucky, being named the state's High School Mr. basketball in 2010, following a state championship with Shelby Valley, located in Pike County. Justice initially attended Louisville where he appeared in the 2012 NCAA Final Four.
Thursday brings another opportunity to add to that success, playing for a Pikeville team that last won a national title in 2011 but is already hungry for more. Five wins in six days is what it will take and first up is the Lynx of Lindenwood-Belleville.
