Waco, TX - The Wagner men's basketball team begins postseason play in the First Round of the 2018 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) as the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season Seahawks meet top-seeded  Baylor University Bears, of the Big 12 Conference this at 7:00 PM (Eastern) On ESPN 2.

The journey continues... pic.twitter.com/ZqJSMB2SDr

— Wagner Seahawks (@WagnerAthletics) March 12, 2018

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Last Time Out For Wagner: vs. No. 4 LIU Brooklyn (Northeast Conference Championship | March 6, 2018): 

• Redshirt junior guard Romone Saunders scored 17 points to lead three Seahawks in double figures, but it wasn't enough to offset LIU Brooklyn, which rode a 32-point effort from Joel Hernandez to a 71-61 win over Wagner in the 2018 Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship game on Wednesday night in front of a spirited Spiro Sports Center sellout crowd of 2,330 fans, along with a national audience tuned in on ESPN2.
• The Seahawks were unable to find their shooting touch all night, as they wound up a season-low 30.0 percent from the floor. Their previous lowest shooting night was at Missouri (11/13) when the Green & White were 32.7 percent. In NEC play this season, Wagner's lowest shooting game was at Mount St. Mary's (2/24) when the Seahawks hit for 34.2 percent.
• Wagner was particularly, and uncharacteristically, cold from long range as the Green & White connected on just six off 33 attempts from the beyond the arc (18.2 percent).
• "Not the outcome that we wanted," said Wagner head coach Bashir Mason, who was named the Jim Phelan Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year for the second time in his six-year career. "You know, it was just a night where we couldn't throw the ball in the ocean. I thought my guys battled and thought they played extremely hard and they were dialed into the game plan, but you have to give LIU (Brooklyn) a lot of credit.

All-Time Series Against The Baylor University Bears:

• Tonight's NIT First Round matchup featuring the No. 8 seed Seahawks and the No. 1 Baylor Bears is the first-ever meeting between the schools. 

All-Time vs. the Current Members of the Big 12 Conference: 

 

2017-18 Northeast Conference (NEC) Standings (including contests through 3/6/2018)

SCHOOL	NEC	PCT	OVERALL	PCT	STREAK
1. WAGNER * ^	14-4	.778	23-9	.719	L1
2. Mount St. Mary's *	12-6	.667	18-14	.563	L1
Saint Francis U *	12-6	.667	18-12	.621	L1
4. LIU Brooklyn *%	10-8	.556	18-16	.529	W5
St. Francis Brooklyn *	10-8	.556	13-18	.419	L3
6. Fairleigh Dickinson *	9-9	.500	13-18	.419	L1
Robert Morris *	9-9	.500	16-17	.485	L1
8. Central Connecticut	7-11	.389	14-18	.438	L1
9. Sacred Heart	5-13	.278	10-21	.323	L1
10. Bryant	2-16	.111	3-28	.097	L4

* Clinched NEC Tournament berth
^ Clinched NEC Regular Season title
% Clinched NEC Tournament title 



Scouting The Baylor University Bears:

• Baylor is making its seventh straight postseason appearance (5 NCAA, 2 NIT). The Bears won the 2013 NIT, defeating Iowa in the championship game as BU's Pierre Jackson was named the Most Valuable Player.
• The Bears are 6-0 at home in the NIT and 9-4 all time.
• Baylor sports an impressive 48 consecutive non-conference home winning streak against unranked opponents. 
• The Bears, who are the No. 1 seed for the first time in program history, are 4-0 in NIT games at the Ferrell Center. 
• Baylor is 2-0 all-time against NEC teams, including an 81-55 win over Sacred Heart back on November 24, 2001 and a 80-47 win over Mount St. Mary's on January 7, 2003. 
• Manu Lecomte, who leads the team at 16.0 ppg, was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team while teammates Jo Lual-Acuil Jr., who is pouring in 14.0 ppg and a team-best 8.8 rpg, garnered Third Team honors. 
• Terry Maston, who is averaging 10.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg in 22.2 minutes off the bench, was named the 2018 Big 12 Sixth Man Award Winner, becoming the fourth Bear to win the award in the last ten seasons. 
• The Bears are ranked 21st in the NCAA in rebounding margin, outworking their opponents by nearly 6.0 boards a contest (38.2-32.2).
• As a team, BU is averaging 75.4 ppg while shooting 46.6 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from beyond-the-arc and 74.0 percent from the free-throw line. 

 


Cooper, Francis, Saunders Garner All-NEC Honors:

• The Seahawks had three players garner All-NEC honors as senior guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) earned First Team accolades. Sophomore guard Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) was named to the Second Team and redshirt junior guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Potomac [Mt. Zion Prep]) was selected as one of five players to the Third Team. 
• With three Seahawk student-athletes earning all-league honors, it marks the first time since the 1994-95 season in which the program has had three or more players named to an all-conference team as that season Tony Rice and Milan Rikic were each selected to the Second Team while Dan Seigle earned a spot on the All-Newcomer Team. 
• To Read the Full Release: CLICK HERE

Wagner All-Time 20-Win Seasons: 

• The 2017-18 Seahawks are the eighth team in Wagner history to reach the 20-win mark. 
• The 23 wins by the 2017-18 Seahawks tied for fourth in all-time single-season wins
• The 21 regular season wins were the most under Bashir Mason. In 2015-16, Mason led the Seahawks to a regular season mark of 20-9 en route to a 23-11 overall record.

 

Wagner Basketball All-Time 20-Win Seasons

Year	Overall	NEC Record	Head Coach
2011-12	25-6	15-3	Dan Hurley
2015-16	23-11	13-5	Bashir Mason
2007-08	23-8	15-3	Mike Deane
2017-18	23-9	14-4	Bashir Mason
2002-03	21-11	14-4	Dereck Whittenburg
1978-79	21-7		P.J. Carlesimo
1967-68 *	21-8		Chester Sellitto
1955-56 *	20-3		Herb Sutter

* Pre-Division I Era


   

• Head coach Bashir Mason, who is currently the sixth-youngest active head coach in Division I, reached a coaching career milestone on Saturday, January 20.
• In Wagner's 62-49 home victory over Robert Morris back on January 20th, Coach Mason earned his 100th career coaching victory.
• In the process, Coach Mason became just the third Seahawk bench boss to eclipse the 100 career wins, joining former coaches Herb Sutter  (352) and Tim Capstraw (117). 
• Additionally, Coach Mason and Capstraw are the only two Seahawk coaches to reach 100 wins in the Division I era, which began in 1976-77, under Wagner Hall of Famer and 3x-time NBA Champion, P.J. Carlesimo