KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Evangel University men’s basketball team found out its destination Thursday evening in the NAIA National Tournament after earning one of the Heart of America Athletic Conference’s automatic bids. The Valor will head to New Orleans as the No. 8 seed and face No. 9 seed Florida College on Friday, March 11.
Evangel and Florida College will tip at 3 p.m. on Friday at Devlin Fieldhouse on the campus of Tulane University.
The Valor return to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Evangel will head to the New Orleans Opening Round hosted by Loyola (La.), as four teams will take part in one of 16 opening round sites around the country with the winner at each site advancing to the NAIA National Championship Final Site in Kansas City as the second year for the updated basketball format in the NAIA. No. 1 seed and host Loyola will take on No. 16 seed Benedictine-Mesa (Ariz.) in the other first-round game.
Evangel earned its bid after finishing second place in the Heart of America Athletic Conference regular-season after falling to league champ William Penn, 99-91 on Monday night. The Statesmen earned the league’s first auto-bid by winning the regular season, as the second bid went to Evangel by virtue of its second-place finish after the Statesmen won the postseason tournament. Grand View and Central Methodist also earned a spot in the NAIA National Tournament joining Heart members Evangel and William Penn.
The Valor enters the tournament at 22-9 under the direction of first-year head coach Bert Capel. Capel, who was a member of the 2002 NAIA National Championship team at Evangel, has helped guide the Valor back to the postseason for the first time since 2015.
For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, visit Facebook at Facebook.com/EvangelValor, Twitter (@EvangelValor), or EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on their favorite EU teams by downloading the Evangel Athletics Gameday App through the App Store or Google Play.
