Game #31
#5 ART U Urban Knights (21-9, 14-6 PacWest) vs. #4 Saint Martin's Saints (24-6, 15-3 GNAC) 
Friday, March 10, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
San Diego – Golden Gym
Live Stats | Live Video
ART U Game Notes 3-10-23

Game #32
#5 ART U Urban Knights (21-9, 14-6 PacWest) vs. #1 PLNU Sea Lions/#8 NNU Nighthawks
Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
San Diego – Golden Gym
Live Stats | Live Video
ART U Game Notes 3-11-23

Game #33 *IF NECESSARY*
#5 ART U Urban Knights (21-9, 14-6 PacWest) vs. TBD 
Monday, March 13, 2023 at 7 p.m.
San Diego – Golden Gym
Live Stats | Live Video

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY
Though unable to defend their 2022 Pacific West Conference Championship title in the 2023 version of the tournament, Academy of Art men's basketball's season continues to roll on as ART U earned its first ever at-large bid for their second NCAA Division II West Region appearance in as many years, as the Knights will enter the West Regional as the No. 5 seed and are looking at a quarterfinal matchup against No. 4 seed Saint Martin's.

TIP-OFF
Action between the Urban Knights and the Saints will get underway at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and should ART U advance to the second round, they would face the winner of the No. 1 seeded and regional host Point Loma and No. 8 seed Northwest Nazarene on Saturday in the semifinal with a tip time of 7:30 p.m. The West Region final will take place on Monday at 7 p.m. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

WEST REGION TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Academy of Art men's basketball will be dancing in the postseason for the second straight year after earning the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Division II West Regional as announced Sunday night by the NCAA. This is the first at-large bid for the Urban Knights, who will be slotted even higher this campaign despite having earned the automatic qualifying bid last season as tournament champions. ART U rolls into the West Regional at 21-9 overall after having gone 1-1 in the PacWest Championship, including an impressive win over tournament host Chaminade in the PacWest Quarterfinal. In the semifinals, Azusa Pacific avenged their loss in 2022's tournament final, but even still the Knights maintain a 4-3 record in their PacWest Tournament history. That all follows a campaign in which ART U set new records for regular season wins (20), wins by double digits (14), 30-point victories (four), and 90-point games (nine). 

In this year's version of the West Regional, the Knights will look to advance out of the opening round after they were eliminated last season by Chico State, the eventual West Region champions that represented the West in the Elite Eight. In a season that has already been filled with history, the Urban Knights have the chance for a bit more should they win their quarterfinal matchup against No. 4 seed Saint Martin's this Friday at 7:30 p.m., a team that ART U handed its first loss in the campaign when the two teams met on Nov. 25, 2022 (with the Saints ranked No. 19 in the nation at the time). Should the Knights advance, they would face the winner of site host and No. 1 seeded Sea Lions and No. 8 seeded Nighthawks. The Sea Lions are coming off an undefeated regular season and PacWest Tournament title, while the Nighthawks won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament to earn the automatic qualifying bid and the final spot in the regional. 

Tickets to the NCAA DII West Regional Tournament, hosted by PacWest member and No. 1 seed Point Loma, are available for purchase at this link. Live stats to the games will be available here, and the official NCAA broadcast of all games (free of charge) can be found here. Click here for a brief history of the NCAA DII men's basketball tournament and click here for to find more information about the West Regional.

KNIGHTS' QUEST
After winning the first four games of the season for the first time in program history (all opponents in the CCAA), ART U dropped three of their next four games including their first two PacWest contests against Point Loma and Concordia. This was the first time since 2018-19 that ART U was defeated in its first two PacWest games, with the losses occurring to the same two teams, however, that season culminated in ART U's first ever PacWest Tournament appearance. Academy of Art got back on track winning five of their next seven contests, which included tying the program-record with four straight PacWest victories (accomplished twice last season under Head Coach Scott Waterman) and consecutive 90-point performances with their largest point total of the season (98) against Biola, while the losses came against preseason PacWest favorite Azusa Pacific and NCAA Division I opponent Saint Mary's.

Though Chaminade put a stop to that stretch and snapped the conference winning streak, the Knights finished the year by winning 10 of their last 12 since that contest which includes a pair of three-game streaks scoring 90 or more points (program record). The first such streak started in the loss to the Silverswords, ART U's only loss when scoring 75 points or more. The first span continued with Hilo and CUI, which also happened to see the Knights set a program record with their third and fourth 20-point win of the year (previous record: three, 2021-22) after beating Hilo by 22 before topping Concordia by 31 in the rematch. More recently, ART U has won six straight since the loss to APU with the first five wins by 10 points or more, knocking off Biola and Dominican in conference action before three straight 30-point wins (now four for season; program record) and 90-point performances against UCSC (94), Holy Names (98), and Fresno Pacific (103).  To end the year, the Knights held on late to sweep the season series against Dominican. The only losses in the past 12 contests came to then-No. 20 Point Loma, dropping the Knights to 1-1 against ranked opponents this season after an earlier win against then-No. 19 Saint Martin's, and a defeat at the hands of the No. 2 team in the PacWest Azusa Pacific.

The PacWest Championships began with ART U setting the new program record for consecutive wins with their seventh straight, topping tournament host and No. 6 seed Chaminade with their ninth 90-point game and 20-point win of the season. It marked the second time these two teams have met in the postseason, with the Silverswords winning the first while ART U enacts revenge. Unfortunately the bid to repeat as champions came to an end in a loss to Azusa Pacific in the semifinal 72-60, dropping ART U to 1-2 against the Cougars in the postseason series. APU captured a win in the first meeting during ART U's first tournament appearance in 2018-19, while the Knights had leveled the postseason series with last year's title win. Additionally, the loss snapped ART U's program-best seven-game winning streak. 

KNIGHT WATCH
ART U has scored 75 or more points in 19 of their 30 contests this year (18-1, 88.0 ppg in those games), including reaching the third-most (103 vs. FPU), fifth-most (98 at Biola and vs. HNU), sixth-most (97 at HNU) and ninth-most (95 at CUH) points in program history. In all, they have hit the 90-point barrier nine times which sets a program record (previous: five, 2021-22). All told, that leads to an overall season average of 79.5 ppg, which would be a new program record. In 20 of 30 games ART U has shot above 40.0 percent from the field, including 15 of the past 20 contests, while reaching above 50.0 percent in 10 of those 15 (with five in the past eight games) and 11 instances overall with their season best against Dominican on Feb. 11 (61.8 percent, 34-for-55; third-best in ART U history). Ball movement has been key, recording double-digit assists in each of their first six games and 25 of 30 total contests (13.73 apg), with their season-best of 23 against BU ranking fifth-most in program history while their 22 against Hilo is tied for sixth-most. The seven previous games to the loss against APU were clinical, averaging 16.3 helpers in that span (114 total) with a high of 19 against FPU. With a total of 412 assists, ART U has assisted on 45.8 percent (412-of-899) of their total baskets this year. 

In comparison opponents are averaging 70.6 ppg against ART U this season, only nine times allowing an opponent to score 75 or more points (high of 98 at CUH). They allowed a season-low 52 points against FPU on Jan. 2, which was the fewest allowed since they gave up just 48 to UH Hilo last season Feb. 13, 2022, and is tied for the sixth-fewest points allowed in school history. On Jan. 2, FPU was held to just 28.8 percent shooting from the field, the second-lowest percentage ART U has held an opponent to in program history (first: 27.8 percent at HNU, Jan. 6, 2009). There have been 16 occasions that has ART U totaled double-digit steals with their season best of 19 against the Slugs on Feb. 14 tying the second-best mark in program history. That leads to a current season average of 10.4 per game, finishing with the regular season with 289 total steals which is already second-most in ART U history (now at 311). In the battle on the boards, ART U has snatched 1,177 rebounds (39.2 per game) to the 1,074 of their opponents (35.8 per game), 13 times grabbing 40 or more with their season-best of 53 against HPU tied for third-most in a game in program history. The now have the second-most rebounds in a single season in AR TU history, while their average will easily finish as a program record.

Graduate student guard Will Balata leads the now five Urban Knights that are averaging double-digit points, as his 12.5 ppg are just in front of the 12.0 ppg from senior forward Mike Asante. Trailing them both is senior guard Klay Brown with 11.7 ppg, though Brown also leads the team in blocks with a season best of three on five occasions (1.1 bpg; fifth in PacWest). Rounding out the group is sophomore forward Jamal Williams with 10.6 ppg while junior forward Latrell Williams adds 10.2 ppg. Fuller leads that group with a total of 18 games in double figures including each of the past eight , while the other four have done so 17 times each. Many have cleaned up the glass for ART U, but Asante's 8.1 rpg leads the Knights and is fourth in the PacWest, setting a new career mark and tying the program record for rebounds in a game with 20 against Point Loma on Jan. 21 (also: Hunter Hayden vs. DSU, 1/17/11). Meanwhile, Williams pulls down 7.0 rpg which places him directly behind Asante for fifth in the PacWest, grabbing 19 boards against HPU to also set his career high and rank third-most in program history. When moving the ball, Brown's 2.9 apg (86 total) leads the team and ranks 10th in the conference, while sophomore guard Rodney Munson and Asante chip in 2.0 apg each. Defensively, Brown has notched multiple steals in 21 of 30 games (high of five vs. UCSC) for a team-best average of 2.3 per game, leading the PacWest in steals average and total steals (69). Meanwhile, Williams has moved up to fourth with 1.6 spg (48 total, fourth) while graduate student guard Deang Deang trails shortly behind in sixth with 1.6 spg (46 total, sixth).

Academy of Art appears among the national leaders in multiple categories, ranking fifth in steals per game (10.3), ninth in average turnovers forced (17.80), 15th in turnover margin (+3.8), 21st in rebounding average (39.2 rpg), 32nd in opponent field goal percentage (41.4), and 37th in scoring margin (+8). Individually, Brown is among the nation's leaders as he is seventh total steals (69) and 10th in steals per game (2.30 spg).

TROPHY CASE
On Monday, Feb. 27, senior guard Klay Brown was picked as the PacWest Defender of the Week for the second time this campaign (also: Nov. 21) after he averaged 5.5 defensive rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.0 blocks per game over a pair of wins. It was the fifth such honor of his ART U career, tying him for the ART U program-record along with the five by Jase Harrison earned across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns. He owns the ART U record specifically for PacWest Defender of the Week honors, as no other Urban Knight has earned the award more than twice (Alexis Moore). Overall this is the sixth weekly honor collected by a total of three Urban Knights this season (five Defender of the Week, one Player of the Week), but they just missed out on the program record of the five Urban Knights and seven total awards earned last season. Brown's pair of honors joins the three picked up by senior forward Mike Asante (two-time Defender of the Week Jan. 4 and Jan. 23; Player of the Week Feb. 20) and the Defender of the Week award for junior forward Latrell Williams on Jan. 30. 

Just a day later, the trio of Brown, senior forward MIke Asante and graduate student guard Will Balata all earned All-PacWest Team awards as announced by the PacWest Conference, as Brown and Asante were named to the All-PacWest Second Team while Balata picked up an All-PacWest Third Team selection. This is the sixth consecutive year that at least one Urban Knight has been named to an All-PacWest Team, the ninth season overall with at least one selection, with this year's three Urban Knights topping the previous program record of two honors in a single season which has occurred three times (2019-20: first and third teams; 2020-21: NorCal Pod Selections; 2011-12: honorable mentions).

WHEN THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN
While Academy of Art handed Saint Martin's their first loss of the season when the two teams first met back on Nov. 25 when the Saints were the No. 19 team in the nation, SMU still went on to post the best season in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 24-6 overall record and a 15-3 mark in conference play, including winning 10 of their past 11 down the stretch. However, despite winning the GNAC Tournament Semifinal against No. 4 seed Central Washington 72-64, they were upset in the GNAC Tournament Final by No. 6 seed Northwest Nazarene 65-57 that dropped them from the No. 3 team in the West Region down to fourth. The 80.6 ppg from the Saints this season was second-most in the GNAC while their defense was just sixth (of 10; 69.6 ppg allowed), however it was still strong enough to help Saint Martin's post the best scoring margin of the conference at +11.0. While only sixth in their own conference in field goal percentage at 46.2 percent, that would rank just above ART U for third in the PacWest, and rank in the top half of the GNAC in nearly all other statistical categories including the conference-lead in rebounds per game (37.9). Four Saints are averaging double-digit scoring on the season with the 14.4 ppg from Kyle Greely leading the way, knocking down over 54 percent of his attempts on the year. Meanwhile, Saint Martin's boasts one of the nation's leaders in assists as Jaden Nielsen-Skinner posts the seventh-most assists per game at 6.4, and Tyke Thompson does the damage on the boards with an average of 5.7 per game with Hunter Sipe's 5.2 per game hot on his heels. The all-time series is split evenly between the ART U and Saint Martin's at 2-2, with the Saints taking each of the first two meetings while the Knights have claimed the last two. 

LURKING AROUND THE CORNER
Awaiting the winner of the ART U/Saint Martin's battle will be the victor of the clash between site host, #1 seed and No. 4 team in the nation Point Loma against GNAC Tournament winner No. 8 seed Northwest Nazarene. The story of PLNU has been well documented, as they have won 23 games in a row and are anchored by one of the nation's top players in Kaden Anderson, who became just the second player to be picked as the PacWest Player of the Year three consecutive seasons. The Sea Lions boasted the best scoring offense (80.7 ppg), best scoring defense (65.4 ppg allowed) and best scoring margin (+15.3), and are among the nation's leaders in multiple team categories. A total of four Sea Lions average double figures, with Anderson leading the way in both scoring (22.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.9 rpg), while Luke Haupt was one of the conference's best ball movers at 4.7 assists per game. After winning the season series against ART U, including giving the Knights their only loss against a ranked opponent this season, PLNU leads the all-time series 15-4. Meanwhile for the Nighthawks, they had lost three of their past four to end the regular season but then pulled off the improbable, winning three games in three days as the No. 6 seed to become GNAC Tournament Champions. Among that run included beating all three of the top seeds, starting with No. 3 Seattle Pacific (which knocked the Falcons from the West Regional), the No. 2 seed MSU Billings, and No. 1 seed Saint Martin's. It is even more amazing as the Nighthawks have the lowest scoring offense in the GNAC (66.2 ppg), and they ranked just seventh (of 10) in scoring margin. Additionally, they had a league-low shooting percentage at just 42.0 percent. Just three Nighthawks hit double-digit scoring with the 12.2 ppg from Tru Allen leading the way, while Gabriel Murphy does the work on the boards with 8.3 per game. NNU has won the only two meetings in history with the Urban Knights, taking the first by a 78-70 final on Nov. 24, 2012 before winning the second battle on Nov. 17, 2017. 

ART U COMEBACK ATTEMPT FALLS SHORT IN PACWEST SEMIFINAL
Despite trailing at the half of their Pacific West Conference Championship Semifinal matchup against No. 2 seed Azusa Pacific, the comeback was on in the second half as Academy of Art men's basketball flipped the switch and got within two possessions, but it was not enough as APU was able to oust ART U from the tournament with a 72-60 victory on Friday. 

LOOKING AHEAD
Should the Urban Knights go on to win the three matchups ahead in the West Regional, Academy of Art will earn a berth in NCAA DII's Elite Eight, which will begin on Tuesday, March 21 in Evansville, Ind. from the Ford Center.