2021-22 Men's Basketball Notebook (Week 19)

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
TICKET INFORMATION: Limited single-day reserved seats are $20 (Adults (Ages: 13+) per day, $6 for Students (Ages 5-12) and an all-tournament ticket and balcony reserved seats are available for $90. NAIA students who present their valid student ID can purchase a $12 single day ticket.

LIVE LINKS: The 2022 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Final Site will be carried live via the NAIA Digital Network ($9.95 per game, $34.95 tournament pass). In addition, Live Stats will be available through the NAIA website.
 
A FULL NAIA CHAMPIONSHIP: For the first-time in association history, the NAIA Championship will be a 64-team event, beginning with 16 Opening Round sites across the country. Following the 2019-20 season, the NAIA merged the Division I and Division II schools into one division - however, due to COVID, the 2021 championship featured just 48 teams.
 
HISTORY OF THE TOURNAMENT: The NAIA Championships is the oldest basketball tournament in college athletics, as James Naismith began the event in 1937 to crown a national champion for small colleges and universities. The tournament has been held every year except 1944 (due to World War II) and 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
 
PLAYOFF SPOT SECURED: With their win over Bushnell on Jan. 29, C of I clinched their 24th-straight postseason berth and the 39th playoff appearance in 40 years. C of I has a 94-54 all-time playoff record, including a 38-17 mark in the CCC Championships. C of I made four-straight trips to the NAIA Championships from 2017-20, with 2022 marking the 24th trip to the NAIA National Tournament, including consecutive trips to the NAIA semifinals in 2018 and 2019 and were seeded No. 1 in the 2020 Championships that was canceled due to COVID. C of I has played 66 all-time postseason games at home (between Kirkpatrick Gym, O'Connor Fieldhouse and the Activities Center), posting a 56-10 all-time record.
 
ALL-TIME AT NATIONALS: With the Cascade Conference regular-season title, the Yotes clinched an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship. It is the Coyotes ninth trip to the stand-alone NAIA Championship, posting a 5-8 mark – including trips to the national quarterfinals in 1988 and 1989. C of I made 15th trips to the NAIA Division II Championships, having posted a 21-13 record in the tournament – including trips to the quarterfinals in 1993, 2001 and 2015, semifinal appearances in 2018 and 2019, and winning the 1996 NAIA title. C of I heads to Kansas City for the first time since 1991 – the final year of the stand-alone NAIA Championship, before the association split into two divisions…the 1988 and 1989 teams each advanced to the national quarterfinals, a feat both the 2000 and 2015 teams achieved…the 2018 and 2019 C of I teams reached the NAIA semifinals, while the 1996 team won the NAIA national title.
 
AGAINST THE FIELD: C of I has a 5-2 mark against tournament teams this year – including two victories against both Montana Tech and Lewis-Clark State, a split against Oregon Tech and a road loss at Carroll. C of I is the lone Northwest team remaining in the tournament, as Oregon Tech, Montana Tech and Carroll all lost second-round games.
 
SERIES HISTORY: C of I and Grace will mark the first meeting between the two teams. Grace College and Seminary is a private evangelical Christian college in Winona Lake, Indiana. The Lancers enter the tournament with a 27-8 mark, having defeated Cumberlands (Mar. 11, 73-71) and No. 11 Olivet Nazarene (Mar. 12, 90-87) in the opening round. To secure the spot in the national tournament, Grace defeated a pair of top 15 foes including No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan (Feb. 26, 84-76) and No. 12 Marian (86-85) to the claim the 2022 Crossroads League Tournament as the No. 5 seed in the tournament.
 
WIN STREAK: With their two wins in the Opening Round, the Yotes extended their win streak to 13 games and have won 24 of their last 25 games. C of I has won its last 19 games at home and its last four away from Caldwell.
 
COACH OF THE YEAR RECORDS 100TH WIN: For the second time in his career, in 2021-22, Colby Blaine was honored as Cascade Conference Coach of the Year. Blaine, the 2020 NAIA Coach of the Year, picked up his 100th career victory last Friday against Vanguard. The Coyote leader has a 101-22 all-time record and becoming the fastest C of I coach to 100 wins – surpassing Marty Holly (100-30), Scott Garson (100-35) and Mark Owen (100-43).
 
25-WIN SEASONS: The Feb. 18 win at Warner Pacific secured the Coyotes their 13th 25-win season in program history. C of I has logged 27 20-win season in program history and the seventh 20-win season in the last decade, while recording five 30-win seasons (1996, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020).
 
BEST ALL-TIME STARTS: With a 31-3 mark heading into today's game, it eclipses the best marks of the 1995-96 and 2019-20 teams, who both opened the year with a 30-3 mark.
 
HOME COURT EDGE: The J.A. Albertson Activities Center is arguably one of the toughest venues in all of NAIA Basketball, as the Coyotes are 19-1 this season and have posted a staggering 133-16 overall record on their home floor since the start of the 2013-14 season. The 19 home wins are a new school record, surpassing the 2019-20 team that finished 18-1 at home, with both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 teams finishing 17-0. Since the Activities Center opened in 1991, the Yotes have recorded a 348-99 all-time record – with the mark ballooning to 465-108 when accounting the previous decade at O'Connor Fieldhouse. Despite COVID restrictions this season, C of I ranks No. 2 in the NAIA in basketball attendance (behind Indiana Wesleyan), averaging 1,212 fans per game – more than Idaho State (1,152) and just under the total for Idaho (1,282) – and higher than any Division II or Division III program in the Northwest.
 
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: C of I finished the Cascade Conference season at 20-2, clinching the 2022 regular-season championship – their tenth title in program history. C of I won the Northwest Conference title in 1947, 1955 and 1956 and have claimed CCC crowns in 1996, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2020. With their victory over Southern Oregon in the CCC Tournament title game, the Coyotes became the first team in the circuit to win 10 tournament titles (1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022)
 
OFFENSIVE RHYTHM: It has been the tale of two months of the season – as C of I averaged just 68 points per game over their first 10 games – making just 43-percent of their field goals and 31-percent of their 3's. Over the last 10 games, the script has flipped, as the Yotes have averaged 84.4 points per game, converting 48.6-percent of their field goals and 36.7-percent of their 3-pointers – scoring 90-or-more points eight times.
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINS: The five-point win over OUAZ snapped a stretch of 11-straight victories by at least 12-or-more points – eclipsing a school record 10-game streak established by the 2019-20 squad. Earlier this season, the Coyotes had a stretch of six wins by a margin of 23-or-more points – joining the legendary 1954-55 C of I team led by Elgin Baylor and R.C. Owens as the only teams to achieve the feat (67 years ago, the Yotes won 6-straight February games by 23-or-more points).
 
LOCKING IT DOWN: The Yotes defense continues to pave the way to victory – as C of I has held each of 10 of their last 11 opponents to 65 points or less. For the season, opponents are averaging 63.3 points per game – the No. 6 mark in the NAIA, with the Coyotes holding foes to a 40.5-percent shooting percentage from the field and a 31-percent clip from 3-point range. The school-record for scoring defense is 63.3 points per game, set in 1959.
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT BOARDS: C of I continued their dominance on the glass, posting a combined 68 more rebounds than their opponents in the five playoff victories, including a 20-rebound margin against Southern Oregon. The Yotes have recorded nine of its last 10 games with a rebound margin of 10-or-more, with their 11.1 rebound margin on the season ranking No. 1 in the NAIA.
 
TIME NAMED CCC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: The Coyotes leading scorer, Ricardo Time, picked up the biggest award in the conference, earning CCC Player of the Year honors as voted on by the 12 coaches. The senior tallied double-figure scoring games in 17 of his last regular season 18 contests – averaging 13 points and four rebounds a game – leading the team with 62 made 3-point baskets. Time, an All-CCC selection a year ago, joins Kade Wilson (1995), Jimmy Kolyszko (1996), Shermon Ewell (2000), Tom Perkes (2004), Josh Wilson (2015) and Aziz Leeks (2018) as Player of the Year recipients.
 
WYMAN EARNS FRESHMAN HONOR: A big season from forward Drew Wyman netted the first-year Coyote CCC Freshman of the Year honors, as well as a spot on the All-CCC first-team. The Great Falls product has scored in double-figures in 21 of the 31 games played, averaging 11 points and five boards a night. Wyman has scored 382 points this season – the most by a C of I true freshman since Bob Moreno scored 479 points in 1959 and ranks No. 4 on the all-time freshman scoring list – trailing Moreno, R.C. Owens (557 points in 1953) and Elgin Baylor (854 points in 1955).
 
O'NEIL EARNS CONFERENCE PLAUDITS: For the second-straight season, Jake O'Neil was honored by the CCC, earning honorable mention honors in 2022. The 2021 Freshman of the Year is averaging 10 points and seven rebounds per game – a number that climbed to 12.2 points and 9.6 rebounds a game over the last 10 games. O'Neil has connected on 55-of-93 field goals during that stretch, improving his season field goal percentage to .530 percent.
 
VETERANS RETURN TO THE STAGE: In 2020, the Coyotes had their season ended abruptly after a first-round victory, with four current C of I players seeing action in the 67-49 win over Northwestern. For Ivory Miles-Williams, it is his fourth trip to the NAIA Championships – a week after becoming just the second CCC player to win four league titles (joining Oregon Tech's Kyle Gomez from 2009-12). Guards Charles Elzie and Derek Wadsworth combined to play 21 minutes in that NAIA tourney game – Elzie coming off a great CCC Tournament where he averaged 10 points and four assists per game, while Wadsworth has made a 3-pointer in five-straight games.
 
RECORD BOOK: Six C of I players are ranked in the Top-50 of the career record book – as Ricardo Time ranks  and No. 6 in 3-pointers attempted (453), No. 7 in 3-pointers made (171), No. 29 in points scored (989) and in field goal attempts (781), No. 32 in field goals made (342) and No. 44 in assists (146) and No. 50 in rebounds (396). Derek Wadsworth is No. 13 in 3-point attempts (368), No. 16 in games played (114), No. 23 in 3-pointers made (122) and No. 410 in assists (163); Ivory Miles-Williams is No. 5 in games played (127), No. 35 in rebounds (450) and No. 49 in assists (142) and just outside the top 50 in field goals made (298); Paul Wilson is No. 13 in blocked shots (57); Charles Elzie is No. 27 in steals (89) and No. 28 in assists (193); with Johnny Radford No. 44 in 3-pointers made (69) and just outside the Top-50 in 3-point attempts (171). Wilson is also No. 11 on the single-season blocked shots list (43); Time No. 25 in 3-point attempts (179) and No. 29 in 3-pointers made (66); with Caden Handran No. 38 in assists (107).