BEARS HEADING WEST AGAIN FOR POSTSEASON MATCHUP

[Seminole Indian]

CONWAY, Ark. _  The University of Central Arkansas Bears will make their fourth trip to the West Coast this season for a Wednesday night postseason date with the Seattle Redhawks in the first round of the 2018 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

The matchup will be played at 9 p.m. (CST) at the Connolly Complex in Seattle.

The Bears and Redhawks are part of the 16-team field for the 11th annual CBI which will be played on campus sites. The quarterfinals will be played Monday, March 19, with the semifinals on Wednesday, March 21. The teams will be re-bracketed prior to the semifinals. The Finals will be a best-of-three series in which one team will host two of the three games. That series will be on March 26, 28 and 30.

The Bears are 17-16 overall after losing in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Tournament to eventual champion Stephen F. Austin on Thursday in Katy, Texas. The 17 victories is the most for the Bears since moving to NCAA Division I in 2006-07. UCA also won its first SLC Tournament game last week, knocking off No. 6 seed Lamar 67-57 in the first round at the Merrell Center. The Bears have already played four teams from the west this season on three separate trips, beating California and losing to Oregon, San Francisco and then-No. 20 UCLA in overtime.

Seattle is 20-13 overall and went 8-6 and finished fourth in the eight-team Western Athletic Conference. The Redhawks lost to eventual champion New Mexico State in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament on Friday. Seattle went 16-2 at home this season. The Redhawks, coached by first-year head coach Jim Hayford, had three players earn postseason honors from the conference, including Aaron Menzies and Matej Kavas as All-WAC second-team selections, Menzies on the All-Defensive team and Jordan Hill on the All-Newcomer team.

The other CBI first-round matchups include fellow Southland program New Orleans hosting UT-Rio Grande Valley, Eastern Washington at Utah Valley, Colgate at San Francisco, Miami (Ohio) at Campbell, North Texas @ South Dakota, Mercer at Grand Canyon and Jacksonville State at Canisius.

Past CBI champions include Tulsa, Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Santa Clara, Siena, Loyola Chicago, Nevada, and Wyoming. Teams from nearly every conference have participated in the event. Twenty-eight teams have used the CBI to springboard to the NCAA Tournament the following year, while another 18 have gone on to the NIT.

ESPN is again the official television home of the CBI. ESPNU will televise each game of the best-of-three Championship Series. Roy Philpott and Jason Capel will serve as the broadcast team.



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