Northwestern College is officially among the 32-team field at the 2020 NAIA D-II Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament that will be held at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The 29th annual, and final, D-II Championship will run from March 11-17.
The Red Raiders, with a 20-11 record, received the automatic host bid by way of their 60% win percentage in the regular season. They finished conference play tied with Concordia, who won the postseason tournament, for fourth place with a 12-8 record.
Northwestern is one of four teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) to qualify for the championship, joining regular season Morningside, postseason champion Concordia and Dakota Wesleyan.
Head Coach Kris Korver’s squad is making its 19th appearance at the D-II Championship, second most among this year’s field to College of the Ozarks (23), the former host of the event. Northwestern holds a 31-16 all-time record and has won two championships (2001, 03). They return to the championship for the third time in four years, not qualifying in 2019.
The Red Raiders will play No.1 overall seed, College of Idaho, a team on a roll with a 24-game win streak and 30-3 overall record. The Yotes won both the Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season and postseason titles. They are 19-13 all-time and are making their 15th appearance at the D-II Championship. The game will be on Wednesday, March 11 at 8pm.
This will be the third match-up between the teams at the D-II Championship with Northwestern defeating the Yotes in the quarterfinals in 2001 and in the first round in 2007.
