Holy Cross Set To Face Oregon In NCAA First Round

Fresh off its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1953, the Holy Cross men’s basketball team will face Oregon in an NCAA First Round game at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash., on Friday, March 18, at 7:27 p.m. (EDT). The contest between the Crusaders and the Ducks will be shown live to a national audience on truTV. The game will also air on WEEI 1440 AM in Worcester, and will be available nationally on Westwood One radio.

This is Holy Cross’ 13th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where it owns an overall record of 8-12. The Crusaders are coming off a 59-55 victory over Southern in the First Four, their first in an NCAA Tournament game since defeating Wake Forest 79-71 in the East Regional semifinal in 1953. In 1947, Holy Cross won the NCAA title, defeating Oklahoma 58-47 in the championship game.

The Crusaders earned the Patriot League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning four road games as the No. 9 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. In the championship game, Holy Cross won 59-56 at No. 2 seed Lehigh to complete its historic run. The Crusaders previously defeated No. 4 seed Army 60-38 in the semifinals, No. 1 seed Bucknell 77-72 in double overtime in the quarterfinals, and No. 8 seed Loyola (Md.) 72-67 in the first round. Holy Cross currently owns an overall record of 15-19, and posted a 5-13 mark in regular season league games.

Junior forward Malachi Alexander leads the team by averaging 11.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Junior guard Robert Champion has added 11.7 points, 4.8 boards and 1.0 steals per contests, while freshman forward Karl Charles is chipping in with 10.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

The winner of the Holy Cross-Oregon game will move on to face either Cincinnati or St. Joseph’s on Sunday, March 20, at the Spokane Arena.