Team Notes:

First meeting between the schools.

Central Missouri returns to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2009 and fifth time overall after winning the only overtime game in the regional championship round, outlasting Northwest Missouri State 60-59 as Daylen Robinson made a free throw with two seconds left in the overtime period ... The Mules, ranked 20th in the final NABC/Division II rankings, shared the regular season title with Northwest in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and was the sixth MIAA title under head coach Kim Anderson. The six conference titles and 271 wins Anderson has accumulated at UCM are the most by any head coach in the history of the program ... Robinson comes into the Elite Eight ranked 16th nationally in assists with 173, while Dillon Deck is shooting 62.9 percent from the field, the 14th-best mark in Division II. As a team, UCM is shooting 49.5 percent from the floor, the 16th-best average in Division II ... Central's three opponents in the tournament have shot just 35.2 percent from the field, the second-best mark among the teams in Evansville since the tournament began ... In the Mules' four previous trips to the Elite Eight, they have at least reached the semifinal round on three of those occasions, including winning a national championship in 1984.

CENTRAL MISSOURI VITALS:
Scoring Offense: 80.2 (74th in Division II)
Scoring Defense: 67.6 (33rd)
Scoring Margin: +12.6 (12th)
Rebounding Margin: +5.5 (30th)
Assist to Turnover Ratio: 1.26:1 (49th)
Longest Winning Streak: 10 games (Jan. 22-March 1)
Leading Scorer: Dillon Deck, 13.6 ppg
Leading Rebounder: Charles Hammork, 5.6 rpg

Southern Connecticut State is in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1997 and second time overall. Its previous trip to the quarterfinals ended with a three-point loss in that round to eventual national champion Cal State-Bakersfield ... The Owls went 17-10 last season and were 2-25 in each of the two years before head coach Michael Donnelly arrived on the scene prior to the 2010-11 season, but have increased their win total in each of the last four years to its current total of 30 that is the most in the history of the program ... SCSU has one of the top scoring backcourt combinations in the tournament in Greg Langston and Tylon Smith. Langston, the Northeast-10 Conference's "Player of the Year" whose three-pointer gave SCSU its first-ever Northeast-10 title this season, leads the Owls in scoring at 19.9 points per game, while Smith -- who hit the game-winning basket in the semifinal win over Franklin Pierce and followed that up with a 29-point effort in the win over Saint Anselm to win the East Regional -- is averaging 19 a game ... Smith is one of four players in the Elite Eight that was named to the Capital One Academic All-America team; he was a third-team selection to this year's squad ... Langston's 1,856 career points are the second-most of any player still active behind Metro State's Brandon Jefferson (1,873) ... As a team, the Owls rank fourth in Division II in total rebounds, 15th in scoring and 20th in field goal percentage defense (40.4 percent); Luke Houston is 15th in the nation with his 66 steals ... The Owls tied their highest-ever national ranking at the end of a season -- fourth in the final poll -- despite not being ranked for the first time this year until Jan. 28.

SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT STATE VITALS:
Scoring Offense: 86.1 (15th in Division II)
Scoring Defense: 74.7 (153rd)
Scoring Margin: +11.4 (20th)
Rebounding Margin: +1.3 (127th)
Assist to Turnover Ratio: 1.29:1 (38th)
Longest Winning Streak: 19 games (Jan. 11-present)
Leading Scorer: Greg Langston, 19.9 ppg
Leading Rebounder: Luke Houston, 6.6 rpg