Team Notes:

First meeting between the schools.

Metropolitan State, who went 27-0 against teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season (22-0 regular season, 3-0 in RMAC tournament, 2-0 in South Central Regional), is in the Elite Eight for the third consecutive year and eighth time overall, the most quarterfinal appearances of any team in this year's field ... The Roadrunners were the top-ranked team in the pre-season and after suffering their only loss of the year on Nov. 30 at Western Washington to fall out of the top spot, moved back to No. 1 and stayed there for the final six weeks of the season ... Brandon Jefferson, Metro State's leading scorer with an average of 21.5 points per game, is the leading scorer during the NCAA Tournament among the teams still playing as he has averaged 27.3 points in the first three contests. He is also the top active scorer in NCAA Division II among the players still in action with a career total of 1,873 points and also ranks fourth in free throw percentage at 92.3 percent; his 215 made free throws rank fourth nationally ... Only two teams in Division II have made more free throws than the 680 Metro State has connected on this season ... The Roadrunners are also getting 16.1 points a game from Mitch McCarron and 15.9 from Nicholas Kay; McCarron and Kay were among four players in this year's Elite Eight named to the Capital One Academic All-America team (both second-team selections from the only school with two players named to the men's NCAA Division II squad) ... Metro State, who lost by a point to Drury in the national championship game, won its last national title in Evansville the last time the tournament was held there in 2002.

METROPOLITAN STATE VITALS:
Scoring Offense: 80.9 (63rd in Division II)
Scoring Defense: 66.4 (20th)
Scoring Margin: +14.5 (8th)
Rebounding Margin: +4.0 (59th)
Assist to Turnover Ratio: 1.15:1 (87th)
Longest Winning Streak: 28 games (Dec. 7-present)
Leading Scorer: Brandon Jefferson, 21.5 ppg
Leading Rebounder: Mitch McCarron, 7.5 rpg

Tuskegee reached the Elite Eight for the first time in school history with a historic run through the South Regional. After toppling top seed Florida Southern in the opening round, the Golden Tigers won each of their next two games by larger margins each time over North Alabama and Delta State to join Saint Joseph's as the only eighth seeds to win a regional title since the tournament expanded to 64 teams ... The top two scorers for Tuskegee have been non-starters for much of the season, as Richard Dixon averages a team-high 17.1 points per game and Javier McKinney is scoring 14.1 a contest with a team-best 42 three-point baskets. The Golden Tigers have made 182 treys this season and have eight players who have made 10 or more; Elliot Dean has made 36 at a clip of 41.9 percent ... As a team, Tuskegee ranks 21st in steals per game with 8.6 and its 275 steals are the 11th-most of any team nationally, with its 28 in the regional round second only to Drury in the Elite Eight Field. It led the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in assists with 15.5 per contest ... Golden Tiger head coach Leon Douglas had a seven-year career in the National Basketball Association, playing for the Detroit Pistons and Kansas City Kings and averaging 12.8 points over those seven seasons ...
The Golden Tigers are the first representative from the SIAC in the Elite Eight since Alabama A&M made the last of its three straight appearances in 1996.

TUSKEGEE VITALS:
Scoring Offense: 83.0 (40th in Division II)
Scoring Defense: 78.3 (220th)
Scoring Margin: +4.7 (89th)
Rebounding Margin: +2.3 (104th)
Assist to Turnover Ratio: 1.09:1 (109th)
Longest Winning Streak: 6 games (Jan. 13-Feb. 1 and March 5-present)
Leading Scorer: Richard Dixon, 17.2 ppg
Leading Rebounder: Camden Foster, 6.3 rpg