06-03-2025
ETBU to host NCAA tournament for first time
Story by: ETBU Athletics
MARSHALL, Texas – Finding out their fate early in the NCAA Division III Selection Show, East Texas Baptist University will be a host for the first and second rounds in their third NCAA Tournament appearance. It is the first time ETBU will host a NCAA Tournament, as they played on the road in 2018 and 2022.
Heading to Marshall, Texas, will be SCAC members McMurry University and Texas Lutheran and SCIAC member California Lutheran. McMurry and CLU will face off at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, followed by ETBU and TLU at 7:15 p.m. TLU and CLU earned automatic berths into the tournament by winning their conference tournaments. McMurry received one of the at-large bids with their NPI.
'Anytime we can play in our home gym, we are excited about that,' said head coach Blake Arbogast. 'We are excited about this but we need to dive into the film as we play a very tough, scrappy Texas Lutheran team.'
ETBU is 12th (61.899) in the latest NPI ranking, moving up seven spots after winning the 2025 American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship. TLU follows at 31st (59.404), McMurry is 35th (58.930), and CLU is 67th (56.567).
In their third appearance, ETBU holds a 4-2 record in two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. They received the automatic bid in 2018 after winning the ASC Tournament as the no. 3 seed. They preceded to win the first and second-round games at Texas Dallas, advancing to Iowa for the Sweet 16. In Iowa, ETBU upset St. Thomas (Minn.) and fell in the Elite Eight to no. 2 Wartburg College. Their second appearance was an at-large berth in 2022 as they went to Rhodes College in Tennessee. In the first round, they upset host Rhodes College and fell to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the second round.
The NCAA Tournament's first and second rounds will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, at Ornelas Gym.
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