After a year hiatus from the NAIA National Championship tournament, the Loyola University New Orleans men’s basketball team is back in the field of 64. The Wolf Pack earned a No. 8 seed in the Naismith quadrant, playing a first-round match up against No. 9 seed Bethel College (Kan.) in Henderson, Tennessee. Freed-Hardeman University is the host of first- and second-round games, a destination the Wolf Pack traveled to in 2024.
It’s Loyola’s eighth appearance in the national tournament in the last nine seasons, including winning the 2022 NAIA National Championship. The Pack has not made it out of the first round since that national championship run.
The Wolf Pack is currently 22-7 overall with seven of those wins coming against teams in the national tournament field.
Bethel is entering the first-round matchup with a 21-8 overall record, finishing tied for the third-best Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) record at 16-6. The Threshers were the No. 4 seed in the KCAC Men’s Basketball Championship, and they lost in the first round to No. 5 seed Southwestern College (Kan.), 67-65.
Kameron Johnson leads the team in scoring with an 18.5 per-game average, also contributing 4.4 rebounds per game, a school record 183 assists this season (6.5 assists per game), and 54 steals (1.9 per game). Zachary Lee (14), Leonard Jackson (12.9), and Kosta Bjelicic (11.8) are all also scoring in double figures, and Bjelicic leads the team with 7.1 rebounds per game.
Johnson was named the SSAC Player of the Year last week before the SSAC Championship tournament, and Lee made the SSAC All-Conference Second Team.
READ MORE:Loyola men’s basketball earns at-large berth to NAIA National Championship
