CIT Game Preview
Portland at Northern Colorado
Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion (2,734), Greeley
Wednesday, March 17, 7 p.m. Mountain
Records: Northern Colorado is 24-7. The Bears finished 12-4 in Big Sky play, second behind Weber State. Portland is 21-10. The Pilots finished 10-4 in third place in the West Coast Conference.
Coaches: Northern Colorado’s Tad Boyle is 55-65 in his fourth season. Portland’s Eric Reveno is 58-68 in his fourth season. Boyle is 1-1 against Reveno.
Series History: Portland leads 2-1. The teams first met during the 1974-75 season with Portland winning 86-81 at home. Portland won again at home 70-63 during the 2007-08 season. Northern Colorado won in Greeley 76-73 last season.
CIT History: Northern Colorado is playing in the CIT for the first time. It’s the first national postseason tournament game in Division I history. Portland is in the field for the second straight season. The Pilots lost to Pacific in the first round of the inaugural CIT last season.
Common Opponents: Both squads played Eastern Washington, Portland State and Denver. Northern Colorado swept two meetings with Eastern Washington, split two games against Portland State, and beat Denver 72-57. Portland lost at Portland State 86-82 when the Pilots were ranked 25th in the nation. Portland beat Eastern Washington 64-58 and Denver 72-62.
Northern Colorado notes: The Bears can set a school record for victories with a win. The 24 victories so far ties the 1988-89 team…Northern Colorado is 12-1 at home this season. Portland is 5-6 on the road…Neal Kingman hit five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points in last year’s win over Portland…NC ranks 19th in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage (39.0) and is 21sn’t in free-throw percentage (74.5).