UNC Asheville basketball a 15-seed in 2023 NCAA Tournament, to face UCLA in March Madness
UNC Asheville is a No. 15 seed and will play No. 2 seed UCLA in Sacramento in the first round Thursday. The game is scheduled for a 10:05 p.m. ET tipoff and will be televised on truTV.
Asheville (27-7) won the Big South regular season and tournament championships behind 6-foot-11 senior forward Drew Pember, who was named the league's Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Tournament MVP.
UCLA (29-5) went 18-2 in the Pac-12, winning the regular season title by four games but falling to Arizona 61-59 in the conference tournament championship Saturday. The Bruins were ranked No. 8 in the preseason AP Top 25, fell to as low as No. 21 in November and were ranked No. 2 in last week's poll, but a season-ending injury to guard Jaylen Clark has fueled some concerns about their tournament ceiling.
The teams are in the West region, anchored by No. 1-seed Kansas. The West's Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games will be played in Las Vegas.
The Bulldogs are making their first March Madness appearance since 2016 and fifth overall. They have never advanced past the round of 64 and are 2-2 overall in the big dance. UCLA is in its third consecutive NCAA Tournament, reaching the Final Four in 2021 and the Sweet 16 last year.
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The Bulldogs' best win of this season came in its first game, a 98-95 double overtime win at UCF of the American Athletic Conference. They won nine consecutive games between Jan. 4 and Feb. 2 and have lost just once in 2023.
Coach Mike Morrell is in his fifth season at Asheville, which is his first head coaching job. He was previously an assistant at Charleston Southern, VCU and Texas.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: In March Madness, UNC Asheville to face UCLA in NCAA Tournament 2023
