NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The William Jewell men's basketball team will make its second appearance in the three years in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament on Saturday as they square off against No. 9 ranked Walsh University in the opening round. The Cardinals are the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region and come into the contest at 22-9 overall and champions of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). On the other side, the Cavaliers are 27-3 and champions of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) and are the top seed in the Midwest. 

#8 William Jewell (22-9) vs. #1 Walsh University (27-3)
Date/Time	Saturday, March 14 • 4:00 p.m. CT/5:00 ET
Location/Facility	North Canton, Ohio • Cecchini Center (Alumni Arena)
Game Links	Watch • Live Stats
Tickets	Purchase Online

CARDINAL NOTES

• The William Jewell men's basketball team earned the Great Lakes Valley Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA-II National Tournament last weekend after winning the 2026 league title, their second in three seasons. Looking for their first ever NCAA Tournament win, the Cardinals open the Midwest Regional with top seed and No. 9 ranked Walsh University. This will be the first meeting between the two schools. 
• Justice Sutton and Bradley Lightbourne picked up All-GLVC honors, as announced by the league office on prior to the GLVC Tournament. The former earned First Team honors and was superb throughout the season but was even better in conference play, averaging 21 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and collected 33 steals. He shot better than 50% from the field and an impressive 40% from three while connecting on over 87% of free throw attempts. Lightbourne was selected to the All-GLVC Second Team and All-Defensive Team after putting up 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists with 36 steals and 21 blocks. Both players, along with graduate senior Isaac Patterson were named to the GLVC All-Tournament Team. 
• Last week was special for the Jewell basketball program, but perhaps none more so than for Kanukayi Gudza. The redshirt junior had his parents stateside for 10 days and in attendance through the GLVC title run after traveling 4,400 miles from his hometown of Luton, England, located just over one hour outside of London. Additionally, Bradley Lightbourne's family also made the 1,405 mile trek from Harbour Island, Bahamas (2.5 hour ferry to Nassau for nearest airport) for Senior Day (Feb. 28) and saw the redshirt senior put up back-to-back career highs in wins over UIS and Truman. 
• Gudza continues to impress, now in his fourth season, and enters the NCAA Tournament second in the GLVC and 36th in Division II with a assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.42 while dishing out more than three helpers per night. He has handed out at least four assists in 16-of-31 games played.
• The coaching staff wasn't sure what exactly they would get with this group, following the graduation of the second all-time leading scorer Jordan Jermain and company last spring along with Sutton and Isaac Patterson both coming off of major injuries that required them to miss the entire 2024-25 season. The current Cardinals sat at just 3-6 in mid-December, but have gone 19-3 since that time. Their lone losses came to then-No. 17 Missouri S&T and NCAA Tournament team Rockhurst, before a late season stumble at UMSL, where they shot just 32% from the field. Their 22 wins marks the most in a single season during the NCAA era.  
• Jewell averages 73.6 points per game, which ranks 195th in Division II, but make up for it on the defensive end as they are 36th nationally in scoring defense, allowing opponents just 67.9 points per game. In the GLVC Tournament, they held two of the league's top-three scoring offenses, in Upper Iowa and Drury, who both average more than 80 per night, below their season averages by 15.8 and 33.4 points, respectively. Despite averaging just 74.3 points in that three game run, Jewell won each of those contests by double digits. 
• Jewell played seven games without guard Kyle Scharbrough, forcing them to push deeper into the bench with young players. The Cardinals have just seven players that average double digits minutes per game, with five of those putting in at least 29. Sutton leads the conference with more than 36 minutes per outing. Underclassmen Adam Fuller, PJ Moore, Bryce Mitchell, Ty Romero, and Cooper Francis all average less than 10 minutes per game but each have shown flashes of high potential. Fuller has scored in double figures four times and shoots 40% from long range while Romero put up 21 in his collegiate debut, and Francis was key last weekend with a career high 13 off the bench in the win over Upper Iowa. 
• After not playing since February 5, Scharbrough was not expected to make his return until this week but got his clearance ahead of schedule. Suiting up for the first time in the semifinal round of the GLVC Tournament against McKendree, he was critical to Jewell's championship effort. The redshirt junior averaged 15 points and four rebounds over two games, while shooting 50% from the field, 55% from three, and 87.5% from the free throw line. 
• In addition to the GLVC Championship on Sunday, head coach Chris McCabe picked up win No. 100 in his collegiate coaching career. He is the fifth head coach in Jewell men's basketball history to do so, joining R.E. Bowles (1913-28, 1934-38, 1940-41), Jim Nelson (1951-68), John Hickman (1969-79), and the great Larry Holley (1979-2019), who retired in 2019 as the No. 9 all-time wins leader in men's college basketball (any level). 
• The William Jewell College men's basketball program is the second oldest in NCAA Division II, beginning play in 1898 and trailing only West Chester by one season. In November 2023, they surpassed the 1700 win mark, becoming the fifth program in Division II to do so. 
• William Jewell College was founded in 1849, making it the third oldest institution in the 2026 Division II field, behind West Alabama (1835) and West Liberty (1837). With an enrollment of around 900 total students, Jewell is also the smallest institution in the field.