The Gold Rush — a 70-46 winner against the Bleu Devils on Saturday in both teams' regular-season finale — will play Dillard at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Ark. It will be the first postseason meeting between the longtime city rivals since 2000.
Xavier (24-6) shared the GCAC regular-season championship with Philander Smith, but the Gold Rush won a tiebreaker to earn the tournament's No. 1 seed for the first time since 1987, when the event was known as the NAIA District 30 playoffs. Dillard (3-20) is seeded eighth.
The Gold Rush have won eight straight against Dillard during the past four seasons and won by an average of 23.8 points during the last two seasons. Xavier defeated the Bleu Devils 54-34 at Dillard's Dent Hall on Jan. 26 and set a series record for fewest points allowed in a game. Xavier leads the series 78-47 and won 15 of the past 16 meetings.
The last time Xavier and Dillard met in the postseason, Dillard won 57-46 in the GCAC Tournament opening round in 2000 at Mobile, Ala. The last time Xavier defeated the Bleu Devils in the postseason was in 1993.
The Xavier-Dillard winner will play fourth-seeded Talladega or fifth-seeded SUNO in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The championship game will start at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Xavier was 2-0 each against Talladega and SUNO during the regular season, but those four meetings were decided by an average of four points.
Xavier seeks its second appearance in three years in the championship game and its first GCAC Tournament title since 1996. SUNO defeated Tougaloo 79-58 in the championship game a year ago at Jacksonville, Fla.
The tournament winner will receive the GCAC's automatic bid to the Buffalo Funds-NCAA Division I National Championship, which will begin March 13 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Xavier qualified for the national tournament six times in the past eight seasons, including 2011 and 2012 as an at-large selection. Xavier is ranked 16th nationally with a new top 25 to be announced by late Tuesday afternoon.
The tournament schedule:
First Round — Thursday, Feb. 28
#4 Talladega vs. #5 SUNO, 2:30 p.m. at Mims Gym
#1 Xavier vs. #8 Dillard, 2:30 p.m. at Barton Coliseum
#3 Edward Waters vs. #6 Tougaloo, 7:30 p.m. at Mims Gym
#2 Philander Smith vs. #7 Fisk, 7:30 p.m. at Barton Coliseum
Semifinals — Friday, March 1
At Barton Coliseum
Talladega-SUNO winner vs. Xavier-Dillard winner, 2:30 p.m.
Edward Waters-Tougaloo winner vs. Philander Smith-Fisk winner, 7:30 p.m.
Championship — Saturday, March 2
At Barton Coliseum
Semifinal winners, 4:30 p.m.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETIC
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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