App State will play Norfolk State in the NCAA tournament. What to know about Mountaineers
Appalachian State enters the NCAA tournament as a No. 16 seed and will face fellow 16th-seeded Norfolk State on Thursday in Indiana in the First Four play-in game. The winner will get the No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga (26-0) on Saturday.
Here are five things to know about the Mountaineers (17-11), who are seeded 68th overall — dead last in the tournament field:
1. First tourney in 21 years
This will be Appalachian State’s first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2000 and third appearance in school history. In 2000, the Mountaineers were a No. 14 seed and lost to the No. 3 seed Ohio State, 87-61.
Ohio State was led at the time by former Milwaukee Bucks star Michael Redd, who scored 21 points in the first-round game.
App State is 0-2 all time in the NCAA tournament. Its first appearance was in 1979 when it lost to LSU, 57-51.
2. App State is hot
App State finished 7th out of 12 teams in the Sun Belt Conference during the regular season and needed to win the conference tournament to get into the NCAA tournament.
It did just that.
App State won four games in four days to capture the conference title last week, which included wins over Texas State and Georgia State — the two top seeds in the conference tournament.
3. Perfect record against in-state teams
App State was 3-0 against in-state teams this year. The Mountaineers beat N.C. Wesleyan on Dec. 6, 81-57; they beat Charlotte on Dec. 11, 61-58; and they beat Greensboro College 87-47 on Dec. 17.
4. Even scoring
The Mountaineers are led by their four guards who all average at least 10 points per game. Junior guard Adrian Delph, who is from Gastonia, leads the Mountaineers with 13.2 points per game.
He scored 22 points in the 80-73 win over Georgia State in the Sun Belt championship game.
Senior guard Justin Forrest averages 13 points per game. Graduate student Michael Almonacy averages 12.9 points per game, and sophomore Donovan Gregory, who is from Charlotte, averages 10.7 points.
5. Appalachian State’s coach is Dustin Kerns
This is Kerns’ second season at App State, and the Mountaineers are 35-26 under him. He became the 22nd head coach in school history when he was hired in March 2019.
Kerns is a Clemson graduate. Before coming to App State, he was head coach at Presbyterian, and was an associate head coach at Wofford.
This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 6:13 PM.
