Complete Notes
Upcoming in Gray Wolves Basketball: For the third consecutive season, and fifth time in program history, Lourdes is heading to the NAIA National Championships.  The Gray Wolves, the 14th seed in the Liston Quadrant, head to third-seeded, Morningside for a first round game on Friday evening.

Head Coach Dennis Hopson: In his fifth season on the Lourdes bench, Dennis Hopson is 97-40 (.708) with the Gray Wolves and as a men's collegiate head coach.  He is only the third head coach in Lourdes program's history.

Series Notes: Lourdes will be facing Morningside for the first time in program history.  Georgetown (Ky.) won the only previous meeting against Lourdes 67-58 in Georgetown, Ky. in the first round of the NAIA National Championships on March 7, 2023.  Olivet Nazarene won the only previous meeting against the Gray Wolves 90-88 in Bourbonnais, Ill. in the first round of the NAIA National Championships on March 11, 2022.

Wrapping Up the WHAC Tournament: Lourdes built an 11-point halftime lead against Rochester (Mich.) on the way to an 84-64 victory in the quarterfinals.  Shaunn Monroe made 11-of-15 shots from the floor and scored a game-high 25 points while Jackie Harris drained six three-pointers and scored 22 points.  Joey Holifield tallied a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.  Lourdes battled back from an 11-point halftime deficit to take a second half lead in the semifinals at Cornerstone before falling 74-71 to the Golden Eagles.  Monroe tallied a game-high 22 points while Holifield had 20 points and six boards.

Scouting Morningside: The Mustangs fell in their last outing 77-61 at Hastings in the championship game of the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament.  Ely Doble leads Morningside averaging 20.5 points per game this season while Joey Skoff adds 20.4 points per night.  Jack Dotzler and Aidan Vanderloo are both scoring in double figures as well, averaging 12.5 and 10.8 points per game respectively.  Brendan Buckley is grabbing a team-high 7.4 rebounds per night.

Scouting Georgetown (Ky.): The Tigers had their six-game winning streak snapped with a 71-59 loss to Freed-Hardeman in the Mid-South Conference tournament championship.   Cam Brooks-Harris is scoring 12.7 points pre game while Rashad Bishop adds 11.8 points per night.  Kyran Jones tallies 11.6 points and a team-high 9.6 rebounds per game while Jabrion Spikes chips in 10.8 points per night.

Scouting Olivet Nazarene: The Tigers had their six-game winning streak snapped with a 78-64 loss to Indiana-Northwest in the semifinals of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.  Tyler Schmidt leads Olivet Nazarene averaging 23.9 points per game while Sam Emich adds 16.3 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds per contest.  Landon Pflederer and Griffin Andricks are both scoring in double figures as well at 12.5 and 10.3 points per game respectively.

Lourdes in the NAIA National Tournament: Lourdes is 0-4 all-time in NAIA postseason action.  The Gray Wolves last played in the NAIA National Championships on March 7, 2023, dropping a 67-58 contest on the road at Georgetown (Ky.).  Lourdes also played on the road on March 11, 2022, falling 90-88 at Olivet Nazarene.  The Gray Wolves lost 62-60 in overtime to Indiana Wesleyan in 2013 in the first round and also dropped a 58-49 decision to Oregon Tech in round one at the end of the 2011-2012 season, with both of those contests played in Point Lookout, Mo.

WHAC Award Winners: Shaunn Monroe was named the WHAC Newcomer of the Year after averaging 17.7 points and 3.8 assists per night this season.  Monroe joined Jackie Harris and Joey Holifield as First Team All-WHAC selections as well.  Harris is averaging 17.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while Holifield tallies 17.2 points and 6.1 boards per night.

Reaching 20 Wins Again: The Gray Wolves have reached the 20-win plateau for the third consecutive season and fourth time in the last five years.  Lourdes has now recorded five 20-win seasons in program history.  The 22 wins the team currently has is tied for the second most wins ever by a Lourdes squad.  The school record of 24 victories was set in 2021-2022 when the Gray Wolves finished the season 24-8.

Holifield Moves Into Second on All-Time Scoring List: Joey Holifield has moved past Zach Steinmetz (2013-2016) into second place on the Gray Wolves' all-time scoring list and enters the NAIA National Championships with 1,515 career points.  He trails just Clif Snow (2017-21, 22-23), who scored 1,789 points at Lourdes, on the all-time list.  Jackie Harris became the fifth member of the 1,000-point club earlier this season, entering this tournament with 1,222 career points, trailing Little Anderson's (2019-23) who had 1,286 points for fourth all-time.

Tops from the Charity Stripe: Joey Holifield leads the WHAC in free throw shooting this season, connecting at an 88.9% clip.  Holifield has been to the line 153 times, making 136 of his attempts.

Halftime Leads Key: Lourdes 21-0 this season when heading into the locker room at halftime with the lead or tied.  Lourdes has outscored opponents 1080-927 during the opening 20 minutes this season.

This and That: Lourdes is 8-4 away from home this season ... Jackie Harris is three points shy of 500 this season while Shaunn Monroe needs four points to reach 500..