Grand Rapids, MI – The Calvin University men's basketball returns to action on Friday when it faces No. 4 Randolph-Macon at 4:45 p.m. (EST) in a Round of 16 NCAA III Tournament game on the campus of Trinity University in Hartford, Connecticut. Calvin is part of a four-team sectional tournament that includes host Trinity, Randolph-Macon and Tufts.

The Teams: Calvin and Randolph-Macon. Calvin enters Friday's game ranked 10^th by D3hoops.com while Randolph-Macon is ranked fourth. Calvin is 24-4 overall and is making its second appearance in the Round of 16 in the last three seasons including its 10^th overall. The Knights are 38-24 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play and are making their 23^rd appearance in the tournament overall. The Knights have won national titles in 1992 and 2000 and have reached the national semifinals four times, doing so in 1990 1992, 2000 and 2005. Calvin gained a share of the final Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) regular-season title with Trine, finishing 12-2 in conference play. The Knights fell to rival Hope in the MIAA Tournament semifinals and later received an at-large bid to the NCAA III Tournament. Randolph-Macon (25-4) is a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). The Yellow Jackets captured the ODAC regular season title with a 15-1 conference record. Randolph-Macon received an at-large berth to the NCAA IIII Tournament after falling in the ODAC Tournament semifinals to Washington and Lee. Randolph-Macon captured the 2022 national title. They are making their third straight appearance in the Round of 16 of the NCAA III Tournament.

The Coaches: Bill Sall is in his fifth season as head coach of the Calvin men's basketball program after previous stops at Northern Michigan and Ferris State. A Calvin University graduate, Sall has an overall record at Calvin of 91-33. He led Calvin to the Sweet 16 round of the 2022 NCAA III Tournament and to the 2023 MIAA regular season title. He has an overall career won-loss record of 328-289.  Randolph-Macon is led by head coach Josh Merkel who is in his ninth year as head coach of the Yellow Jacket program. Merkel is 201-44 at the helm of the Randolph-Macon program. He was the 2022 NABC Division III National Coach of the Year. He was previously the head coach at Salisbury and had assistant coaching stints at Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Merkel was named the 2024 ODAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year.

The Players: Calvin is led in scoring by sophomore center Jalen Overway who averages 20.0 points to go with 10.3 rebounds a game. He is connecting on 56.2 percent of his field goal attempts. Overway was a preseason D3hoops.com (2^nd Team) All-American. He was the 2023 & 2024 MIAA MVP and has been named MIAA Player of the Week three times this season. He is a top-50 finalist for the Small College Bevo Francis Award. Overway hit the 1,000 point plateau for his career in Calvin's regular season finale against Trine on February 17. He has 1,060 points heading into the weekend. Senior forward Uchenna Egekeze also averages 11.9 points and 4.7 rebounds a game. He was named to the 2024 All-MIAA First Team and received MIAA Player of the Week honors once. Earlier this season, he hit the 1,000 point plateau for his career and has 1,146 points for his career. He was the 2023 MIAA Defensive Player of the Year and earlier this season was named to the Great Lakes Invitational All-Tournament Team. Sophomore forward Owen Varnado averages 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds a game while connecting on 44.1 percent of his three-point field goal attempts. He was named MIAA Player of the Week in late December and landed a spot on the 2024 All-MIAA Second Team. Senior Marcus Bult is next, averaging 9.1 points and 6.0 rebounds a game. Randolph-Macon is led in scoring by sophomore guard Keishawn Pulley Jr. who averages 14.1 points and 2.7 rebounds a game. He was named to the 2024 All-ODAC First Team. Senior forward Daniel Mbangue was also named to the 2024 All-ODAC First Team. The do-everything forward averages 9.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals-per-contest. Sophomore Jabril Robinson was named to the 2024 All-ODAC Second Team. He averages 13.7 points and 3.3 rebounds a game. Lance Johnson is another face to watch. The 6-5 senior averages 7.0 points a game and is connecting on 38 percent of his three-point field goal attempts. Senior Will Coble is the top perimeter marksman for the Yellow-Jackets, connecting on 41 of 104 attempts from long range for a 39.4 percent three-point clip.

(For a D3hoops.com Hoopsville Interview with Jalen Overway from 3-4-24, visit the D3hoops.com website at :Hoopsville Episode - 3-4-24  with the Overway interview taking place between the 2:15 and 2:35 hour mark of the show)

Tale of the Tape: Points per game – Calvin 75.75, Randolph-Macon 71.4; Opponents' points per game – Calvin 64.21, Platteville 55.79; field goal percentage – Calvin 47.2, Randolph-Macon 46.4; three-point percentage – Calvin 33.5, Randolph-Macon 34.7; free throw percentage – Calvin 68.5, Randolph-Macon 67.5; rebounds per game – Calvin 39.9, Randolph-Macon 36.2; assist-to-turnover ratio – Calvin 1.31, Randolph-Macon 1.48.

Recent History: Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between Calvin and Randolph-Macon.

Media Coverage: Live Stats / Live Video Stream