March 16, 2008

Watch Free! NCAA® March Madness® on Demand

• Nancy Yasharoff - (202) 531-0162
• April Raynovich - (202) 531-0160
• Office of Athletic Communications - (202) 885-3079

Broadcast Information:

• WTNT 570 AM (Play-by-play: Mike Vaillancourt)

WASHINGTON - The Brackets are set. American University will play its first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament game as the 15 seed in the East. The Eagles, under the direction of Head Coach Jeff Jones, will play against the second seeded Volunteers of Tennessee in the field of 65 on Friday, March 21 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center in Birmingham, Ala. at 12:15 p.m.

American (21-11) grabbed an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Colgate in the Patriot League Championship, 52-46, on Friday at Bender Arena. The Eagles fate was sealed as the team and its supporters watched the selection show at the Tavern at the Mary Graydon Student Center Sunday as the pairings were announced live on CBS.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was the overall top seed in the tournament and is the one seed in the East bracket. They will play the winner of the play-in game between Mt. Saint Mary's and Coppin State.

The Eagles are led by junior guard Garrison Carr. The PL Tournament MVP averages 18.1 points per game and scored a game-high 17 points in the conference finals. Carr ranks among the top 15 in three national categories. He is sixth in three-point field goals per game (4.1), 10th in three-point field goal percentage (45.5 percent) and 14th in free throw percentage (88.8 percent). Junior point guard Derrick Mercer has also been a big reason for the Eagles' success. Mercer is averaging 12.5 points per game and is shooting 43.8 percent from beyond the arc. American is ranked fourth in the nation (out of 328) in three-point shooting percentage as a team at 41.4 percent. Brian Gilmore has provided late-game heroics for the Eagles in the post-season coming off of the bench, and is third on the squad in scoring with 8.7 points per game.

Tennessee (29-4), who has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation this season, enters the NCAA Tournament off of a tough 92-91 loss to Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Semifinal on Saturday, which some say lost them a top seed in the tournament. The Volunteers claimed their first regular-season title in 41 years but were unable to pull off the post-season run. Tennessee is led by senior guard Chris Lofton, who scores 16.1 points per game. Lofton became the SEC's all-time 3-point leader earlier in the season and his 421 career treys rank first in SEC history and third all-time in the NCAA record books. He holds Tennessee career records for 3-pointers made (421), attempted (989) and percentage (42.6 percent).

American and Tennessee have squared off once before on Dec. 18 1981 at The Volunteer Classic Tournament in Knoxville. Tennessee prevailed by a 59-58 score.

The winner of this matchup will play the winner of the game played between the No. 7 seed Butler and the No. 10 seed South Alabama on Sunday.