TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo men's basketball team (25-7, 13-5 MAC) begins postseason play on Wednesday, March 20 when it travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to face Big East foe Xavier (18-15, 9-9 Big East) in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. in the Cintas Center with streaming available on ESPN3.
       
       The Rockets are the No. 6 seed in their region, while the Musketeers are the No. 3 seed. The winner of the Toledo-Xavier contest will face the winner of Tuesday's game pitting No. 2 seed Texas (16-16) and No. 7 seed South Dakota State (24-8) on a date to be determined.

        UT will be looking to bounce back from an 80-76 upset loss to No. 7 seed Northern Illinois last Thursday in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals. The Rockets set a school MAC Tourney record by tying their season high with 14 three-pointers vs. the Huskies. That wasn't enough though to offset NIU's 56.4 FG% and 58.8 three-point FG% (10-of-17), both highs by a UT opponent this season.

        Xavier has won seven of its last nine games, a stretch that included wins over Villanova, at Seton Hall, St. John's (home and away), Creighton (home and neutral site) and at Providence. The two losses were at Butler and vs. Villanova at Madison Square Garden. All of those opponents have been selected for the NCAA or NIT fields.

        The Rockets will be playing in the NIT for the ninth time in program history. Toledo hosted Xavier in a first-round NIT contest in 1999. The Muskeeters ended the Rockets' season with a 86-84 victory. Brett Fedak and Greg Stempin paced UT offensively with 23 points apiece.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
Tip-Off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio.
Arena: Cintas Center (10,224).
Streaming: ESPN3. Jim Barbar will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Rob Kennedy serving as analyst.
Radio: Rocket Radio Network. WSPD (1370 AM) in Toledo. Brent Balbinot will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Jay Lehman serving as analyst.
Series: Xavier leads 13-11. Toledo dropped an 81-65 decision to Xavier in the last meeting between the two schools in 2008. The Musketeers posted an 86-84 road win over the Rockets in the 1999 NIT.

COACH MASSEY RETURNS TO XAVIER ROOTS
        Assistant coach Jeff Massey is a 1995 Xavier graduate. During his time with the Musketeers, Massey was named the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Newcomer of the Year in 1993-94, when he averaged 12.7 ppg and 2.1 rpg and helped guide Xavier to the third round of the NIT. In his senior season, Massey served as team captain and led the Musketeers in scoring (18.9 ppg), steals, free throw percentage and blocked shots as Xavier advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
 
SOMETHING IN COMMON
        Toledo and Xavier have faced four common opponents — Miami (Ohio), Oakland, Ohio and Detroit Mercy — in the 2018-19 season. The Rockets posted a 5-0 mark against that quartet, while the Musketeers posted 4-0 mark.
 
SOME INFO ON XAVIER
        Xavier is making its first NIT appearance since the 1999-2000 campaign. The Musketeers received a No. 1 seed in last year's NCAA Tournament.
        Xavier has five payers scoring in double digits with sophomore forward Naji Marshall leading the way with 14.4 ppg. Junior forward Tyrique Jones is scoring 10.9 ppg with a team-high 7.6 rpg and ranks 21 nationally with 3.3 offensive rpg.
 
POST TOUCHES
•   Toledo's 48 victories over the last two seasons are the most in a two-year period in Rocket history. The previous best was 47  from 2013-14 to 2014-15.
•   UT has registered 13-5 league marks in each of the last two years and its 68 MAC victories over the last six seasons rank second in the league.
•   Toledo ranks in the Top 25 nationally (as of March 17) in FT% (77.1/11th), defensive rpg (28.9/11th), assists/game (16.5/18th), rebounds/game (39.2/22nd) and three-point field goals/game (9.9/21st).
•   UT leads the MAC in five categories — FT% (77.1), 3PTFG% (38.1), three-point FGs/game (9.9), blocked shots/game (4.6) and defensive rpg (29.0). The Rockets are also second in six more categories — scoring defense (68.1 ppg), FG% defense (41.2), scoring margin (+9.2), rebounding margin (plus-4.5), assists/game (16.4) and assist/turnover ratio (1.3).
•   Four Rockets earned recognition in voting by the conference's head coaches. Senior Jaelan Sanford received first-team All-MAC honors, the sixth time in the last seven years a Toledo player has been tabbed as one of the league's top five players.
•   Senior Nate Navigato and sophomore Marreon Jackson were honorable-mention All-MAC honorees, while freshman AJ Edu was a member of the MAC All-Freshman Team.
•   Jaelan Sanford ranks second in the MAC with an 83.1 FT% and is 12th with a team-high 15.3 ppg. The Evansville, Ind. native ranks fifth on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,766 points and is 49 points away from moving into fourth place.
•   Sanford is also fourth on UT's career three-point field-goal list with 237. He also became UT's all-time leader in career minutes played (4,338) vs. Northern Illinois last Thursday.
•   Sanford is also the Rockets' all-time leader for most consecutive starts with 132. Sanford and Nate Navigato are one shy of the school record for most games played held by Jordan Lauf (2013-17).
•   Sanford registered his lone two career double-doubles with 12 points and a career-high 11 boards at Bowling Green (Feb. 9) and 24 points and 10 rebounds vs. Buffalo (Feb. 15).
•   Nate Navigato ranks 10th nationally with a 45.5 three-point FG%. Navigato holds the UT record for career three-point FGs and ranks second in MAC history with 305 treys. Navigato ranks 15th on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,411 points.
•   Willie Jackson ranks fourth in the MAC with 8.9 rpg. He has nine double-doubles and has led or shared the team lead in rebounding on 21 occasions. Jackson dished out a career-high five assists to go along with nine points and 13 boards at Kent State (Jan. 22).
•   Two Rockets rank in the MAC's Top 3 in two different categories:
    Free-throw percentage — Chris Darrington (84.0/1st) and Jaelan Sanford (83.1/2nd)
    Blocked shots per game — AJ Edu (1.7/2nd) and Luke Knapke (1.4/3rd)
•   Marreon Jackson ranks fifth in the MAC with 4.2 apg and seventh with 1.4 spg. He ranked second on the team with 13.5 ppg in MAC play and ranked third in the MAC in league games only with a 40.0 3PTFG% (42-of-105).
•   Jackson scored a season-high 20 points in each of the Rockets' games vs. Buffalo.
•   Luke Knapke finished third in the MAC in league play with 1.7 bpg and ranks fourth with a 59.4 FG% Knapke is third on UT's all-time blocked shot list with 134 blocks, four behind J.C. Harris (1989-92) and 21 behind Nathan Boothe (2012-16).
•   Chris Darrington comes off the bench and ranks fifth on the team with a 9.2 scoring mark. He leads UT in free throws made (84) and free throws attempted (1008) despite playing just 15.4 mpg. Darrington scored a career-high 21 points at Buffalo (Jan. 8) and he tallied 20 points in 20 minutes off the bench at Bowling Green (Feb. 9).
•   AJ Edu ranks second in the MAC with 1.7 blocks per game and led the way with 1.9 bpg in league play despite playing just 13.8 mpg. Edu registered a season-high six rejections vs. Western Michigan (March 5) and his 55 rejections rank third in UT history.
•   Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is in his ninth season at the Rockets' helm and has guided UT to four 20-win campaigns in the last six years, marking the first time for this accomplishment since Bob Nichols recorded five straight 20-win seasons from 1976-81.
 
SOME TEAM STATISTICAL TIDBITS
•   Fifteen of UT's 25 wins have been by 11 points or more.
•   Toledo is 5-2 this season in games decided by five points or less. The Rockets have won 12 of 16 games decided by five points or less since the start of last season.
•   Toledo has five players shooting 75.9 percent or better and three over 83.0 percent from the free-throw line.
•   Toledo lost for the first time in eight games when five Rockets scored in double digits.
•  UT has shot 40 percent or better from 3PT range in five straight games and has a 44.6 3PTFG% (58-of-130) in that stretch.
•   Toledo is 21-3 when outrebounding its opponent.
•   Toledo is 21-1 when holding its opponent under 45 percent shooting from the field and 14-2 when shooting 45 percent or higher.
•   UT is 24-2 when holding its opponent under 80 points and is 19-0 when holding its opponent under 70 points. UT is also 20-1 when leading with five minutes remaining.

MAC WEST DIVISION BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONS!!
        Toledo has won back-to-back outright MAC West Division titles for the first time in program history. UT has won four outright MAC West Division titles (1998-99, 2006-07, 2017-18, 2018-19) and shared West crowns on four more occasions (1999-2000, 2004-05, 2012-13, 2013-14) since the conference went to the division format in the 1997-98 season.
 
ROCKETS RECEIVE FOURTH BYE IN LAST SIX YEARS
        Toledo secured a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament for the fourth time in the last six years. Buffalo is the only MAC school with more automatic trips to Cleveland during that time frame. UT advanced to the MAC Championship Game after earning byes in 2014 and 2018 and reached the semifinals in 2015.
 
BALANCING ACT
        Seven different Rockets have led or tied for the team leading scoring this season. Jaelan Sanford has led the way 15 times followed by Nate Navigato (6), Marreon Jackson (5), Luke Knapke (5), Chris Darrington (3), Willie Jackson (1) and Spencer Littleson (1).
        The Rockets have also have four different players — Marreon Jackson, Luke Knapke, Nate Navigato and Jaelan Sanford — earn MAC West Division Player of Week honors
 
BLOCK PARTY
        Toledo has set school records for blocked shots in overall (146) and MAC (95) games this season. The Rockets lead the MAC with 4.6 bpg in overall and 5.3 bpg in MAC contests.
        UT blocked a school-record 11 shots in each of its games vs. CMU this season. Freshman AJ Edu ranks second in the MAC with 1.7 bpg, while senior Luke Knapke is third with 1.4 bpg.
 
DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
        Toledo ranks second in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (68.1 ppg) and FG% defense (41.1) and is fourth in three-point FG% defense (31.7). The Rockets also rank No. 47 nationally with their 41.1 FG% defense and 31.7 3PTFG% defense.
        Last year, UT ranked seventh in scoring defense (74.5) and fifth in FG% defense (43.7) and three-point FG% defense (34.3).
        The last time Toledo allowed less than 70.0 ppg in a season was in the 2011-12 campaign when it surrendered 68.2 ppg.