Bruins Begin Gulf Coast Showcase with Nationally-Ranked Villanova Friday

 
ESTERO, Fla. – For the first time in three years, the Belmont University women's basketball team is set to compete in an MTE (multi-team event) as the Bruins spend Thanksgiving weekend on the southwest coast of the Sunshine State at the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida. Belmont takes on 23rd-ranked Villanova Friday afternoon inside Hertz Arena. Tipoff is slated for 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET.

The non-conference neutral-site matchup will be broadcast on FloHoops and can be accessed through a paid subscription. Dr. Rich Tiner will provide play-by-play of the action on Belmont Bruins Radio via iHeartRadio. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Featuring a trio of nationally-ranked programs – No. 21 Baylor, No. 22 Michigan and No. 23 Villanova – in addition to receiving-votes South Florida, the three-day Gulf Coast Showcase is one of the premier in-season college basketball tournaments. Seven of the eight participants in this year's Gulf Coast Showcase made national postseason play in 2021-22 while half the tournament field won at least one game in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
• Joining the Bruins (1-3) in the Fort Myers, Florida, area this weekend is Air Force (3-1), three-time national champion Baylor (3-1), ACC mainstay Georgia Tech (3-1), Michigan (4-0), Saint Louis (1-5), South Florida (6-0) and Villanova (4-0). The Wolverines reached last season's Elite Eight, while Belmont, Baylor and Villanova all appeared in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Georgia Tech and South Florida also made the 68-team NCAA Tournament field this past March.
• Both Villanova and Baylor are on the Bruins' side of the Gulf Coast Showcase bracket.
• The Wildcats, who are ranked 23rd in this week's Associated Press (AP) Top 25, represent the third nationally-ranked opponent for Belmont in four games.
• Four of the Bruins' first five opponents this season won over 20 games last year and earned at least one victory in a national postseason tournament.
• Villanova is the fourth straight of no fewer than 11 opponents on Belmont's 2022-23 schedule who won at least 20 games last season and the fourth straight of none less than 12 opponents who made a national postseason tournament last March. The Wildcats are the third of no fewer than seven 2022 NCAA Tournament teams the Bruins face this season.
• Friday afternoon will be the first-ever meeting between Belmont and Villanova.
• The Bruins are 1-2 all-time versus current BIG EAST Conference members with a win over Xavier during the 1980-81 season. The only other current BIG EAST program Belmont has played is Marquette. The Bruins had a home-and-home series with the Golden Eagles during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
• Head coach Bart Brooks spent 11 seasons on staff at BIG EAST member DePaul University in Chicago before arriving at Belmont.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are 16-8 (.667) in neutral-site games and Belmont has gone 7-2 in neutral-site affairs over the last two seasons.
• The Bruins are seeking their first MTE win since defeating Gonzaga and Florida Gulf Coast, both of whom were receiving top-25 votes, in November of 2017 at the Play4Kay Showcase in Las Vegas.
• Belmont last played in an MTE in November of 2019 when the Bruins took on Virginia Tech and ninth-ranked Maryland at the Daytona Beach Invitational in Florida.
• Although 1-30 all-time versus nationally-ranked opponents in its Division I era, Belmont has earned multiple wins over teams receiving votes in the national polls. The Bruins' lone victory over a top-25 opponent came on March 22, 2021 in the NCAA Tournament when Belmont ousted 14th-ranked and fifth-seeded Gonzaga 64-59 in the first round. Last season, the Bruins defeated receiving-votes Ole Miss 62-50 on the road in a non-conference affair before upending receiving-votes Oregon 73-70 in a double-overtime thriller in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• On a three-game slide, Belmont is seeking its second win of the season after a trio of challenging tests against some of the nation's best. The Bruins took then seventh-ranked Louisville down to the wire at home on Sunday, Nov. 13 before suffering a setback at Middle Tennessee on Wednesday, Nov. 16. This past Sunday, Belmont battled top-10 ranked Iowa on the road.
• The Bruins held the host Hawkeyes, who own one of the most prolific offenses in the nation, to a season-low 73 points in a 73-62 loss. Belmont trailed by just four with 5:15 remaining and led by three early in the second quarter. Committing a season-low six turnovers, the Bruins kept Iowa in check and got a season-high 13 points from senior guard Nikki Baird. Going 5-for-6 from the field, Baird went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored eight of Belmont's first 12 points of the game.
• Sophomore forward Kendal Cheesman grew up in Tampa, Florida, where she starred at H.B. Plant High School. Rated a four-star recruit by Prospects Nation, Cheesman is Plant's all-time leading scorer (1,706 points), rebounder (1,177 rebounds) and shot blocker (288 blocks). She racked up an impressive 50 double-doubles during her four-year varsity career and captained the Lady Panthers all four seasons. Cheesman led Plant to back-to-back state title game appearances and the 2021 Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 7A state championship. The highly-touted Sunshine State recruit scored 24 points and snagged 18 boards in the state title game en route to being named 2020-21 Gatorade Florida Girls Basketball Player of the Year, 2021 Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year and MaxPreps Florida Player of the Year. Last Wednesday at Middle Tennessee, Cheesman was the Bruins' lone bright spot as she scored a team-high 14 points in only 12 minutes of action. All her scoring took place in the second half as she went 4-for-6 from distance in only her second game donning the Belmont jersey after transferring in from nearby Southeastern Conference member Vanderbilt.
• Graduate transfer guard Sydni Harvey, a Nashville native, spent the first four years of her collegiate career along the Gulf Coast of Florida at South Florida. An All-American Athletic Conference performer, Harvey averaged 10.5 points for the Bulls and helped lead USF to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths her last two seasons. She won 81 games as a Bull and was named the 2021 AAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, helping lead USF to 2020-21 AAC regular season and tournament championships. Harvey scored in double figures 56 times while at USF and has reached double figures in two of her first four games as a Bruin.
• Junior guard Destinee Wells finished with nine points at Iowa this past weekend, marking the first time in her impressive career she did not reach double figures in consecutive games after scoring five against the Lady Raiders last Wednesday evening.
• Following the first week of the season, Wells was tabbed Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week after a pair of 20-point home performances against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and top-10 ranked Louisville. Wells scored 26 of her 40 points on the week in the fourth quarter, grabbed a career-high tying seven rebounds against the Mocs, and put Belmont in front of the nationally-ranked Cardinals with only 2:17 remaining. The Lakeland, Tennessee (Houston HS), native became the Bruins' 33rd 1,000-point scorer in the tightly-contested matchup with seventh-ranked Louisville and was recently named to the 2022-23 John R. Wooden Award^® presented by Wendy's^® Preseason Top 50 Watch List. One of only four mid-major players to appear on the prestigious watch list, Wells has scored 1,018 points and registered 271 assists in only 60 career games. She has reached double-figure scoring in 45 of her last 49 games and 53 of 60 career outings. Wells owns 22 20-point games and was tabbed MVC Preseason Player of the Year in Belmont's first year in the league.
• Between Harvey, who scored 1,142 points at South Florida and has accounted for 1,176 career points, and Wells, the Bruins have two career 1,000-point scorers.
• Belmont received seven votes in the AP Top 25 and eight votes in the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll following week one of the regular season. The Bruins received 14 votes in the preseason AP Top 25 and nine votes in the preseason USA Today Sports/WBCA Coaches Poll.
• One of the premier mid-major programs in the country, Belmont is ranked No. 9 in the nation in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• Entering their first season in the MVC, the Bruins were picked to win the conference after a vote of the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media members. Belmont received 32 of 44 possible first-place votes in the preseason predicted order of finish.
• Ranked 25th in Sports Illustrated's 2022-23 basketball preview edition, the Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls for eight-straight seasons.
• Belmont is the only non-power conference team to reach the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 each of the last two seasons.
• The Bruins have earned a national postseason bid nine of the last 10 years and reached each of the last six NCAA Tournaments.
• Belmont is one of just 12 programs in the nation and one of only three non-power conference teams (Florida Gulf Coast and South Dakota State) to win 20 or more games for seven-straight seasons.
• The Bruins own the 17th-most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,035).
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20 or more games for seven consecutive seasons in both men's and women's basketball.
• In 2021-22, Belmont and BYU were the only two schools in the country who received votes in top-25 coaches polls in men's and women's basketball and baseball during their respective regular seasons.
• In his sixth season at the helm, coach Brooks has guided the Bruins to an impressive 124-37 (.770) record and eight combined conference championships, including regular season and tournament titles.

About the Wildcats

• Like Belmont, Villanova reached last year's NCAA Tournament Round of 32. The Wildcats went 24-9 on the season and posted a 15-4 mark in BIG EAST play, finishing second in the league behind national runner-up UConn.
• As a No. 11 seed, Villanova defeated sixth-seeded BYU 61-57 in the 2022 NCAA Tournament before falling 64-49 to third-seeded Michigan in the second round.
• Off to a 4-0 start, the Wildcats have defeated the likes of Marist College (60-38), Princeton (69-59), Penn (67-41) and Temple (74-71).
• In Villanova's three-point win over Temple this past Sunday, senior forward Maddy Siegrist put up 41 points. The 2021-22 BIG EAST Player of the Year and All-American has notched a double-double in points and rebounds in all four games this season. Siegrist's 29 points and 13.2 rebounds per game rank fourth and sixth, respectively, nationally.
• Led by third-year head coach Denise Dillon, who spent 17 seasons leading Drexel, the Wildcats are ranked 18th in the country in field-goal percentage defense (32.3 percent) and 34th in scoring defense (52.2 PPG).
• Villanova was picked third in the BIG EAST preseason coaches poll but received one first-place vote, while Siegrist was tabbed BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year.
• Sophomore 5-foot-9 guard Lucy Olsen, a 2021-22 BIG EAST All-Rookie Team member, is averaging 10.3 points through the first four games of the season and leads the team in assists (4.5 APG). Fellow sophomore Christina Dalce, a 6-foot-2 forward, is also averaging a near double-double this year with 8.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

Up Next
The Bruins will play the winner or loser of 21st-ranked Baylor and Saint Louis Saturday. The Bears and the Billikens are matched up in the first quarterfinal of the Gulf Coast Showcase, which tips off Friday morning at 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET.
 
Both single game and season tickets are on sale. Season tickets are only $199 per seat and include all men's and women's basketball home games. Click here to view available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2022-23 season are also on sale and can be purchased here. For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com.
 
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