GREENSBORO, N.C. – After surviving the gauntlet that is the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament, the Guilford College men's basketball team secured an automatic bid, cracking the field of 64 for the Division-III Men's Basketball National Tournament for the eighth time in program history and while not in Greensboro this time around, the Quakers are right back in the same spot they were in 2024 in this round with a matchup opposite Berry College in the Woodruff PE Center Arena on Friday afternoon starting at 4:20 PM.

Similar to the ODAC Quarterfinals, there must be a sense of, "you, again?" for the both sides who encounter each other for the second-straight season. Guilford benefited greatly from their conference tournament run, and their first conference crown since 2019. Entering the tournament, GC was 49^th in the NPI, but by its' conclusion, they were 24^th and on the cusp of hosting, and while those rights were granted to Emory University, the Quakers cannot help but feel significantly better about their current situation at 22-6. For Berry, they had a very different path to their automatic bid out of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). Securing the top seed at the end of the regular season, the Vikings successfully defended their home court to win their league for the fourth time in five seasons. They stand at 19-6 on the season and are 102^nd in the NPI.
 

Stats	Guilford College	Berry College
Record (Overall)	22-6	19-8
Record (Conference)	12-4 (ODAC)	10-2 (SAA)
Points per game	72.6	80.7
Rebounds per game	37.5	35.1
Assists per game	11.8	14.9
Steals per game	6.4	7.7
Blocks per game	2.1	2.3
Opponent points per game	64.4	73.0

 

Stats	Guilford College	Berry College
Points per game (PPG)	Nick Farrar (18.7)	Braxton Benham (22.2)
Field goal percentage (FG%)	Nick Farrar (.513)	Nile King (.528)
Three-point percentage	Gabe Proctor (.427)	Isaac Martin (.437)
Free-throw percentage	Luke Proctor (.868)	Isaac Martin (.857)
Rebounds per game	Nick Farrar (7.8)	Braxton Benham (5.3)
Assists per game	Luke Proctor (2.4)	Braxton Benham (5.6)
Steals per game	Caleb Farrish (1.1)	Braxton Benham (2.1)
Blocks per game	Caleb Farrish (0.7)	Nile King (0.6)

 
The Tom Palombo system has proven fruitful time and time again, with this season proving no different and while the cast of performers has changed, the results have not year-to-year for Guilford. As a collective they epitomize the modern basketball philosophy as a three-and-D team that is efficient from range, ranking 27^th nationally with a three-point percentage of .369, and difficult defensively, permitting just 64.4 points per game, 24^th-fewest in the nation. Sprinkle in their discipline committing just 10.4 turnovers to rank 25^th, and it is a formula that has continued to led to a whole lot of wins. While so much is similar, so much has changed from year-to-year for the Quakers, who last year were headlined by a pair of fifth-year players within the program, but now feature four new contributors plucked from the transfer portal, including their top player, Nick Farrar (Apex, N.C.) and a former Viking, Chase Ellis (Douglasville, Ga.). Farrar has racked up the accolades in his lone season in Greensboro, pulling in First Team All-Conference and ODAC Tournament MVP recognition last week to go with the three ODAC Player of the Week honors on his ledger. The conference leader in total field goal makes, points, and rebounds has been a dominant force all season, leading the cardinal and grey in scoring, with 18.7 points, and rebounding, with 7.8 boards per game. When he gets going, there is little to opposition can do to slow him down. His top running mate is the premier sharpshooter in the ODAC, Gabe Proctor (Apex, N.C.) who was a Second Team All-Conference honoree and nets 11.3 points on a league-leading .427 conversion rate from range. Caleb Farrish (McLeansville, N.C.) gave the Quakers a third All-ODAC selection, making the Third Team as a premium defender, not only leading the team in both steals and blocks, but he also is one-of-four players in the conference in the top-15 in both of those categories while also netting 8.8 points. The other two GC starters were not all-conference selections, but supplemented that with all-tournament team nods and are trending up. Ellis is the team's third-leading scorer, scoring 9.2 points per game, who has seamlessly adapted to his role within the Quakers' system. A Swiss-Army knife, he contributes in all phases, but does not headline in anything either, but he knocks down his threes at an exceptional .448 mark, albeit in just 58 attempts this season. Finally, there is Luke Proctor (Apex, N.C.), who has seized the reigns of the offense, leading the squad with 66 helpers, while also seeing a recent surge in scoring to raise his average to 9.1 points per game. The biggest difference this go-around for Guilford is their depth. They did not have much last season, but this year they have three major contributors off the bench. Caleb Furr (Warrenton, Va.) brings championship experience from his time with Christopher Newport and can explode on any night, as he did when he scored a dozen points to lead all players in GC's ODAC Semifinals win over Randolph-Macon while fellow transfer Bobby Samples (Brighton, Mich.) keeps the offense flowing when he is in the game. Then there is the mainstay, Dawson Edwards (Durham, N.C.), who's high-energy and maximum effort play is more reminiscent of the Energizer Bunny than a basketball player. So now, with this group peaking at just the right time, the Quakers have dreams of another NCAA Tournament run.

The Vikings hope to have other plans. Now in their fourth NCAA Tournament in program history, Berry seeks their elusive first win in the dance. Like the Quakers, there is a lot that is familiar, but also a lot that has changed in the 371 days since these teams last met. First, enter Head Coach Matt Richter who took over the program and led them right back to an SAA title to garner Coaching Staff of the Year recognition in his first season at the helm. Ellis and 2024 SAA Player of the Year Blake Campbell are out, but rising to fill their role has been returnee Braxton Benham who collected 2025 SAA Player of the Year recognition. There may be no more valuable player to any team in the tournament than Benham is to the Vikings as he leads his squad in points, assists, and steals in addition to being second in rebounds and blocks. Netting 22.2 points per game, 20^th-most in the nation, with a .499/377/.753 shooting line, he scores in bunches, efficiently while also ranking 19^th in assists per game with 5.6, and while he did not repeat as the SAA Defensive Player of the Year, he does still average 2.11 steals per game, ranking 71^st in the nation. Around him are a bunch of great floor-spacers, among them All-SAA Honorable Mentions Parker Godwin and Jacob Morgan. Both elevated to the starting-five full-time this season and seized the opportunity as Parker became their second-leading scorer, averaging 11.3 points while shooting .406 from range as a stretch-big, securing 5.2 caroms per game. Meanwhile, Godwin pitches in 10.7 points on .471/.371/.737 and is the team's top rebounder grabbing 5.3 per contest. Sophomore Isaac Martin has seen his role expand and gives BC a fourth double-digit scorer netting 10.1 per game while cashing in on his threes at a team-best .437 rate. Drew Winegarden rounds out their five as, you guessed it, a knockdown shooter who actually leads the team in attempts, connecting at a .365 mark to score 8.9 points. Freshman Nile King is their top reserve and most traditional big, shooting .528 from the field to pitch in 6.5 points in addition to 3.5 rebounds and a team-high 14 blocks. Like last season, the Vikings finished as the top defensive team in the very offensively-driven SAA, allowing 73.0 points per game, although they are not the league's top offense this time around. They do, however, shoot a ton on threes, and even more dangerous is they make them at an extremely high rate as they are in the top-30 nationally in three-point attempts and makes per game and percentage, where they rank ninth with a .386 mark. They show a strong commitment to the fundamentals by also limiting their turnovers, with just 10.3 per game, and hitting their free throws, converting at a .723 clip, although they do not get to the line very often due to the number of threes they take. Their biggest weakness is the same as it was last season, however, as they do not do great work on the glass, ranking 281^st in total rebounding, with 35.11 per game, and 212^th on the defensive end, with 25.78 per game.

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