HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana's berth in the National Invitation Tournament has revived some special memories for Lions head coach Jay Ladner this week.

    Ladner was a guard on the 2016-17 Southern Mississippi team that defeated LaSalle 84-80 for the NIT title in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

    "I've been very blessed to have some definitive sports moments and this is was one of them," Ladner said. "In 1987, obviously it was a magical-type season. It was a team that really came together, very much like this team here. We fell just short of making the NCAA Tournament and felt like we got overlooked and from that moment forward it was rolling. It was a great event. Because of that, not just being in the NIT but advancing to the Final Four which is New York City, it's a great deal. Then you get to get to play in Madison Square Garden and that is an incredible thing to shoot for. This week has rekindled a lot of good memories for a lot of people. I'm excited about that because it has for me personally as well."

    Ladner will lead Southeastern into its first NIT contest at Saint Mary's (California) Tuesday at 9 p.m. (Central Time) at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, California. The winner between the eighth-seeded Lions (22-11) and top-seeded Gaels (28-5) will play either No. 4 Boise State or No. 5 Washington in the second round March 16-19.

    Tuesday's game will be televised live nationally on ESPNU and via the WatchESPN app. Fans can also listen live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app. A link to live stats, provided by Saint Mary's, will be accessible on the Southeastern men's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

    Southeastern will be playing in its second Division I postseason after losing to Oklahoma State 63-50 in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The Lions received the automatic bid to the NIT after sharing the regular season Southland Conference title with Nicholls and earning the top seed in the conference tournament with a sweep of the Colonels. Southeastern, which set the school record with 15 Southland victories and won the second-most overall games since they joined Division I, lost to Stephen F. Austin, 59-55, in the Southland Tournament championship game on Saturday.

    "We have an opportunity to start another season and look forward," Ladner said. "I kind of saw a little bit of pep come back into them last night when they announced on the selection show that we were playing Saint Mary's. We have an opportunity to play a team that is a national power. We have a great challenge and we understand that, but by the same token, we have another opportunity. We're in the middle of a historical season and this is a great reward for our players."

    Southeastern will be taking on a Saint Mary's squad expected to be motivated after being snubbed for the NCAA Tournament. The Gaels lost to BYU, 85-72, in the West Coast Conference semifinals last Monday after finishing second in the regular season behind Gonzaga with a 16-2 record. Saint Mary's, which was ranked 25th in the Associated Press Top 25 released on Monday, won 28 games for the sixth time in its history, tied the program record with 16 conference wins and had a school-record 19-game win streak.

    The Gaels are shooting a nation-best 51.4 percent in averaging 77.0 points per game. St. Mary's is also 11th in 3-point field goal percentage (.404) and 15th in free throw percentage (.775), joining William & Mary as the only teams to rank in the top 20 in all three categories. The Gaels are also fifth in the country with 9.7 turnovers per game and sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6).

    Saint Mary's is 15th in the country in scoring defense, allowing 64.5 points per contest. Opponents are shooting 44.0 percent, including 32.3 percent on 3s - 34th-best nationally.

    The Gaels feature one of the top big men in the country in senior center Jock Landale. Landale is one of the five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year, a top-15 finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and the WCC Player of the Year. He led the conference in scoring (21.5 ppg), rebounds (10.2 rpg), field goal percentage (.642) and defensive rebounds (7.5 rpg). He also paces the country with 276 field goals while ranking 20th in scoring, 18th in rebounding and ninth in double-doubles.

    Senior guard Emmett Naar joined Landale on the WCC first team after leading the conference with 8.1 assists per game. He is second nationally with 252 assists while averaging 10.1 points with a team-best 28 steals. Senior forward Calvin Hermanson was a second-team All-WCC selection after avearging 11.0 points and ranking second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (.437).

    Projected to start for Saint Mary's are Landale, Naar, Hermanson, Jordan Ford (10.4 ppg, 52 assists) and sophomore guard Tanner Krebs (7.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg).

    Southeastern goes into Tuesday's game averaging 72.5 points on 45.7 percent shooting, including 36.0 percent beyond the arc. Defensively, Southeastern is giving up an average of 68.7 points on 43.4 percent shooting, including 34.0 percent on 3s. The Lions have allowed fewer than 70 points in 10 of their last 12 games

    Junior guard Marlain Veal, who was named first-team All-Southland and the league's Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds.  His 202 assists are a school single-season record and are 15th in the nation. He is also second in school history and currently 25th in the nation with 65 steals. 

    Senior forward Jordan Capps, a second-team All-Southland selection, leads the Lions with 13.2 points per game. Junior forward Moses Greenwood comes in averaging 10.3 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game. Senior guard Joshua Filmore, who led the Lions with 14 points against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, was third in the conference in 3-pointers made per game (2.5) during the regular season and 10th in 3-point field goal percentage (.387).

    Veal, Greenwood, Filmore (9.5 ppg, 61 assists), senior guard Eddy Polanco (8.2 ppg, 53 assists) and junior Keith Charleston (4.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 45 assists) are the projected starters for the Lions.

    Ladner sees Tuesday's game as a great opportunity for the Lions.

    "Saint Mary's is 28-5 and has one of the best players in Landale," Ladner said. "They are there every year. Coach (Randy) Bennett is one of the great coaches in our country in basketball. I'm just as amazed as they are that they didn't make the NCAA Tournament. I'm certain we are going to get a team with a chip on their shoulder against us. We're going to Saint Mary's and that's a great environment to play basketball. We see this a great opportunity for the Southeastern Louisiana basketball program and our university to be represented nationally."
 
NOTES:
    Southeastern and St. Mary's have played twice on the court with the Gaels winning 68-49 at the 2001 Comcast Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico and 66-55 at the 2005 Shamrock Office Solutions Classic in Moraga.
 
    The Lions are playing in California for the second straight season. Southeastern lost at California, 67-55, on Nov. 27, 2016.
 
    The Lions are 4-8 against teams from California, going 2-0 against U.S. International, 1-0 against Cal Poly, 1-1 against San Diego, 0-1 versus California and Cal St. Bakersfield, and 0-2 against both San Francisco and St. Mary's.
 
    Southeastern is the first Southland team to play in the NIT since Stephen F. Austin in 2013 and the 16th overall. The last Southland team to win a NIT game was former member Louisiana Tech against Florida in the third-place game of the 1986 tournament. Southland teams are 9-15 in the NIT.
 
    Southeastern has scored 2,394 points in 2017-18, breaking the school record of 2,344 set in 2015-16. The Lions have also eclipsed the single-season record with 249 3-pointers, surpassing the mark of 241 by that 2015-16 squad.
 
    Junior guards Marlain Veal and Keith Charleston will be playing in their school-record 34th game of the season on Tuesday. Veal has started a Lions-record 33 games to date.