Cougars Receive At-Large Bid

PROVO – BYU basketball has received an at-large invitation to the 2012 NCAA Tournament and will play Iona of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the first round on Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, at UD Arena. Tuesday’s game will be televised on TruTV at 9 p.m. ET.

BYU and Iona are both 14 seeds in the West Region and the winner will face No. 3 seed Marquette in Louisville on Thursday.

"I'm really excited to be in the tournament and excited to keep playing," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I'm really happy for our players. It's a really good feeling when you know that the committee thinks you're one of the best teams in the country."

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This marks the sixth-straight season in which Rose has guided the Cougars to received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, a program record. Last season BYU was a No. 3 seed and defeated Wofford 74-66 in the second round and Gonzaga 89-67 in the third round to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1981. The Cougars fell to Florida 83-74 in overtime in the Sweet 16.

Iona is 25-7 overall and won the MAAC regular season at 15-3. The Gaels were eliminated in the MAAC conference tournament semifinals by Fairfield. Mike Glover leads the team in scoring (18.5) and rebounding (9.0) and Lamont Jones adds 16.0 points per game. Scott Machado contributes 13.6 points and 9.9 assists per game.

Playing in its first season in the West Coast Conference, BYU finished this season at 25-8 overall — a sixth-straight 25-win season — and 12-4 in league play. Noah Hartsock leads the team in scoring at 16.7 points per game and Brandon Davies adds 15.0 points and 7.3 boards. Both earned All-WCC honors. Matt Carlino and Charles Abouo also average double figures at 12.7 points and 11.5 points per game, respectively, while Carlino leads the team with 4.7 assists per game.

This will be BYU's 27th NCAA Tournament appearance, sixth-consecutive and ninth in the last 12 years (2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012). The Cougars have a 14-29 record in the NCAA Tournament.

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