No. 2 Emory incentivized after falling short in last year’s Elite Eight

No. 2-ranked Emory will try to take the steps necessary to reach the Final Four for the first time in program history on Thursday when it plays No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan at 3:30 p.m. in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The winner advances to Saturday’s semifinal, also in Fort Wayne.

The Eagles essentially have the same team as last year, particularly standouts Ben Pearce and Jair Knight. The two seniors are one of the best tandems in D3 basketball. Pearce is averaging 24.3 points and 7.3 assists, and Knight is averaging 18.9 points and 6.5 assists. Pearce, the school’s all-time scoring leader, put up 26 in the last game. Both are finalists for the Bevo Francis Award that is given the nation’s best non-Division I player.

The other starters, Ethan Fauss (15 points, 8.6 rebounds), A.J. Harris (10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds) and Mario Awasum (9.0 points, 7.8 rebounds), all played in last year’s playoff game.

“I think it’s just the confidence of being able to play at the highest level,” Zimmerman said. “We didn’t play a perfect game last year by any means and we still had a chance to win. Sometimes, you go into these things, and you think you have to be superhuman to win the game and you don’t. You just have to do what you do well.”

What the Eagles (25-3) do well is score points. They average 89.8 points, No. 12 in the nation. They topped 100 points for the fourth time, in last week’s 101-80 win over Yeshiva, in the third-round playoff game.

“We didn’t shoot it great,” Zimmerman said. “A lot of that had to do with them, but we were able to keep fighting and give ourselves a chance to win. I think that’s the biggest takeaway is if this team plays 40 minutes, we’re going to have a chance to advance.”

Illinois Wesleyan (26-4) plays a different style than Emory, more physical and deliberate. The Spartans rank 24th in the nation in scoring defense (65.3 points), No. 1 in blocked shots (6.7 per game) and have allowed 80 points only once this season.

“The pace is a little bit slower and they’re very physical, tough, and make it harder,” Zimmerman said. “They make it hard for you to finish around the rim.”

Illinois Wesleyan center Noah Cleveland, a 6-foot-8 sophomore who averages 18.8 points, missed five games late in the season with an injury but returned to score 22 and 25 in the last two playoff games.

The game also marks a homecoming for Zimmerman, who grew up on an Indiana farm 30 minutes away from Fort Wayne. He watched the state high school semifinals at the Memorial Coliseum when he was 12. He was a member of Team Indiana and played a Russian team there when he was a senior.