Game Preview - American vs. Mount St. Mary's

NCAA Tournament - First Four

#16 American (22-12) vs. #16 Mount St. Mary’s (22-12)

Nuts & Bolts 

• Date: March 19, 2025

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET 

• Venue: UD Arena - Dayton, OH

• How to Watch: truTV

• Announcers: Spero Dedes, Jim Spanarkel, Jon Rothstein 

• NCAA Tournament Bracket: HERE

• Matchup History: American leads all-time series 38-32

• Last Meeting: American def. Mount St. Mary’s 68-65 on 11/22/23

• Prediction: American 63, Mount St. Mary’s 58

• Betting Lines: (Via Draftkings) 

  • Spread: American -2.5

  • Over/Under: 128.5

• Follow Along on Twitter 

  • Zach Penrice - DMV Sports: https://twitter.com/Zach_DMVSports 

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#16 American Eagles

• Head Coach: Duane Simpkins (2nd season, 38-28 record at American) 

• Record: 22-12 (13-5, 2nd in Patriot)

• NCAA Tournament Appearances: 4

• Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2014

• Last Time Out: Won vs. Navy 74-52 on 3/12/25 (Patriot League Championship) 

  • Highlights HERE

• Player to Watch: Matt Rogers 

The American University Eagles are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. 

Heading into the season, many fans and pundits, myself included, figured this was the best chance AU has had to return to the NCAA Tournament and end its 11 year drought. 

Colgate, the team that had won the Patriot League four years in a row, was navigating a new head coach and overhauled roster, making their position vulnerable. 

The Eagles responded with a 22-12 regular season and share of the Patriot League regular season title along with Bucknell. 

In the Patriot League Tournament, American defeated Lafayette 71-69 after trailing by 11 at the half, took out Colgate in the semis 72-62, and knocked off Navy in the final at Bender Arena in Washington, DC in front of a raucous crowd. 

As winners of the Patriot, American heard its name called as one of the two 16 seeds in the East Region, along with Mount St. Mary’s, winners of the MAAC. This means that AU heads to Dayton, OH, the annual site of the NCAA Tournament’s First Four, featuring two games on Tuesday and two games on Wednesday before the start of the rest of the tournament. 

The two DMV-area schools are separated by 61 miles and have a storied history of playing one another, going head-to-head 70 times prior and as recently as last season. 

For American to win and advance to a Friday date with #1 Duke in Raleigh, the Eagles will need to rely on the play of Senior Forward Matt Rogers. 

Rogers was a First Team All-Patriot Team selection and just scored 25 points in AU’s blowout win in the Patriot League Championship Game. On the year he averages 17.4 PPG to lead the team, along with 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 56% from the field and 40% from three. 

If he scores another 20+ points on Wednesday night, American is going to be very tough to beat as the team seeks its first NCAA Tournament win in program history. 

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#16 Mount St. Mary’s

• Head Coach: Donny Lind (1st season, 22-12 record at Mount St. Mary’s)

• Record: 22-12 (12-8, 6th in MAAC)

• NCAA Tournament Appearances: 7

• Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2021

• Last Time Out: Won vs. Iona 63-49 on 3/15/25 (MAAC Championship) 

  • Highlights HERE

• Player to Watch: Dola Adebayo 

For the fourth time since 2014, Mount St. Mary’s returns to the NCAA Tournament, under the direction of the third different head coach in that span. 

Donny Lind is in his first season at the helm of Mount St. Mary’s and led the team to a program-record 22 wins, going 22-12 overall and 12-8 in the MAAC regular season, winning the conference tournament for the first time since moving over to the league in 2022 from the NEC. 

The Mountaineers finished sixth in the MAAC and took out the 4-seed Iona in the MAAC championship game. After falling behind by ten in the first half, MSM closed the deficit to just one before the break and outscored the Gaels 38-23 in the second half en route to victory. 

Guard Dallas Hobbs had a game-high 18 points, including four three’s on 4-13 shooting from deep. Arlandus Keyes added huge minutes off the bench as well, scoring 14 points on 4-9 shooting from three, the second-most points he’s scored in a game all season. 

Astoundingly, the Mountaineers took 32 three’s out of 52 total shots. Iona seemed to have size and was defending the paint, so MSM was willing to try from distance, which obviously was enough to get the win and win a MAAC Championship. 

Mount St. Mary’s has gotten to this point predominantly through defense. 

In its three games of the MAAC Tournament, the Mountaineers never allowed more than 58 points, averaging 54 points per game allowed. 

On the flipside, the team has struggled to score at times, failing to score more than 63 points in the MAAC Tournament and averaging just 61 points per game offensively. 

The Mountaineers can hound you defensively, ranking 33rd nationally in opposing field goal percentage and thrive in not allowing offensive rebounds, ranking 24th in the nation in defensive rebounding. 

If Mount St. Mary’s keeps the game low-scoring and limits second-chance opportunities against American, just as its done all season long, the Mountaineers will have a very clear path to victory against American. 

For the Eagles, it’s crash the glass offensively and work inside out to try and get good looks from distance. 

Open shots are hard to come by in March; the teams that advance are the ones that make them. We’ll see how the chips fall in Dayton on Wednesday night.