KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Eagles are back in the national tournament for the 16th time in program history and the fifth time in the last six years, hearing their name called as an at-large Thursday night. Faulkner will travel to Columbia, Missouri to take on Pikeville (Ky.) 7:15 p.m. on Friday, March 13.

Faulkner claimed the 12-seed in the Cramer Quadrant with a 20-9 record overall, finishing one game off the Southern States Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship at 14-4 in league play. Pikeville enters as the Appalachian Athletic Conference champions and the No. 6 team in the last NAIA poll with a 27-4 overall record and have lost just twice since Veterans Day. 

This will be the second meeting on the national stage between the Eagles and the Bears. Faulkner and Pikeville met in the 2001 NAIA semifinals with the Eagles winning 87-78 en route to the national title. The two sides last met in 2018 with the Eagles winning 88-81. Three of the six meetings this century have been on neutral floors. 

Awaiting the victor of the Faulkner-Pikeville contest will be the winner of host Columbia (Mo.) and McPherson (Kan.) for a ticket to Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium as one of the last 16 teams left in the nation's longest-running college basketball national championship. That Second Round matchup is set for Saturday at 2 p.m.

Scott Sanderson has now led the Eagles to seven national championships, just one behind his brother Jim who took Faulkner to the 2001 National Title, as well. 

Faulkner is looking to get back to Kansas City for the first time since 2022 after the Eagles defeated Florida Memorial and Huntington (Ind.) to get out of the bracket hosted at Tine Davis Gymnasium. 

All contests of the NAIA Men's and Women's Basketball National Championships will be broadcast for free on the Urban Edge Network.