KANSAS CITY, Mo.- Rocky Men's Basketball plays its first Round of 16 matchup since 2009 on Friday evening, taking on Frontier Conference foe Bellevue University. 

Friday's Matchup

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Friday, March 20th - Round of 16
#2 Rocky Mountain College (30-3) vs #14 Bellevue University (24-7)
6:30 pm (MT) / 7:30 pm (CT)
Last Matchup - W, 73-69 (February 7th, 2026)
Record vs Bellevue (All-Time) - 2-1

Preview

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The Battlin' Bears take on the Bruins of Bellevue University for the third time this season, following a pair of regular-season matchups. Rocky won both matchups this season, winning in Billings on January 2nd, 71-68, and taking another back-and-forth matchup in Bellevue on February 7th, 73-69. 

Both head-to-heads this season came down to the wire, as Drew Bowman was the hero in Billings, hitting the game-winning three-pointer with seven seconds remaining to hand the Bruins their first conference loss of the season. The matchup in Bellevue saw six ties and eight lead changes, with Omari Nesbit being the hero offensively, scoring five points in the final two minutes, including the go-ahead basket with 52 seconds remaining, while the Battlin' Bear defense held the Bruins without a field goal for nearly three minutes to end the game with a four-point win. 

Playing without key players has been a storyline for both teams, as the Battlin' Bears were without the services of their leading scorer, Omari Nesbit, in the first matchup between these two teams, and without key reserve Sherman Royal III in Nebraska. The Bruins, after falling in the Frontier Conference Quarterfinals, were without their leading scorer, Ahmad Bynum, in the First and Second Rounds of the NAIA National Championship. Nevertheless, Bellevue secured a pair of upsets as the No. 14-seed, taking down three-seed Huntington, 62-58, before beating ten-seed Graeland, 95-88, to move on to the NAIA National Championship Final Site. 

For Rocky, their defense has led the way all season, allowing just 65.2 points per game, the third-best mark in the NAIA this season. Controlling tempo and possessions has been a key to success, limiting their opponents to just 27.8 rebounds per game and 7.2 offensive rebounds per game, the second-best mark in the NAIA this season. Offensively, the Battlin' Bears rank 21st in the NAIA in three-point percentage. A balanced offensive attack sees three players averaging over ten points per game in Omari Nesbit (17.9), Royce Robinson (13.4), and Sherman Royal III (10.4), while eight different players score six or more points per game. The group effort transfers to rebounding, as six different Battlin' Bears pull down over three rebounds per game. 

The Bruins average 80.6 points per game, including 8.8 three-pointers per game and a 37.1% shooting percentage from deep, ranking 35th in the NAIA this season. Bellevue controls possession well overall, turning the ball over just 10.3 times per game, ranking 17th in the NAIA, while holding their opponents to 7.1 offensive rebounds per game, the best mark in the NAIA this season. The Bruins hold their opponents to 69.7 points per game, have an offensive efficiency of 1.158, and a net efficiency of 0.168, all marks that rank in the top 20 in the country this season. Three different players average in double-figures in scoring, including guards Ahamad Bynum (19.4) and Jaden Phillips (15.1), along with post RJ Smith (11.9). Smith is the leading offensive rebounder in the country this season (132), while ranking 11th in field goal percentage (67.7)

Rocky looks to continue what has been a banner season for the Battlin' Bears, setting new program records in longest winning streak (20), regular season wins (25), and conference wins (20), as they also recorded their first Frontier Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships since 2013-14 and are making their first trip to the Round of 16 since their National Championship winning season of 2009.