Ranked No. 5 in the latest Southeast Region Poll, Carson-Newman enters the league tournament as the No. 2 seed and in prime contention for an at large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Having participated in every South Atlantic Conference Tournament, the Eagles have twice won the tournament (2005 & 2018). This year's version is led by one of the league's premier post players in Lindsay Taylor. Taylor torched UVA Wise for 27 points in the first meeting between the school's this season, an 81-64 Carson-Newman win before scoring 12 points in an 86-58 win in Jefferson City later in the season. On the year, Taylor is averaging 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while shooting a league-best 64.2 percent from the floor. As a team, the Eagles lead NCAA Division II in assists per game at 18.8 while ranking seventh in field goal percentage at 46.6 percent. The unselfish play and strong shooting has allowed Carson-Newman to average a league-leading 81.4 points per game.

A late season surge has UVA Wise back in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. The Cavaliers won five of their final six games, including a 75-59 win over No. 23 Catawba Saturday. The win marked the third consecutive season that Jamie Cluesman's team knocked off a nationally ranked foe as redshirt senior Kalee Johnson netted 23 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, recorded five steals and blocked two shots. The performance capped a week that saw Johnson average 17 points and 13.5 rebounds in a pair of victories as she claimed the second SAC Player of the Week award of her career. This will be the Cavs second appearance in the SAC Tournament. Last season, UVA Wise scored a win over Queens University of Charlotte in the opening round before falling to Anderson in the tournament quarterfinals. In what will be the third meeting of the season between the Eagles and Cavs, Cluesman's crew will have to figure out a way to perform better in the paint. In the first two meetings, Carson-Newman scored a combined 80 of its 167 points in the paint.