OSHKOSH — UW-Oshkosh head coach Matt Lewis is 'fired up' about his men’s basketball team winning the WIAC tournament and earning a berth to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.
“That’s the standard at Oshkosh – is we’re going to achieve championship level success,” he said.
The Titans won their second WIAC postseason championship in the last three seasons. They also took home a national championship in 2020.
“Good teams have great players, great players have great teammates – I think that’s what these guys are, this year especially,” said Lewis. They don’t care who scores, who gets what accolades. it doesn’t matter. They just want to win basketball games.”
On late Monday morning the team had a watch party to see who they will host Friday night. Blackburn College ended up being their opponent.
“You sit in that room and you see your name come across the screen, you find out you’re getting to host, that’s a special moment for those guys and I want them to enjoy every moment of this week,” Lewis said.
UW-Oshkosh plays relentless defense. They’re second in the nation for lowest three point percentage allowed and fifth in creating turnovers.
“That is where we spend the vast majority of our time,” said the Titans head coach. “I don’t think that would shock anybody that comes and watches us or knows much about us. We focus primarily on the defensive end.”
This senior class started as freshman when Lewis took over, which makes this season already that much more special. Eddie Muench, JT Petrie and Hunter Plamann have meant a lot to the program. Muench and Plamann are second and third on the Titans in scoring, respectively.
“It always is a sad thing when kid's careers are nearing an end, but it’s also an exciting thing because you’re realizing you still have a few more days together and you’re just trying to fight for as many days as you can have.”
Tip-off is at 7:15 p.m. on Friday at the Kolf Sports Center.
