Lewis Named WBCA Division III Coach Of The Year
The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) selected UW-Oshkosh's Matt Lewis as its NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Coach of the Year and the entire UW-Oshkosh staff as the Division III Coaching Staff of the Year.
The UW-Oshkosh staff of head coach Matt Lewis and assistants Casey Korn, Ben Stelzer, Dylan Wurtz and Greg Jahnke led UW-Oshkosh to the program's first national title in its 121-year history with a 96-82 victory over Swarthmore College (Pa.) during the NCAA championship game March 16 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
UW-Oshkosh established several program records on its way to the Division III title. The Titans, who produced a 29-3 record, set school records for wins, points (2,715), made field goals (961), field goal attempts (2,018), rebounds (1,308), made 3-pointers (325), 3-point attempts (866) and blocks (148). Their totals for made 3-pointers and 3-point attempts are also Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) records, while their win total ranks fifth in league history.
The Titans compiled a 21-game winning streak from Nov. 20 through Feb. 9. The fourth-longest winning streak in WIAC history included 12 straight victories to open WIAC play as UW-Oshkosh went on to claim its first outright league title since 1978.
UW-Oshkosh began its triumphant NCAA postseason journey with wins of 86-62 over Lake Forest College (Ill.) and 108-86 over University of Northwestern (Minn.) to secure the Collegeville (Minn.) Regional title. The Titans then reached the Final Four by clinching the Oshkosh Sectional championship by scores of 86-75 over Loras College (Iowa) and 82-79 over Guilford College (Va.) in Kolf Sports Center. UW-Oshkosh won its national semifinal contest, 104-85, over Wheaton College (Ill.) in Fort Wayne.
The Titans averaged 93.7 points in their six Division III Championship wins and set a school NCAA postseason scoring record with the 108-point performance against University of Northwestern. UW-Oshkosh won by an average of 15.5 points per game en route to hoisting the national championship trophy.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the season ranked highly among the Division III leaders in several statistical categories, including fourth in total rebounds, seventh in blocks, 10th in average scoring margin (+15.7), 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.50) and made 3-pointers, and 13th in turnovers per game (10.6) and average rebounding margin (+8.8).
Lewis was UW-Oshkosh's interim head coach during the 2018-19 season. Earlier this month he was named the program's head coach following a national search.
Lewis had been UW-Oshkosh's interim head coach since taking over the program in May 2018 after serving six seasons as the Titans' top assistant. During his six seasons as the Titans' top assistant to head coach Pat Juckem, Lewis led UW-Oshkosh's recruiting and scouting efforts that yielded three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division III postseason, including the program's first appearance in the national title game in 2018.