Lewis Selected As NABC National Coach Of The Year
UW-Oshkosh's Matt Lewis was named NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) after guiding the Titans to the program's first national title.
Lewis, in his first season at the helm of the Titans, led UW-Oshkosh to a 96-82 victory over Swarthmore College (Pa.) during the Division III title game Saturday (March 16) at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The NABC will present Lewis the Division III Coach of the Year Award on April 7 at the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show in Minneapolis, Minn. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Main Auditorium of the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Lewis was previously tabbed national Coach of the Year by D3hoops.com and SNA Sports/D III News. He also garnered Division III Central Region Coach of the Year awards from both the NABC and D3hoops.com in addition to Coach of the Year honors in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).
Lewis is UW-Oshkosh's first recipient of NABC Coach of the Year Award.
Lewis, who took the reins of the Titans in May after six seasons as the team's top assistant coach, led UW-Oshkosh to numerous program records in his debut season. The Titans established school marks with 29 wins, 2,715 points, 961 made field goals, 2,018 field goal attempts, 1,308 rebounds, 325 made 3-pointers, 866 3-point attempts, and 148 blocks. The Titans' totals for made 3-pointers and 3-point attempts are also WIAC records, while their win total ranks fifth in league history.
Lewis' .906 winning percentage is the best among all 1,099 active NCAA men's basketball coaches.
Under Lewis' direction UW-Oshkosh produced a school-record 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 the Titans went on to claim their first outright league title since 1978.
Lewis' squad boasted four All-WIAC First Team selections for the first time in school history. WIAC Player of the Year Ben Boots, the NABC's Central Region Player of the Year, also garnered All-America First Team honors from the NABC and D3hoops.com. UW-Oshkosh's Jack Flynn, who was named Most Outstanding Player at the Division III Championship, received All-America Fourth Team plaudits from D3hoops.com.
Lewis led UW-Oshkosh back to its second straight Division III championship game. The Titans' national title this season came on the heels of 78-72 loss to Nebraska Wesleyan University loss in last year's championship game. The Titans are the third team to come back and win the national title after falling in the previous year's championship contest. Wittenberg University (Ohio) was the first program to accomplish the feat with its redemptive 1977 title before State University of New York at Potsdam went from runner-up in 1985 to champion in 1986.
Lewis and UW-Oshkosh began their triumphant NCAA postseason journey with wins of 86-62 over Lake Forest College (Ill.) in the first round and 108-86 over University of Northwestern (Minn.) in the second round to secure the Collegeville (Minn.) Regional title. The Titans then reached the Final Four by clinching the Oshkosh Sectional championship with triumphs of 86-75 over Loras College (Iowa) in the third round and 82-79 over Guilford College (Va.) during the fourth round 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 outburst against University of Northwestern. UW-Oshkosh won by an average of 15.5 points per game en route to hoisting the championship trophy.
Lewis' Titan team concluded the season ranked high among the Division III leaders in several statistical categories, including fourth in total rebounds (1,308), seventh in blocks (148), 10th in average scoring margin (+15.7), 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.50) and made 3-pointers (325), and 13th in turnovers per game (10.6) and average rebounding margin (+8.8).
Lewis was named Titans interim head coach after former UW-Oshkosh head coach Pat Juckem accepted the top position of the Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) men's basketball program.
Booker Coplin from Augsburg University (Minn.) was named NABC's Division III Men's Basketball Player of the Year.