Columbia, MO - The NAIA released the seeding and opponents on Thursday evening of the 2026 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship First and Second Rounds. The Cougars will return to the Arena of Southwell Complex after earning the No. 4 seed in the Cramer Quadrant and will welcome the University of Pikeville, Faulkner University, and McPherson College. 

Schedule

March 13th	March 14th
Game 1 - 5:00PM - Columbia vs. McPherson	2:00PM - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 2 - 7:15PM - UPike vs. Faulkner

Meet the Teams
- #4 Columbia College (28-3, 13-1 AMC)
The Cougars are making their 25th all-time appearance in the NAIA Tournament after winning both AMC Regular Season and Tournament Champion titles. Columbia is led in scoring by Caleb Jones (435 points) and Jemeal Goines (420 points) and is averaging 81.48 ppg. Defensively, the Cougars have had big contributions from Goines (287 rebounds) and Johnny Anderson (244 rebounds).

After winning the AMC Tournament this week, Goines was named to the All-Tournament Team and was also named Tournament MVP; Adam Sausele and Max Rieger were also named to the AMC All-Tournament Team. Multiple players earned all-conference honors in that of Goines (First Team / All-Defensive Team), Jones (First Team / All-Defensive Team), Rieger (co-Sixth Man of the Year / All-Freshman Team), Anderon (Third Team, and AJ Walker (Honorable Mention).

- #5 Pikeville (27-4, 18-1 AAC)
The Bears from the University of Pikeville earned the No. 1 seed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament and advanced to the championship game with wins over Bryan and Union Commonwealth. In the title game, the Bears fell to No. 3 seed Johnson 76-75. UPike earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship after winning the AAC regular season title. 

The Bears are led in scoring by 2x AAC Player of the Year Bradley Bunch (522 points) and LA Walker (408 points) and as a team, average 83.6 ppg. Bunch also leads the team in rebounds (235), with Zion Blevins in second (193). UPike is lead by 2x AAC Coach of the Year, Tigh Compton. Blevins was named as both Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year in the conference. 

- #12 Faulkner (20-9, 14-4 SSAC)
The Eagles from Faulkner University are making their appearance in the First and Second Rounds after earning an at-large bid. Faulkner fell out of the SSAC Men's Basketball Championship in a 77-56 quarterfinals loss to the East No. 3 seed Brewton-Parker. KJ Rogers and Tanner Vogel were officially recognized as First-Team All-Southern States Athletic Conference players while Kamal Green II earned All-Freshman honors. Rogers leads the team in scoring with 405 points, while Gabriel Rivera followed with 343 points.

- #13 McPherson (20-9, 16-6 KCAC)
The Bulldogs of McPherson College earned an at-large bid after their third place finish in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. McPherson advanced to the quarterfinals of the KCAC tournament before falling to the 6th-seeded Evangel Valor. 

Korbin Gunn was named First Team All-Conference, Freshman of the Year, and All-Freshman Team after leading the team with 564 points and 126 rebounds. KJ Marshall and Joseph Gonzales were selected as Honorable Mention All-Conference, with Marshall also being named to the All-Defensive Team.