SEWARD, Neb. – March Madness has arrived. On the final day of February, Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Basketball celebrated a 92-87 GPAC semifinal win on the homecourt of GPAC regular season champion Morningside. The victory sets up a matchup with No. 2 seed and NAIA 20th-ranked Northwestern in the GPAC Championship Game. Head Coach Ben Limback has led the Bulldogs to the conference final for the second year in a row and for the fourth time in a seven-year stretch. Tuesday’s tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT from the Bultman Center in Orange City, Iowa.
This Week
GPAC Championship – Tuesday, March 3 at No. 20 Northwestern (25-5, 15-5 GPAC), 7 p.m.
--104.9 Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Bultman Center (Orange City, Iowa)
NAIA National Championship Selection Show – Thursday, March 5, 6 p.m.
--Watch via NAIA YouTube channel
--Admission: $10 for adults; $3 for students (K-College); GPAC students with ID are admitted free; season passed are not allowed (NAIA issued passes are allowed).
By the numbers
· In the official NAIA RPI released on Monday, Feb. 23, Concordia appeared at No. 70 while sporting a strength of schedule ranking of 84th (among 223 NAIA men’s basketball programs). In the latest bracketology from NAIA Hoops Report, the Bulldogs were listed as a bubble team currently outside the field of 64. Morningside (auto bid) and Northwestern are projected into the field from the GPAC. Concordia’s GPAC championship opponent, Northwestern, is listed at No. 19 in the RPI (SOS of 95).
· All three Concordia-Morningside games this season have gone down to the wire. The Mustangs got the upper hand in the two regular season meetings (91-87 in Sioux City and 123-115, 2 OT, in Seward) and threatened to rally back from as many as 11 points down in Saturday’s GPAC semifinal clash. Morningside roared back within one (88-87) on Alex Wilcoxson’s trey with 59 seconds remaining. However, the Mustangs missed their final four shot attempts and the Bulldogs iced the game by going 4-for-4 from the foul line over the closing 30 seconds. Concordia won on the strength of 54.2 percent (32-for-59) shooting and three standout individual performances: Brooks Kissinger (33 points, eight rebounds), Dane Jacobsen (23 points, seven rebounds) and Zac Kulus (19 points on 7-for-11 shooting). Kissinger equaled a career high while making 11-of-19 shots from the floor. The result snapped Morningside’s five-game series win streak and marked the Mustangs’ first home defeat of the season.
· With his monster outing, Kissinger became the 39th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. His total now stands at 1,010 in 94 career collegiate games. The Ashland-Greenwood High School product increased his scoring average from 6.2 as a sophomore to 22.3 as a junior. Kissinger’s career point total is most among active Bulldogs. Next on the list (in terms of career points) are Jaxon Stueve (775), Zac Kulus (687), Hayden Frank (534) and Dane Jacobsen (450). Worth noting, Kulus has drained 164 career 3-point field goals, putting him near the top 15 in school history. A slashing guard, Kissinger is shooting 59.0 percent from the floor while scoring a large majority of his points in the paint.
· Concordia placed in the top four of the final GPAC standings for the sixth time in seven seasons. During that stretch, the program has celebrated GPAC tournament titles in 2020 and 2022. The Bulldogs also finished as the conference tournament runner up in 2025 when they hosted Morningside for the title game. Concordia has reached at least the conference semifinals in five straight seasons. Prior to Limback’s tenure (2013-14 to the present), the Bulldogs also won GPAC tournament championships in 2003 and 2005. During the 1990s, Concordia seized NIAC tournament titles in 1995, 1997 and 1998. Limback owns a career GPAC tournament record of 12-9. The program has qualified for the conference tournament for the 12th straight season. Below is a listing of the Bulldogs’ previous GPAC tournament championship games.
o 2025 – Lost vs. Morningside, 87-77.
o 2022 – Won vs. Jamestown, 77-70.
o 2020 – Won at Dakota Wesleyan, 68-66.
o 2005 – Won vs. Sioux Falls, 62-58.
o 2003 – Won vs. Dordt, 90-82.
o 2001 – Lost at Northwestern, 91-83.
· Freshman Jacob Duitsman joined the starting lineup beginning with the regular season finale. With his inclusion in the first five, the Bulldogs feature a starting group with no player taller than 6-foot-4. In the win at Morningside, the starters shouldered a heavy load with each one playing at least 27 minutes. Dane Jacobsen and Jaxon Stueve are the only players who have started all 30 games.
· The only way for the 2025-26 Bulldogs to guarantee a trip to the national tournament is by winning the conference tournament. The series of late regular season defeats complicated Concordia’s path to a potential at-large berth. On the plus side, the Bulldogs’ season résumé includes two wins over Northwestern (RPI No. 19), the GPAC semifinal road win over Morningside (RPI No. 22), two close losses to Morningside and wins over the top two teams in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings: Governors State (22-8 overall) and St. Francis (22-7 overall). Massey Ratings lists Concordia as the NAIA’s 26th best team with the 11th best SOS in the nation.
· Based on seeding, Concordia’s win at Morningside has been the lone upset of the GPAC tournament through the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. The top four seeds each won in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, No. 2 seed Northwestern defeated No. 3 seed Mount Marty, 78-71, on the other side of the bracket. For the GPAC championship game participants, the most recent GPAC tournament titles came in 2022 for Concordia and 2021 for Northwestern.
Concordia Projected Starting Five
G – Jacob Duitsman, 6-3 (5.4)
G – Dane Jacobsen, 6-3 (13.4)
G – Brooks Kissinger, 6-3 (22.3)
G – Zac Kulus, 6-0 (10.6)
F – Jaxon Stueve, 6-4 (11.1)
Head Coach Ben Limback, 13th season (251-152 at CUNE)
The opponent
A 1-3 start in league play prevented Northwestern from making a serious run at Morningside for the GPAC regular season title. However, the Red Raiders have caught fire and enter the title game with a 12-game winning streak. Northwestern has scored at least 90 points in nine of those victories. The high-powered Red Raiders are fueled by the two highest scorers in the NAIA: Jesse Van Kalsbeek (28.0) and Jalen Langsy (27.3). Van Kalsbeek also averages 12.4 rebounds per game (second most in the nation) and Langsy shoots an eye-popping 51.6 percent (132-for-256) from 3-point range. While averaging 94.3 points per game, Northwestern ranks 10th nationally in net efficiency. The Red Raiders have found a groove under first-year Head Coach Colton Kooima, who replaced the highly successful Kris Korver. Northwestern will attempt to avenge the two losses it endured to Concordia in the regular season – 78-73 in Orange City and 85-82 in Seward. The Red Raiders have put together a résumé that will land them in the national tournament no matter Tuesday’s result.
Northwestern Projected Starting Five
G – Kaleb Booth, 6-0 (7.4)
G – Manny Hammonds, 6-3 (9.2)
G – Jalen Langsy, 6-1 (27.3)
F – Brennan Reid, 6-7 (7.3)
F – Jesse Van Kalsbeek, 6-6 (28.0)
Head Coach: Colton Kooima, 1st season
2026 GPAC Tournament
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, Feb. 25
(1) Morningside def. (8) Hastings, 101-76
(4) Concordia def. (5) Dordt, 66-60
(3) Mount Marty def. (6) Briar Cliff, 74-73
(2) Northwestern def. (7) Dakota Wesleyan, 112-79
Semifinals – Saturday, Feb. 28
(4) Concordia def. (1) Morningside, 92-87
(2) Northwestern def. (3) Mount Marty, 78-71
Championship – Tuesday, March 3
(4) Concordia at (2) Northwestern, 7 p.m.