The Wagner Seahawks entered Tuesday’s First Four game with quite literally the least efficient offense in the 2024 NCAA tournament field.
The NEC champions closed out the regular season ranked 334th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency, the worst of any of the 68 teams in this year’s tournament field by a sizable margin. Saint Peter’s (No. 305) and Grambling State (No. 297) are the only other tourney teams slotted outside the top 250 in that metric.
You never would have guessed it watching them take on the Howard Bison.
The Seahawks shot 29-of-55 (52.7 percent) from the floor and 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from three-point range while assisting on 16 of 29 made baskets, and they did it with a roster that only has seven active players.
The team’s three starting guards Melvin Council Jr. (21 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists), Julian Brown (15 points, 3-of-4 3PT) and Javier Ezquerra (6 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists) each played all 40 minutes, and while the fatigue started to show during the game’s final minutes, it still ended up being an extremely efficient game for the Seahawks offense.