Located in downtown Raleigh and with an enrollment of just 1,018, WPU is actually my fiance's alma mater. Though when she was going to school there, they were still a Women-only school, Peace College. They have only been Co-Ed since 2012, meaning their Men's Basketball program is in its infancy.

WPU competes at the D-III (non-scholarship) level in the USA South Athletic Conference, which contains 18 member schools including Greensboro College, Meredith College, NC Wesleyan, Pfeiffer University, Methodist University, Maryville College, Salem College and Brevard College in North Carolina, as well as schools from Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky.

Though WPU has only been playing basketball since 2013, they've already had some early success. In just their 2nd season, 2014-15, the Pacers went 13-13 overall and 9-5 in the USA South, good for 2nd place. This was a marked improvement from their 3-13 conference record the previous season. In 2016-17, they went 15-11 overall and 8-6 in conference play. This season, the coaches picked WPU to finish 3rd in the East Division behind NC Wesleyan and Averett.

WPU's game against UNCW will be their season opener in 2018-19. They return all 6 of their top scorers from 2017-18, led by 6-2 junior forward Tyson Sellers (12.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.1 apg). Joining him in the frontcourt is another junior forward, 6-4 Trey Bryant, who led the team in rebounding (7.6 rpg), blocks (0.8 bpg), steals (1.1 spg), and shooting % (.535). Bryant was also the only player on the roster to start all 25 games for the Pacers.

The WPU backcourt is led by 6-2 junior shooting guard Camden Ferguson (11.8 ppg, .328 3-pt %), with point guard duties likely to be split by 6-1 junior Joshua Jones (6.3 ppg, 1.7 apg) and 6-0 senior Tre McLean (5.0 ppg, 2.2 apg).

The Pacers love to hoist up the three ball, as they attempted 794 last season (31.8 per game), shooting .327 as a team. For comparison purposes, the Seahawks attempted 705 last season (22.0 per game). Ferguson attempted a team-high 238 of those threes, followed by Sellers (145) and 6-1 sophomore guard Smith Gupton (112). With no player on the roster listed above 6-6, expect the Pacers to mostly stay out of the paint and go even heavier on the perimeter shooting on Friday night.