It's now or never for the Denison men's basketball team as they enter North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament play on Tuesday evening.  The Big Red will face a familiar foe in No. 24 Wooster.  The Fighting Scots enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed while the Big Red check-in as the No. 7 seed.

The 2014-15 season has been one of many highs and lows for the Big Red.  After getting off to a 5-1 start they would jet into 2015 with an 8-3 record.  A pair of four-game losing skids in the middle of conference play would end up knocking them from the upper half of the league standings to their current position, facing a perennial favorite in The College of Wooster.

It would be convenient to be able to point to an injury or a shooting slump, but the fact remains that even through the recent losses the Big Red have been a very consistent squad.  Close contests have been the trend throughout the 25-game schedule.  Seventeen of Denison's 25 games played have been decided by six-points or less.  Eleven of the Big Red's 12 losses have been by five points or less.  Of those 11 losses, DU's margin of defeat has been just 2.9 points.

Denison's last win came against the same Wooster squad they will meet on Tuesday night.  In that game, Briggs King would score 26 points and grab 10 rebounds while David Meurer chipped in 14 points off the bench.  Denison held the Scots to 3-of-17 shooting from beyond the arc while DU knocked down nine 3-pointers.

Denison head coach Bob Ghiloni sees the resiliency in this year's team and is confident they will respond well to the challenge presented to them on Tuesday.

"Overall we have played well this year," Ghiloni said.  "We always come to play and every game is a battle, our guys really know how to compete.  Obviously, there are some games which we could have finished better.  The nice thing is we have proven we know how to win.  We have won close games and we have beaten quality teams.  The team is ready to compete and win tomorrow night."

Meurer leads the team in scoring at 13.3 ppg while Bret Woolard checks in at 12.3 ppg.  King leads the team in rebounds at 7.8 rpg and is scoring 11.1 per outing.  DU boasts the No. 2 scoring offense in the league at 71.9 ppg while Wooster sits second at 80.7 ppg.  Denison's 205 3-point field goals made are second only to Ohio Wesleyan (305 made) in the NCAC.

The Fighting Scots (20-5) are getting 15.2 ppg from Evan Pannell and 14.4 ppg and 7.9 rpg from Dan Fanelly.

Tuesday's tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Wooster's Timken Gymnasium.  This is the seventh-consecutive NCAC Tournament appearance for the Big Red.  Their last quarterfinal victory came in 2012 when they defeated Wabash 74-60.