University of St. Thomas Athletics
North Central (Minn.)
Game Notes - Men’s Basketball completes non-conference schedule against North Central
12/28/2021 11:06:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. Paul - Minn. - The St. Thomas Men's Basketball Team will play its 12th and final non-conference game of the 2021-22 season as it hosts North Central on Wednesday.
Through the first 13 games of the season, St. Thomas has three scorers averaging double-digits, led by senior G Riley Miller is averaging 18.2 points per game and shooting a blistering 46.2 percent from behind the arc, connecting on 61-of-132 three point attempts. Fellow senior G Anders Nelson is averaging 17.3 points per game and senior F Parker Bjorklund (14.0 points per game) rounds out the top scorers for the Purple.
As a team, the Tommies are averaging 77.5 points per game and connecting on 46 percent of their shots from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc. Additionally, St. Thomas has dished out 183 assists and committed only 104 turnovers.
Historic Season
After 112 seasons as a small-college, NAIA and Division III men's basketball program, St. Thomas started its Division I era last month at Chicago State. The Cougars topped the Tommies and spoiled their D-I debut, 77-72. Four days later, St. Thomas picked up its first win as a Division I program over St. Francis College with a 91-73 score.
Best of the Best
Due to its reclassification status, St. Thomas and its student-athletes are not reflected in the NCAA's individual or team rankings, but Senior G Riley Miller would rank 1st in NCAA Division I in both made 3-pointers (61) and made 3-pointers per game (4.7). Miller has made 61-of-132 three-point attempts this season and averages a team-best 18.2 points.
Preseason Progress
St. Thomas will play its 12th and final non-conference games this season before continuing its Summit League schedule on Saturday against Western Illinois.
St. Thomas played three games in Youngstown, Ohio, Nov. 19-21, competing in six games over a 14-day span.
In the first month alone the Purple traveled to Chicago, New York, Ohio and Seattle for contests. Overall they will play games in 11 different states this season.
In a stretch from Dec. 2 through January 1, the Purple are scheduled to play five of their seven games at home.
They opened Summit League play with a 80-73 win on the road Dec. 20 against Omaha.
Upper Echelon of the Conference
As the Tommies enter their first Summit League games, they are towards the top of a handful of statistic across the conference.
Below are the top-five team and individual rankings and statistics for all games by the 10 conference schools this season.
Rank - Category - Stat
Team
1st - Three-Point Field Goals Made - 13.3 per game
2nd - Three-Point Field Goal Percentage - .400
4th - Field Goal Percentage - .455
4th - Scoring Offense - 77.6 points per game
4th - Free-Throw Percentage - .732
5th - Scoring Margin - +5.8 points per game
Individual
1st - Three-Point Field Goal Percentage - R. Lindberg, .550
1st - Three-Point Field Goals Made - R. Miller, 4.7 per game
1st - Free Throw Percentage - R. Miller, .907
2nd - Scoring - R. Miller, 18.2
2nd - Three-Point Field Goal Percentage - R. Miller, .462
2nd - Assist To Turnover Ratio - A. Nelson, 1.8
4th - Field Goal Percentage - R. Miller, .450
5th - Assists per game - A. Miller, 3.4
5th - Scoring - A. Nelson, 17.3
5th - Free Throw Percentage - A. Nelson, .829
5th - Minutes Played - R. Miller, 32.4 per game
Last Week's Recap
Senior guards Anders Nelson and Riley Miller combined for 44 points and no turnovers in 66 minutes of play Monday night to help St. Thomas win the program's first ever Summit League men's basketball game with an 80-73 road defeat of Omaha.
Coach Johnny Tauer's Tommies recorded only three turnovers and won their fourth game away from campus so far this season. St. Thomas started the week ranked fourth in Division I men's hoops in fewest turnovers averaging under nine a contest.
Nelson scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half for the Tommies (6-6 overall, 1-0 Summit), including a clutch 3-point basket with just under 2:00 to play to turn momentum.
Miller finished with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes of play. Ryan Lindberg scored 11 points, Brooks Allen added nine points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Burt Hedstrom chipped in seven points and five boards.
St. Thomas built a 23-point halftime lead. After making 19-of-26 from behind the arc in the first half of last Tuesday's home win over Northland, St. Thomas made 10-of-18 treys in the first half here Monday. They extended their lead to 59-30 with just under 15:00 remaining before Omaha stormed back.
The Mavs (1-11, 0-1) shot 63 percent in the second half (17-of-27) to fuel their comeback bid. They used a 31-10 run to climb within 69-61 with under 3:00 to go.
But Nelson erupted for the Toms. His made jumper, an Omaha missed shot and Tommie rebound, and a dagger step-back 3-point basket by Nelson pushed the lead back to 74-61 with 1:57 to go.
Omaha sank three treys to lead a late 12-4 run but ran out of time in the closing seconds.
The St. Thomas men's basketball team led by as many as 18 points and held a one-point led in the final 10 seconds of the game before a last-second alley-oop by Denver earned the Pioneers a 75-74 win.
The Purple raced out to a 21-3 lead in the first eight minutes of the game. During that run, the Tommies connected on 7-of-12 attempts from the field, 4-of-7 shots from behind the arc and all three attempts from the charity stripe. Grad student G Ryan Lindberg and senior G Riley Miller fueled the run with seven and six points respectively.
St. Thomas took a 44-29 lead into intermission, behind a 13-of-29 (45 percent) shooting effort from the field and a 6-of-16 (37 percent) showing from behind the arc and the Tommies connected on 12-of-13 (92 percent) first-half free throw attempts. The Purple committed only one first-half turnover compared to nine turnovers by the Pioneers. St. Thomas converted those nine turnovers into 15 points off turnovers.
Individually, Miller and senior G Anders Nelson each contributed 11 points and Lindberg chipped in seven points in the opening 20 minutes.
In the first five minutes of the second half, the Pioneers outscored the Tommies, 12-4, cutting the St. Thomas to seven points, 48-41, with 15 minutes to play. The Denver run extended to 19-8 cutting the St. Thomas lead to four points, 52-48, with 12:28 to play. With just under ten minutes to play, Denver tied the game at 55-55.
With seven minutes to play, the Pioneers opened a 60-58 lead. With 6:15 remaining Denver opened up its largest lead of the game, 62-58. St. Thomas went on a 4-0 run to tied the game at 62-62 with 5:28 to play.
At the final media timeout with 3:35 to play, Denver held a three point, 70-67 lead. With just under one minute to play, trailing by one point, Miller knocked down a three-point shot to open a 72-70 lead with 55 seconds to play.
With 41 seconds to play, Denver converted on an old-fashioned three-point play with the and-one. With 20 seconds to play, Nelson made a layup to own a 74-73 lead. With five seconds to play, junior F Brooks Allen stepped to the line for the bonus, missed the free throw. Denver got the rebound, pushed the ball down the floor and connected on an alley-oop as time expired to earn the 75-74 win.
St. Thomas made 45 percent (26-of-58) of its shots from the field, 35 percent (9-of-26) of its shots from behind the arc and committed only six turnovers in the contest.
Individually, Nelson led the Purple with 23 points and Miller contributed 17 points, including two huge three-pointers down the stretch.
About North Central
North Central is a Division III institution located in Minneapolis, Minn. The Rams' Men's Basketball team owns a 6-5 record on the season. The game against the Tommies marks North Central's second-straight exhibition game against a Summit League school, as it lost to North Dakota, 110-65, on Dec. 14.
As a team, the Rams are scoring 84.4 points per game, while connecting on 46 percent of their shots from the field and 37 percent from behind the arc. North Central is averaging just over 11 made three-point shots per game.
Individually, North Central is led by senior G Micah Filler, who is averaging 17.8 points per game. He is 1-of-4 Rams to average double-digit points, joined by senior G Justin Castro (12.9), junior G Seth Fuqua (11.2), and sophomore G Tanner Holtman (10.5).
Effectively Efficient
The Tommies are the only team in NCAA Men's basketball each of the past three seasons to average 80-plus points per game, fewer than 10 turnovers per game, and 10-plus made three-point shots per game.
The Purple is continuing on that trajectory 13 games into their D-I tenure, averaging 77.5 points per game, 13.3 made three-point shots per game and 8.0 turnovers per game.
He's the Coach
Dr. Johnny Tauer's has an overall record of 224-57 13 games into his 11th season. His first 10 Tommie teams compiled a 218-50 overall mark (.813 win clip). A two-time National Coach of the Year in D-III, Tauer guided the 2016 Toms to the D-III national championship. Nine games into the D-I era, Coach Tauer has led him team to a 4-5 record with two non-conference games to play before he and his squad embark on their first Summit League circuit.
Tauer's winning percentage ranks in the top five of all 1,000-plus NCAA men's head coaches – in fact he is the only NCAA men's hoops coach at any level with both an NCAA championship trophy and a winning percentage above .800.
Sports Illustrated Says
The SI preseason ranking of all 358 Division I men's teams put the Tommies at No. 274. "If you're looking for a fun story to track this year, how about St. Thomas? The Tommies are the first men's team in nearly 30 years to jump directly from D-III to D-I, becoming the second D-I program in Minnesota. Coach Johnny Tauer has a PhD in social psychology, is a tenured member of the St. Thomas faculty and runs the Princeton offense."
Last Season
The 2020-21 Tommies went 7-0 in a Covid shortened season with several highlights:
• They finished ranked No. 2 in the final Division III national poll
• They ranked second among all NCAA men's basketball teams in 2020-21 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.91)
• They averaged 83 points a game, including 12.4 made threes a contest converted at a .403 clip
• They shot 51 percent from the floor and averaged only 8.2 turnovers a game
Tommie Talk
The good news is that Tauer returns 96 percent of last season's points, rebounds and assists -- he brings back all five starters and four other contributors off the bench from the program's final season in Division III.
The flip side is that St. Thomas will likely come into this season at or near the bottom of any team list of most returning Division I points. The three transfers coming on board combined for 100 points, 56 rebounds and seven assists last season at their previous D-I teams. In all, Tauer's roster has two true freshmen, three transfers and nine returners.
The Purple's starting five coming back includes two graduate students in their fifth seasons, G-F Burt Hedstrom and G Ryan Lindberg, plus senior guards Anders Nelson and Riley Miller, and senior Parker Bjorklund. Miller made D-III All-America last season. Hedstrom made the elite CoSIDA Academic All-America team.
Here's a look at each Tommie player's career D-III stats and 2021-22 stats:
No. 1 Kevin Cunningham: Senior guard…2021-22: Played in all 13 games...averages 17.6 minutes per game, 5.0 points per game and 2.0 rebounds each contest...D-III: played in 49 games totaling 160 points
No. 2 Ben Nau: Freshman guard...2021-22: Played in all 13 games...averages 11.8 minutes per game and on average, contributes 3.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per contest.
No. 3 Zach Theisen: Senior guard…2021-22: Played in eight games...averages 1.5 points in 6.1 minutes per game...D-III: played in 47 games totaling 177 points
No. 4 Anders Nelson: Senior guard…2021-22: Played all 13 games...averages 29.5 minutes per game...averages 17.3 points per game, has a 1.8 assist to turnover ratio...D-III: played 65 games totaling 1,005 points and 295 rebounds… 2019 Named to MIAC All-First-Year Team, MIAC First Team All-conference, D3hoops.com National Rookie of the Year, and West Region Rookie of the Year… 2020 repeat all-conference and second-team All-Region by both the NABC and D3Hoops.com
No. 5 Parker Bjorklund: Senior forward…2021-22: Played in seven games...averages 27.2 minutes per game played...contributes an average of 14.0 points per game in addition to 7.4 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game...Was St. Thomas student but didn't play varsity sports in freshman and sophomore seasons...D-III: started in all six of the games he played in 2020-21, scored 79 points and secured 34 total rebounds.
No. 10 Riley Miller: Senior guard…2021-22: Played all 13 games...averages a team-high 32.3 minutes per contest...averages a team-best 18.2 points per game...shoots 46.2 percent from behind the arc...has a 3.1 assist to turnover ration through 13 games...D3Hoops.com All-America last season...D-III: in 65 career games made 102 baskets from 3-point range at a 45 percent clip, with a near 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio with 161 assists to go with 525 points.
No. 20 Courtney Brown, Jr.: Junior forward…2021-22: Has not appeared in a game...Transfer from UW Milwaukee, where he played 45 games in two seasons.
No. 22 Burt Hedstrom: Graduate student guard, CoSIDA Academic All-America…2021-22: Played all 13 games...averages 6.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game...D-III: in 91 career games recorded 710 points, 385 rebounds and 151 assists, with 138 made 3-pointers at a 41-percent clip.
No. 23 Will Engels: Junior forward…2021-22: Played in all 13 games...averages 11.2 minutes per game and contributes 2.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest...D-III: played in 29 games totaling 156 points and securing 82 rebounds.
No. 24 Ryan Lindberg: Graduate student guard…2021-22: Played in all 13 games...averages 29.1 minutes per contest...averages 9.1 points and 1.6 assists per game...through 13 games, has a 2.6 assist to turnover ration...D-III: started 72 games and in 84 career games made 144 baskets from 3-point range, and recorded 623 points, 160 rebounds, 139 assists with just 44 turnovers.
No. 31 Brooks Allen: Junior forward…2021-22: Played all 13 games...averages 23.0 minutes per contest...contributes 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game...D-III: played in 12 games.
No. 32 Dom Martinelli: Sophomore Guard…2021-22: Played in two games for the Tommies...transfer from Northwestern, where he played in four games.
No. 33 Bennett Kwiecinski: Sophomore forward…2021-22: Played in five games for the Tommies...averages 3.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game...transfer from Siena, where he played in nine games
Tommie Player Career Highs
#1 Kevin Cunningham: 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals
#2 Ben Nau: 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
#3 Zach Theisen: 14 Points, 7 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 4 Steals
#4 Anders Nelson: 42 Points, 11 Rebounds, 11 Assists, 6 Steals
#5 Parker Bjorklund: 18 Points, 12 Rebounds
#10 Riley Miller: 30 Points, 6 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 4 Steals
#20 Courtney Brown, Jr.: 15 Points, 8 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 2 Steals (UW-Milwaukee)
#22 Burt Hedstrom: 17 Points, 13 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 3 Steals
#23 Will Engels: 17 Points, 9 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals
#24 Ryan Lindberg: 24 Points, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Steals
#31 Brooks Allen: 12 Points, 11 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals
#32 Dom Martinelli: 10 Points, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 0 Steals (Northwestern/St. Thomas)
#33 Bennett Kwiecinski: 8 Points, 6Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steal (Sienna/St. Thomas)
Unprecedented Move
St. Thomas is the first NCAA institution to move all of its athletics teams directly from Division III to D-I in one season.
Tommie teams have begun competing in four conferences across all 21 sports:
• The Summit League (18 sports)
• The Pioneer Football League
• Western Collegiate Hockey Association for women's hockey
• Central Collegiate Hockey Association for men's hockey
D-III Chapter and Tradition
• Program's all-time D-III record: 1,722-863; had third most wins of any D-III program before it moved into D-I this season
• 2 NCAA DIII championships (2011, 2016)
• 4 NCAA Division III Final Fours
• The program posted winning seasons in 40 of last 41 years
• Qualified for 14 of the last 15 NCAA Tournaments
• MIAC Champions 14 of the last 15 seasons
• Finished 1st or 2nd out of 400 D-III schools in fewest turnovers for three-consecutive seasons
• NCAA D-III Tournament appearances in 20 of last 31 seasons
• Conference regular-season champions 34 times (12 in row from 2006-2017)
• Johnny Tauer name National Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2016
• Steve Fritz named National Coach of the Year in 2011
• 47 MIAC championships (34 regular-season)
• 21 MIAC playoff appearances in row (league record), qualified 33 of 36 seasons format in place
• 4 30-win seasons since 2009
• 8 D3Hoops.com All-America honors (2002-2021)
• 6 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
• 10 of the 31 MIAC Player of the Year honors, 16 of the 31 MIAC Coach of the Year honors
