University of St. Thomas Athletics
Montana State
Game Notes - St. Thomas Men's Basketball ends the non-conference portion of its schedule with home games against Montana State and Northland at home
12/8/2021 1:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
St. Paul, Minn. - The St. Thomas Men's Basketball Team is set to showcase itself against its first Division I competition on their home floor as it hosts Montana State on Saturday and then D-III Northland on Tuesday night. Following the two non-conference games over the next week, the Tommies will turn their attention to their first Summit League opponents on Dec. 20 and 22.
Through the first nine games of the season, St. Thomas has three scorers averaging double-digits, led by senior G Riley Miller is averaging 19.2 points per game and shooting a blistering 46 percent from behind the arc, connecting on 48-of-104 three point attempts. Fellow senior G Anders Nelson is averaging 17.4 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 75.4 points per game and connecting on 44 percent of their shots from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc. Additionally, St. Thomas has dished out 123 assists and committed only 74 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 Tuesday night 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
Senior G Riley Miller ranks 1st in NCAA Division I in both made 3-pointers (48) and made 3-pointers per game (5.33). Miller has made 48-of-104 three-point attempts this season and averages a team-best 19.2 points.
We're Going Streaking!
The Tommies enter this week's games on a 12-game home (nine) or neutral courts (three) win streak.
Busy Month
This pair of games are two of 12 non-conference games for St. Thomas, 11 of which will occur before the Dec. 20 Summit League debut.
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 open Summit League play on the road Dec. 20 against Omaha.
Drake Recap
The St. Thomas Men's Basketball team fell to Drake on Sunday by a score of 74-64 in non-conference action.
The Bulldogs entered the game with a 4-3 record on the season, including a 1-0 mark in MVC action. The Bulldogs received 29 first-place votes in the MVC preseason poll. With the win, Drake improves to 5-4 on the season, while the Tommies fall to 4-5 on the season as they prepare for Summit League action.
The Tommies took a 22-20 lead with 8:30 to play in the first half by way of a three-point shot from grad student G Ryan Lindberg. Following that play, Drake went on a 17-7 run to end the first half and take a 37-29 lead into halftime.
Senior G Riley Miller led the Purple in scoring in the first half with 10 points. Junior F Brooks Allen hauled in seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
As a team, St. Thomas made nine-of-23 (39 percent) shooting attempts from the field and six-of-14 (43 percent) from behind the arc.
The Tommies scratched and clawed their way back into the second half, cutting the deficit to three points, 42-39 and 44-41 with under 14 minutes to play in the game. St. Thomas cut the lead to just one point, 44-43 at the 13:28 mark of the second half.
With just under five minutes to play in the contest, Drake extended its lead to 10 points, 63-53 before Miller scored his 19th points of the game cutting the lead to seven, 63-56 with 4:16 remaining. Miller kept the pressure on the Bulldogs with another three, his sixth triple of the game to cut the deficit to four, 63-59 with 2:50 to play. Drake went on an 11-5 over the final 2:50 of action to claim its fifth win of the 2021-22 campaign.
Miller played a game-high 37 minutes and contributed a game-best 22 points. The senior connected on seven-of-17 (41 percent) of his shots from the field and made six-of-14 (43 percent) of his three-point attempts. Senior G Anders Nelson poured in 14 points, while Allen snared a game-high 11 rebounds.
About Montana State
Montana State is scheduled to play three Summit League teams during its 2021-22 non-conference slate. The Bobcats dropped a 91-74 affair at Summit League preseason favorite South Dakota State on Nov. 17. NDSU was picked second in the Summit League before the season following a third straight appearance in its conference's postseason championship. MSU heads to St. Paul this weekend to take on St. Thomas Saturday. The Tommies are in the midst of their first season at the Division I level.
Montana State hosts its first game in Worthington Arena in nearly a month when the Bobcats take on North Dakota State Tuesday at 7 p.m. The home game versus the Bison is the first for MSU following a span of seven consecutive contests away from Bozeman.
MSU finished its stretch away from Bozeman between Nov. 14-Dec.7 with a 4-3 record. The Bobcats dropped matchups at South Dakota State and New Mexico prior to earning victories over Portland, Incarnate Word and Southeast Missouri from Nov. 26-28. MSU's undefeated stay at the UIW Thanksgiving Invitational was the Bobcats' second regular season tournament under Danny Sprinkle that they've finished 3-0. The 'Cats opened the early portion of their Big Sky Conference schedule this past week falling in overtime to Northern Colorado while narrowly defeating Sacramento State.
About Northland
The Northland College Lumberjacks took on their 27th opponent that was DII or DI in the last ten years in North Dakota State, continuing a trend of challenging themselves against the best competition in the Midwest.
The Jacks held their own in the first half against the Bison and led 19-18 after nine minutes of play. From their, the Bison, who compete in the DI Summit League, took over to pick up their fifth win of the season.
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 3-point shots per game.
The Purple is continuing on that trajectory seven games into their D-I tenure, averaging 75.4 points per game, 13.4 made 3-point shots per game and 8.2 turnovers per game.
He's the Coach
Dr. Johnny Tauer's has an overall record of 222-55 nine 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 nine games...averages 16.9 minutes per game and 4.3 points per game and 2.0 rebounds each contest...D-III: played in 49 games totaling 160 points
No. 3 Ben Nau: Freshman guard...2021-22: Played in all nine games...averages 11.1 minutes per game and on average, contributes 2.4 points and 1.1 rebounds per contest.
No. 3 Zach Theisen: Senior guard…2021-22: Played in six games...averages 3.7 minutes per game...D-III: played in 47 games totaling 177 points
No. 4 Anders Nelson: Senior guard…2021-22: Played all nine games...averages 29.8 minutes per game...averages 17.4 points per game, has a 1.6 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 nine games...averages a team-high 33.2 minutes per contest...averages a team-best 19.2 points per game...shoots 46 percent from behind the arc...has a 2.9 assist to turnover ration through nine 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 nine games...averages 4.6 points and 3.2 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 nine games...averages 11.6 minutes per game and contributes 2.3 points and 3.0 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 nine games...averages 29.7 minutes per contest...averages 9.0 points and 1.7 assists per game...through nine games, has a 3.8 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 nine games...averages 21.0 minutes per contest...contributes 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game...D-III: played in 12 games.
No. 32 Dom Martinelli: Sophomore Guard…2021-22: Played in one game for the Tommies...transfer from Northwestern, where he played in four games.
No. 33 Bennett Kwiecinski: Sophomore forward…2021-22: Played in one game for the Tommies...scored four points...transfer from Siena, where he played in nine games
Tommie Player Career Highs
#1 Kevin Cunningham: 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals
#2 Ben Nau: 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
#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, 2 Assists, 3 Steals
#24 Ryan Lindberg: 24 Points, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Steals
#31 Brooks Allen: 12 Points, 11 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Steals
#32 Dom Martinelli: 4 Points, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 0 Steals (Northwestern)
#33 Bennett Kwiecinski: 4 Points, 2 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals (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
