University of St. Thomas Athletics
Thursday, November 17
Missoula, Mont.
8:30 p.m. Central
at
Montana
Photo by: Wesley Dean
Tommies to play three games at Zootown Classic Nov. 17-19 in Missoula, Mont.
11/15/2022 2:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
St. Paul, Minn. -- The Zootown Classic features three games for St. Thomas Men's Basketball Nov. 17-19 in Missoula, Mont. The Tommies begin the tournament Thursday at 8:30 p.m. against the host Montana, followed by 6 p.m. tip-offs Friday against Troy and Saturday against Merrimack.
Tommie Watch
St. Thomas came away with back-to-back wins to open its home schedule Nov. 11 against Chicago State and Nov. 13 against St. Francis Brooklyn. The Tommies won their home opener, 83-61, over the Cougars before taking an 84-48 win against the Terriers.
St. Thomas recorded its third instance of back-to-back wins since joining NCAA Division I in 2021-22. With a win over Montana, the Tommies will have recorded their first three-game winning streak in the DI era.
Chicago State Recap
Graduate student Riley Miller led the Tommies to their home-opening win over the Cougars after becoming the 38th 1,000-point scorer in program history. He hit the milestone midway through the second half and finished with a team-high 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting, all of which came from behind the arc.
"We're very pleased tonight to get a victory against a tough Chicago State team," Head Coach John Tauer said. "Coming into the game we had a good plan. These guys executed on it really well. They're aggressive defensively and they offensively rebounded well."
"Coming off of Monday's game at Creighton, this was huge for us to play in front of a home crowd that was electric. Our students were phenomenal. This is the kind of team that, I'm biased, but if I were a fan I'd want to come watch. They're really unselfish, they're really hard working and they love to play basketball together. Really thrilled from the performance tonight, the showing from the crowd and excited for the journey we're on in 2022-23."
The Tommies jumped out to a six-point lead over the first four minutes behind Miller's first three-pointer and four points from senior Will Engels. The lead grew to a first-half-high 20 points, 33-13, following a highlight dunk by freshman Ahjany Lee with 6:04 before halftime. The Cougars pulled to within single digits out of halftime before the Tommies extended the lead again with a 15-2 run midway through the second half.
Lee was second for the Tommies in scoring with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and added a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Kendall Blue dished out five assists while a trio of Tommies recorded two steals each.
The Tommies shot 63.3 percent from the field (31-49) for its highest shooting percentage in the DI era. The Purple also dominated scoring in the paint, 50-36.
St. Francis Brooklyn Recap
The freshman duo of Kendall Blue and Andrew Rohde combined for 35 points and 11 of the team's 18 assists to lead St. Thomas to an 84-48 win over St. Francis Brooklyn at Schoenecker Arena.
"I'm really excited to get a good victory against St. Francis," Head Coach John Tauer said. "They're a tough, physical team. Their defense, we knew that they were going to pressure us, and our guys responded really well. Six turnovers against their pressure embodied our toughness and 18 assists to go with that shows a lot of unselfishness."
"The other key for us was our defense holding them to 48 points. All along our guys were willing to help one another and rotate and fly around and just be unselfish on both ends of the ball. It's really exciting to be three games into the year and to see these guys grow and improve so much and just love playing with one another."
The Terriers opened the game with a first-possession 3-pointer that was followed by three Tommie baskets from Rohde, senior Will Engels and Blue to take a 6-3 lead. SFB snagged the lead once more in the game before a 9-0 run put the Tommies ahead for good, 15-7.
Riley Miller's first of three 3-pointers in the game gave St. Thomas its first double-digit lead, which was extended to 23 points by halftime. The Tommies shot 63 percent from the field in the first half with 30 points in the paint. The Tommies' lead dipped below 20 points just once through the remainder of the game and held a game-high 37-point lead, 84-47 with just over one minute to play.
St. Thomas totaled 18 assists to just six turnovers and scored 19 points off 12 St. Francis Brooklyn turnovers.
Rohde's game-high 20 points came off 9-of-15 shooting as he added six assists, four rebounds, two steals and just one turnover. Blue finished the game 7-of-9 shooting and 1-of-2 from beyond the arc, and chipped in five assists, three rebounds, one steal and one block.
Miller totaled 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting while senior Brooks Allen scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting with five rebounds and three steals. Engels led the Tommies in rebounds for the third straight game with seven to go along with nine points.
Series History
St. Thomas has never played Montana, Troy or Merrimack.
Scouting Montana
The Grizzlies are 0-2 after falling to Duquesne, 91-63, on Nov. 8 and to Xavier, 86-64, on Nov. 11. Both games were on the road while Thursday's game against St. Thomas will be Montana's home opener.
Juniors Josh Bannan and Dischon Thomas lead the team with 15.5 points while Bannan has gone 11-of-13 from the free throw line. They both scored in double figures each game, including a 19-point effort for Bannan in the season-opener against Duquesne. The duo also lead the team with 6.0 rebounds per game while Bannan leads with 4.5 assists per game.
The Grizzlies are shooting 41.3 percent from the field (43-104), 38.5 percent from 3-point range (15-39) and 74.3 percent from the free throw line (26-35). Montana pulls down just 23.5 rebounds per game compared to 30.0 for its opponents.
Scouting Troy
The Trojans are a perfect 3-0 entering the Zootown Classic after wins of 87-67 against Montevallo on Nov. 7, 96-42 over MUW (Mississippi University for Women) on Nov. 10 and 79-72 over Florida State on Nov. 14. Troy opened the season with back-to-back home games before taking down the Seminoles in Tallahassee, Fla.
Troy has five players averaging double-digit points, led by senior Nelson Phillips with 13.3 points on 40.0 percent shooting (14-35). Junior Aamer Muhammad and junior Christyon Eugene follow with 13.0 points per game while senior Zay Williams leads with 7.7 rebounds per game.
The Trojans are shooting 45.6 percent from the field (93-204), 33.7 percent from beyond the arc (30-89) and 68.7 percent from the free throw line (46-67). Troy is pulling down 39.7 rebounds per game compared to 32.0 for its opponents.
Scouting Merrimack
The Warriors are 1-1 entering Thursday after taking a season-opening loss at St. John's, 97-72, and a win over Clark at home, 64-48. MC will take on Troy and Montana before facing St. Thomas at the Zootown Classic.
Senior Jordan Minor leads the team with 17.0 points per game on 63.2 percent shooting (12-19). He also leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per game followed by freshman Jordan Derkack with 7.5 rebounds per game.
Merrimack is shooting 40.9 percent from the field (45-110) and 25.5 percent from 3-point range (13-51). MC pulls down 31.0 rebounds per game compared to 41.0 rebounds for its opponents.
The 38th Member of the Club
Riley Miller entered the 2022-23 season 27 points shy of 1,000 for his career. After scoring 13 points against No. 9 Creighton in the season opener, he scored 15 against Chicago State to hit the milestone. He became the 38th Tommie all-time to reach the mark, sinking the first of two free throws with 10>22 to play against the Cougars.
Miller began his Tommie career with 145 points as a freshman and 247 as a sophomore before further increasing his scoring average with 133 points in just seven games during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. Miller totaled nearly half of his career scoring total last season with 448 points while 645 of his scoring total have come behind the 3-point line.
Miller is the first Tommie to reach 1,000 career points since guard Anders Nelson during the 2020-21 season.
The 3-Point Veteran
Riley Miller surpassed 100 made 3-pointers last season and moved to 208 made on his 95-game career to begin 2022-23. He made 103 treys as he converted 41 percent behind the arc last season. Miller was one of just four D-I shooters to make 100 or more threes and convert at 40 percent or better behind the arc.
Miller also converted 90.8 at the foul line (79 of 87) to rank in the top 12 in DI and second in the Summit League. That's the best free-throw clip by a Tommie since Alex Healy made 92.2 percent (71 of 77) as a senior in 2011 on a 30-3 NCAA champion team.
This season, Miller is tied for the Summit League lead with 3.3 3-point field goals made per game and is third shooting 58.8 percent from behind the arc.
Freshmen Leading the Way
Andrew Rohde has led the Tommies in scoring during two of their three games, scoring 15 points against No. 9 Creighton and 20 against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Rohde is the first Tommie freshman to score at least 20 points in a game since Anders Nelson recorded six games with at least 20 points in 2018-19.
Ahjany Lee was second in scoring with 14 points against Chicago State while Kendall Blue was second with 15 points against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Protect the Rock
St. Thomas had the fewest turnovers per game among all Division I teams last season with 8.1. They made the fifth most 3-point baskets per game among all DI programs at 11.1 (second most in the Summit League behind Oral Roberts).
The Purple's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.55 trailed only five DI programs and led the Summit League. The Toms' .758 free-throw percentage ranked second in the Summit and was among the 40 best percentages in DI.
The Tommies are currently second in the league with 11.0 turnovers per game and with a 1.27 assist-to-turnover ratio. St. Thomas has decreased its turnovers each game this season, starting with 14 against Creighton, followed by 10 against Chicago State and six against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Seven or Less
Despite losing six games by seven or less points, the Toms posted a 10-20 record with a starting cast entirely of players who began their careers in the MIAC in NCAA Division III.
71 is the Magic Number
The Tommies won all games in 2021-22 when holding opponents to 71 or less points, and they lost all games when their opponent scored 75 or more points.
To begin the 2022-23 schedule, No. 9 Creighton topped the 71-point mark by one point.
Playing to the Competition
Senior Brooks Allen showed that he's among the most improved players in the conference. He averaged 10 points and five boards over his last 13 games last season. Allen recorded just nine points in nine varsity games as a freshman and sophomore while competing in Division III.
Allen currently ranks third on the team with 10.7 points per game and is third with 4.3 rebounds per game.
NCAA DI Recruiting Class: Part Two
After bringing in Ben Nau and Ryan Dufault during the 2021 Tommie Signing Class, the 2022 class was bumped up to four with the additions of Carter Bjerke (6-9, F), Kendall Blue (6-6, G), Ahjany Lee (6-9, F) and Andrew Rohde (6-6, G).
The 2022 class was ranked number 52 of 368 schools according to Rivals.com. Additionally, only three of the top 50 ranked classes were mid-major schools.
Opponents Across the Country
St. Thomas will face programs from across eight conference, outside of the Summit League: Big East (Creighton), Big Sky (Montana, Montana State), Horizon (Milwaukee, Green Bay), NEC (St. Francis Brooklyn, Merrimack), Pac 12 (Utah), Sun Belt (Troy), UMAC (Crown, North Central), WAC (Chicago State).
Jumping into NCAA Division I
The Tommies finished 2021-22 eighth in the conference and bring back 10 student-athletes from that squad, including two starters.
Graduate students Parker Bjorklund and Riley Miller chose to return to the Tommies this season, combining for 124 games played with the program since 2019-20. Miller led the team with 15.4 points per game and chipped in 2.2 assists per game while Bjorklund scored 12.6 points per game with 6.3 rebounds per game. Bjorklund was second in the Summit League for field goal percentage.
Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Men's Basketball, follow along on Twitter at @TommieMBBall and on Instagram at @TommieHoops
Join Us
To reserve your seat to be a part of the Tommies' 2022 season, click HERE to view ticketing information and purchase options.
Tommie Watch
St. Thomas came away with back-to-back wins to open its home schedule Nov. 11 against Chicago State and Nov. 13 against St. Francis Brooklyn. The Tommies won their home opener, 83-61, over the Cougars before taking an 84-48 win against the Terriers.
St. Thomas recorded its third instance of back-to-back wins since joining NCAA Division I in 2021-22. With a win over Montana, the Tommies will have recorded their first three-game winning streak in the DI era.
Chicago State Recap
Graduate student Riley Miller led the Tommies to their home-opening win over the Cougars after becoming the 38th 1,000-point scorer in program history. He hit the milestone midway through the second half and finished with a team-high 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting, all of which came from behind the arc.
"We're very pleased tonight to get a victory against a tough Chicago State team," Head Coach John Tauer said. "Coming into the game we had a good plan. These guys executed on it really well. They're aggressive defensively and they offensively rebounded well."
"Coming off of Monday's game at Creighton, this was huge for us to play in front of a home crowd that was electric. Our students were phenomenal. This is the kind of team that, I'm biased, but if I were a fan I'd want to come watch. They're really unselfish, they're really hard working and they love to play basketball together. Really thrilled from the performance tonight, the showing from the crowd and excited for the journey we're on in 2022-23."
The Tommies jumped out to a six-point lead over the first four minutes behind Miller's first three-pointer and four points from senior Will Engels. The lead grew to a first-half-high 20 points, 33-13, following a highlight dunk by freshman Ahjany Lee with 6:04 before halftime. The Cougars pulled to within single digits out of halftime before the Tommies extended the lead again with a 15-2 run midway through the second half.
Lee was second for the Tommies in scoring with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and added a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Kendall Blue dished out five assists while a trio of Tommies recorded two steals each.
The Tommies shot 63.3 percent from the field (31-49) for its highest shooting percentage in the DI era. The Purple also dominated scoring in the paint, 50-36.
St. Francis Brooklyn Recap
The freshman duo of Kendall Blue and Andrew Rohde combined for 35 points and 11 of the team's 18 assists to lead St. Thomas to an 84-48 win over St. Francis Brooklyn at Schoenecker Arena.
"I'm really excited to get a good victory against St. Francis," Head Coach John Tauer said. "They're a tough, physical team. Their defense, we knew that they were going to pressure us, and our guys responded really well. Six turnovers against their pressure embodied our toughness and 18 assists to go with that shows a lot of unselfishness."
"The other key for us was our defense holding them to 48 points. All along our guys were willing to help one another and rotate and fly around and just be unselfish on both ends of the ball. It's really exciting to be three games into the year and to see these guys grow and improve so much and just love playing with one another."
The Terriers opened the game with a first-possession 3-pointer that was followed by three Tommie baskets from Rohde, senior Will Engels and Blue to take a 6-3 lead. SFB snagged the lead once more in the game before a 9-0 run put the Tommies ahead for good, 15-7.
Riley Miller's first of three 3-pointers in the game gave St. Thomas its first double-digit lead, which was extended to 23 points by halftime. The Tommies shot 63 percent from the field in the first half with 30 points in the paint. The Tommies' lead dipped below 20 points just once through the remainder of the game and held a game-high 37-point lead, 84-47 with just over one minute to play.
St. Thomas totaled 18 assists to just six turnovers and scored 19 points off 12 St. Francis Brooklyn turnovers.
Rohde's game-high 20 points came off 9-of-15 shooting as he added six assists, four rebounds, two steals and just one turnover. Blue finished the game 7-of-9 shooting and 1-of-2 from beyond the arc, and chipped in five assists, three rebounds, one steal and one block.
Miller totaled 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting while senior Brooks Allen scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting with five rebounds and three steals. Engels led the Tommies in rebounds for the third straight game with seven to go along with nine points.
Series History
St. Thomas has never played Montana, Troy or Merrimack.
Scouting Montana
The Grizzlies are 0-2 after falling to Duquesne, 91-63, on Nov. 8 and to Xavier, 86-64, on Nov. 11. Both games were on the road while Thursday's game against St. Thomas will be Montana's home opener.
Juniors Josh Bannan and Dischon Thomas lead the team with 15.5 points while Bannan has gone 11-of-13 from the free throw line. They both scored in double figures each game, including a 19-point effort for Bannan in the season-opener against Duquesne. The duo also lead the team with 6.0 rebounds per game while Bannan leads with 4.5 assists per game.
The Grizzlies are shooting 41.3 percent from the field (43-104), 38.5 percent from 3-point range (15-39) and 74.3 percent from the free throw line (26-35). Montana pulls down just 23.5 rebounds per game compared to 30.0 for its opponents.
Scouting Troy
The Trojans are a perfect 3-0 entering the Zootown Classic after wins of 87-67 against Montevallo on Nov. 7, 96-42 over MUW (Mississippi University for Women) on Nov. 10 and 79-72 over Florida State on Nov. 14. Troy opened the season with back-to-back home games before taking down the Seminoles in Tallahassee, Fla.
Troy has five players averaging double-digit points, led by senior Nelson Phillips with 13.3 points on 40.0 percent shooting (14-35). Junior Aamer Muhammad and junior Christyon Eugene follow with 13.0 points per game while senior Zay Williams leads with 7.7 rebounds per game.
The Trojans are shooting 45.6 percent from the field (93-204), 33.7 percent from beyond the arc (30-89) and 68.7 percent from the free throw line (46-67). Troy is pulling down 39.7 rebounds per game compared to 32.0 for its opponents.
Scouting Merrimack
The Warriors are 1-1 entering Thursday after taking a season-opening loss at St. John's, 97-72, and a win over Clark at home, 64-48. MC will take on Troy and Montana before facing St. Thomas at the Zootown Classic.
Senior Jordan Minor leads the team with 17.0 points per game on 63.2 percent shooting (12-19). He also leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per game followed by freshman Jordan Derkack with 7.5 rebounds per game.
Merrimack is shooting 40.9 percent from the field (45-110) and 25.5 percent from 3-point range (13-51). MC pulls down 31.0 rebounds per game compared to 41.0 rebounds for its opponents.
The 38th Member of the Club
Riley Miller entered the 2022-23 season 27 points shy of 1,000 for his career. After scoring 13 points against No. 9 Creighton in the season opener, he scored 15 against Chicago State to hit the milestone. He became the 38th Tommie all-time to reach the mark, sinking the first of two free throws with 10>22 to play against the Cougars.
Miller began his Tommie career with 145 points as a freshman and 247 as a sophomore before further increasing his scoring average with 133 points in just seven games during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. Miller totaled nearly half of his career scoring total last season with 448 points while 645 of his scoring total have come behind the 3-point line.
Miller is the first Tommie to reach 1,000 career points since guard Anders Nelson during the 2020-21 season.
The 3-Point Veteran
Riley Miller surpassed 100 made 3-pointers last season and moved to 208 made on his 95-game career to begin 2022-23. He made 103 treys as he converted 41 percent behind the arc last season. Miller was one of just four D-I shooters to make 100 or more threes and convert at 40 percent or better behind the arc.
Miller also converted 90.8 at the foul line (79 of 87) to rank in the top 12 in DI and second in the Summit League. That's the best free-throw clip by a Tommie since Alex Healy made 92.2 percent (71 of 77) as a senior in 2011 on a 30-3 NCAA champion team.
This season, Miller is tied for the Summit League lead with 3.3 3-point field goals made per game and is third shooting 58.8 percent from behind the arc.
Freshmen Leading the Way
Andrew Rohde has led the Tommies in scoring during two of their three games, scoring 15 points against No. 9 Creighton and 20 against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Rohde is the first Tommie freshman to score at least 20 points in a game since Anders Nelson recorded six games with at least 20 points in 2018-19.
Ahjany Lee was second in scoring with 14 points against Chicago State while Kendall Blue was second with 15 points against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Protect the Rock
St. Thomas had the fewest turnovers per game among all Division I teams last season with 8.1. They made the fifth most 3-point baskets per game among all DI programs at 11.1 (second most in the Summit League behind Oral Roberts).
The Purple's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.55 trailed only five DI programs and led the Summit League. The Toms' .758 free-throw percentage ranked second in the Summit and was among the 40 best percentages in DI.
The Tommies are currently second in the league with 11.0 turnovers per game and with a 1.27 assist-to-turnover ratio. St. Thomas has decreased its turnovers each game this season, starting with 14 against Creighton, followed by 10 against Chicago State and six against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Seven or Less
Despite losing six games by seven or less points, the Toms posted a 10-20 record with a starting cast entirely of players who began their careers in the MIAC in NCAA Division III.
71 is the Magic Number
The Tommies won all games in 2021-22 when holding opponents to 71 or less points, and they lost all games when their opponent scored 75 or more points.
To begin the 2022-23 schedule, No. 9 Creighton topped the 71-point mark by one point.
Playing to the Competition
Senior Brooks Allen showed that he's among the most improved players in the conference. He averaged 10 points and five boards over his last 13 games last season. Allen recorded just nine points in nine varsity games as a freshman and sophomore while competing in Division III.
Allen currently ranks third on the team with 10.7 points per game and is third with 4.3 rebounds per game.
NCAA DI Recruiting Class: Part Two
After bringing in Ben Nau and Ryan Dufault during the 2021 Tommie Signing Class, the 2022 class was bumped up to four with the additions of Carter Bjerke (6-9, F), Kendall Blue (6-6, G), Ahjany Lee (6-9, F) and Andrew Rohde (6-6, G).
The 2022 class was ranked number 52 of 368 schools according to Rivals.com. Additionally, only three of the top 50 ranked classes were mid-major schools.
Opponents Across the Country
St. Thomas will face programs from across eight conference, outside of the Summit League: Big East (Creighton), Big Sky (Montana, Montana State), Horizon (Milwaukee, Green Bay), NEC (St. Francis Brooklyn, Merrimack), Pac 12 (Utah), Sun Belt (Troy), UMAC (Crown, North Central), WAC (Chicago State).
Jumping into NCAA Division I
The Tommies finished 2021-22 eighth in the conference and bring back 10 student-athletes from that squad, including two starters.
Graduate students Parker Bjorklund and Riley Miller chose to return to the Tommies this season, combining for 124 games played with the program since 2019-20. Miller led the team with 15.4 points per game and chipped in 2.2 assists per game while Bjorklund scored 12.6 points per game with 6.3 rebounds per game. Bjorklund was second in the Summit League for field goal percentage.
Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Men's Basketball, follow along on Twitter at @TommieMBBall and on Instagram at @TommieHoops
Join Us
To reserve your seat to be a part of the Tommies' 2022 season, click HERE to view ticketing information and purchase options.
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