University of St. Thomas Athletics
North Dakota
Game Notes - Men's Basketball opens Summit League Circuit at home against North Dakota
12/16/2022 1:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
St. Thomas Men's Basketball opens its 2022-23 conference schedule in the friendly confines of Schoenecker Arena on Monday, Dec. 19 when they host the North Dakota Fighting Hawks with tip-off at 7 p.m.
Tommie Watch
In his return in the team's most recent game against Green Bay, grad student Parker Bjorklund posted 16 points in 15 minutes and connected on all eight of his attempts from the charity stripe.
The Tommies raced out to an early 11-7 lead four minutes into the game on a three-of-four shooting effort from behind the arc. The four-point lead with 15:53 was as close as the Phoenix would get to the Tommies.
Bjorklund scored six-straight points for the Tommies midway through the first half, opening up a 20-11 lead for the Purple. The Tommies led by as many as 19 points in the opening frame, 42-23, in the final minute of the first half before the Phoenix connected on a free throw, bringing the score to 42-24 at half.
As a unit, the Tommies connected on 14-of-27 (52%) field goal attempts and 6-of-13 (46%) shots from behind the arc in the first half. Defensively, St. Thomas forced 10 Green Bay turnovers including six steals in the first 20 minutes.
The Phoenix opened the second half on a 12-2 run drawing the score within eight points, 44-36 with 16 minutes to play in the game. On that run, Green Bay connected on 6-of-8 shots, while St. Thomas missed its first four field goals of the second half.
Freshman Ahjany Lee ignited a 7-1 run to push the Purple lead to 15 points, 59-44 with 10:26 to play. Lee recorded four points, a block, and a rebound in a span of 2:37 to swing momentum back to St. Thomas.
The Tommies were able to heat up from behind the arc, opening up their largest lead of the night, 24 points, 74-50 with less than four minutes to play, leading to the 81-62 win.
St. Thomas was led by senior sharp-shooter Riley Miller with 19 points, including a 5-of-8 showing from behind the arc. We was joined by Bjorklund (16), and the freshman duo of Andrew Rhode (11) and Kendall Blue (10) as double-digit point scorers.
The Purple out-rebounded the Phoenix 38-22, including 13 offensive boards leading to 18 second-chance points for St. Thomas to only two offensive boards for Green Bay.
As a team, the Tommies connected on 45% (26-of-58) of their shots from the field, 48% (12-of-25) from behind the arc and 90% (18-of-20) from the charity stripe.
Series History
St. Thomas and North Dakota split the season series last year when they played two games against each other in a span of 12 days. The Tommies dropped the home game, 78-70, and rebounded with an 84-74 victory in Grand Forks 12 days later. This will be the 15th meeting between the teams with UND holding an 8-6 edge in the all-time series history.
Findings on the Fighting Hawks
Five Fighting Hawks netted double figures in a win over North Central inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, 99-48. In the game, North Dakota scored the opening bucket and never looked back, leading the entire way after that point.
UND shot 59.4 percent (38-for-64) in the contest, while NCU struggled knocking down shots and finished hitting at 31.8 percent.
Brady Danielson paced the Fighting Hawks with a season-high 14 points in 13 minutes. He was 5-for-5 from the floor and 4-for-4 from deep.
The Fighting Hawks enter conference play with the No. 1 team in bench scoring in the league and the No. 19 team nationally in that category. The Fighting Hawks average 32.15 points per game from the reserves this season. The next closest bench in the Summit League is NDSU with 23.75 points coming from its reserves.
North Dakota has made strides already this season and picked up its sixth win of the season on Monday, matching its win total from the 2021-22 season. It has also matched its amount of Division I wins from last season with four victories over DI opponents in the month of November. The Fighting Hawks also put together a three-game winning streak for the first time since Nov. 26 - Nov. 30, 2019, with victories over Wisconsin-Stout, Utah Tech and Cal State Fullerton.
NET Ranking
St. Thomas entered the week ranked 127th of 363 teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool Ranking, second among all Summit League teams. Only Oral Roberts is ranked highest than St. Thomas at 64.
The Tommies have played two games against top 50 teams (Utah, 18th/Creighton, 46th) and have wins against Troy (99th) and Milwaukee (168th).
Above .500
The Tommies have shot above 50 percent from the field in seven of their nine wins this season. In addition, the Purple shot exactly 42.9 percent from 3-point range in wins over Chicago State, St. Francis Brooklyn, and Troy. St. Thomas has hit at least 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range during five of the last eight games.
St. Thomas has totaled six games shooting at least 50 percent from the floor this season after recording six such games last season. The Tommies were 5-1 in those games last season.
From the Parking Lot
St. Thomas' 3-point shooting has been on display in recent years, and this season is no different. The Tommies sank a season-high 17 3-point field goals against Merrimack on Nov. 19, totaling the Warriors' rebound total in the game.
The St. Thomas program record for 3-pointers in a game was 15 from 1992-2018. Since 2018, the Tommies have made at least 17 3-pointers in a game on 16 occasions. The current program record is 22, set twice during the 2021-22 season against Northland and North Central.
St. Thomas has recorded double digit 3-pointers during six of its last nine games and sank at least nine in 10 games. The Tommies are currently tied for 16th nationally shooting 40.2 percent from 3-point range and are tied for 29th with 9.6 3-pointers per game.
Head in the Clouds
St. Thomas played four of a five game stretch at high altitude, three at the Zootown Classic (Nov. 17-19) in Missoula Mont, (3,209') and Nov. 26 at Utah (4,226'). After a two-game homestand Nov. 29 and Dec. 3, St. Thomas will close its non-conference road schedule at even higher elevation. The Purple played Montana State Dec. 8 in Bozeman, Mont., (4,793') before taking on Idaho State Dec. 10 in Pocatello, Idaho (4,462'). As part of the Summit League schedule, St. Thomas will also travel to Denver, Colo., Feb. 4 to take on Denver at its highest elevation (5,279').
Reaching the Peak for the First Time
Riley Miller became the first Tommie to earn the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Performer of the Week on Nov. 21 following his performance at the Zootown Classic.
Zootown Classic
Riley Miller led St. Thomas with 16.7 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting from the field (13-30) and 46.4 percent from 3-point range (13-28). He also went a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line while playing 32.2 minutes per game.
Andrew Rohde's performance at the Zootown Classic was highlighted by the game-winning basket to lift St. Thomas over Troy. He tied Miller for a team-high 16 points against the Trojans, including shooting 7-of-7 from the free throw line, with three 3-pointers, two assists and one block.
Miller and Rohde were both selected to the Zootown Classic All-Tournament Team.
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 738 of his 1,145 of his career points 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 is at 251 made on his 106-game career, 46 shy of the St. Thomas all-time record set by Bryan Schnettler from 2004-07. Miller made 103 treys as he converted 41 percent behind the arc last season. He was one of just four D-I shooters to make 100 or more threes and convert at 40 percent or better behind the arc.
His nine 3-pointers against Merrimack this season set a new career-high and was one shy of tying the program single-game record, set by Curt Kietzer with 10 in 1987. It's also the second-best 3-point performance in NCAA D-I this season.
Miller is second the nation with 46 total 3-pointers and leads the Summit League and ranks 11th nationally with 3.5 3-point field goals per game. He also leads the league and is 30th in the country shooting 45.1 percent from long range and is seventh in the conference with 14.7 points per game.
Freshmen Leading the Way
Andrew Rohde has led the Tommies in scoring during six of 13 games this season and ranks second the team scoring 14.5 points per game, which ranks first among all Summit League freshmen and seventh overall. He has a team-high 72 field goals made and 3.5 assists per game.
Rohde scored 20 points during the Nov. 13 win over St. Francis Brooklyn, becoming 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. Rohde followed up with a career-high 22 points Dec. 8 at Montana State and recorded nine rebounds, becoming the first Tommie with at least 20 points and nine rebounds since Connor Bair with 26 points and 11 rebounds on Feb. 9, 2019 and the first freshman to do so since at least 2012-13.
Kendall Blue leads the bench with 7.8 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting. He has scored double-digit points in five games, including a career-high 15 against St. Francis Brooklyn. Blue made his first career start Nov. 29 versus North Central.
Ahjany Lee has made four starts in 13 games this season, his first on Nov. 13 versus St. Francis Brooklyn, and is second on the team with 4.5 rebounds per game. He set career highs of 14 points and seven rebounds Nov. 11 against Chicago State.
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.
