Tommies, Broncos play for first time ever Friday

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Thomas men's basketball wraps up a five-game stretch away from home Friday, Dec. 1 as it travels to face Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The Tommies (3-4) and Broncos (2-4) tip-off at 4 p.m. CT at University Arena as the Purple hope to bounce back from a loss the last time out.

TUNE IN
Basketball fans can follow Friday's game on ESPN+. Fans can also follow the game on ESPN 1500 radio with Corbu Stathes or via Live Stats on WMUBroncos.com.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday's meeting will be the first ever between St. Thomas and Western Michigan.

LAST TIME OUT | GREEN BAY
Shooting woes hindered St. Thomas men's basketball Saturday, Nov. 25 during a 64-51 loss at Green Bay. The Tommies shot a season low 31.7 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from 3-point range, which led to a 29-19 halftime deficit, the team's lowest first-half scoring output this season. The Purple gave the ball away just seven times compared to 13 for the Phoenix, but could only convert those 13 turnovers into five points. The Tommies also struggled on the boards as UWGB outrebounded St. Thomas, 38-25. It was tied for the second lowest rebound total for the Toms this season.

THE CAST | VS. GREEN BAY
Graduate student Raheem Anthony led St. Thomas with 18 points, including 14 in the second half, on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from the free throw line. He also led the team in assists (4) for the fourth time this season (1-3). Graduate student Parker Bjorklund chipped in 11 points, his 15th double digit scoring output over the last 17 games, and tied sophomore Ahjany Lee for the team lead with four rebounds.

JOINING ELITE COMPANY
Johnny Tauer became one of five active head coaches among all of NCAA to reach 250 career wins with a .740 winning percentage, all with one program.

Head Coach	School	Wins	Pct.
Mark Few	Gonzaga	692	.836
Jeff Young	Walsh	438	.758
Joe Lombardi	Indiana (PA)	402	.784
Ben McCollum	Northwest Mo. State	368	.807
Johnny Tauer	St. Thomas	250	.740

Tauer is also one of 11 active head coaches to reach 250 career wins with a .740 winning percentage at any program.

Since taking over as head coach in 2011, Tauer has averaged 20.5 wins per season heading into 2023-24. He is the fastest to reach 250 career wins in program history, joining Steve Fritz (594-246) and Tom Feely (417-269). Tauer was a senior with Tommie Basketball when Fritz reached the 250-milestone in 1995 and Fritz was a senior for the program when Feely reached the milestone in 1970-71.

THE OPPOSITION | WESTERN MICHIGAN
The Broncos are coming off back-to-back wins against Southeastern Louisiana and Mercer in Niceville, Fla. Western Michigan has struggled in close games this season, losing their first three by less than seven points, including losses at home to North Dakota State in overtime and Georgia State. They enter Friday's matchup against the Tommies with a 2-4 record looking to win at home for the first time this season.

Sophomore guard Seth Hubbard leads the team and ranks fourth in the Mid-American Conference with 17.2 points per game. He hit a buzzer-beater shot against Southeastern Louisiana to help the Broncos secure their first win of the season.

The Broncos average 66.8 points and allow 71.0 points per game, the latter of which ranks fifth in the Mid-American Conference. Western Michigan is sixth in the conference with a .433 field goal percentage defense and a 1.2 rebound margin.

THE MAKEUP OF THE TOMMIE ROSTER
The heart of the St. Thomas men's basketball program is comprised from Minnesota natives, including 10 of 15 student-athletes, Head Coach Johnny Tauer and Assistant Coach Cameron Rundles. Four of the remaining five student-athletes hail from Illinois while one is from Wisconsin.

LUCKY 13
Head Coach Johnny Tauer is in his 13th season at St. Thomas as the longest tenured head coach among all Summit League programs and among the top 50 in their current role among all DI men's basketball coaches. He leads league head coaches with a .740 winning percentage and is third in career wins (250).

2023-24 Summit League Head Coaches
Head Coach	School	Wins	Pct.
Johnny Tauer	St. Thomas	250	.740
Eric Henderson	South Dakota State	90	.693
David Richman	North Dakota State	179	.607
Paul Sather	North Dakota	330	.587
Marvin Menzies	Kansas City	259	.583
Jeff Wulbrun	Denver	30	.423
Eric Peterson	South Dakota	16	.421
Russell Springmann	Oral Roberts	2	.400
Chris Crutchfield	Omaha	23	.390

Tauer's winning percentage of .740 ranks 13th among active head coaches across all of NCAA with at least 10 years of experience. The only head coaches at their current NCAA DI programs for at least 10 seasons with a higher winning percentage than Tauer are John Calipari (Kentucky), Mark Few (Gonzaga), and Bill Self (Kansas).

BACK FROM 2022-23
St. Thomas returns 10 letter winners and one redshirt freshman (Carter Bjerke, F), along with four newcomers. Among the newcomers is one transfer (Raheem Anthony, G) and three freshmen. Leading the pack is graduate student forward Parker Bjorklund who was named Preseason All-Summit League First Team. Fellow graduate student forward Brooks Allen also returns after starting all 33 games last season and playing in all 69 games for St. Thomas since joining NCAA Division I. Kendall Blue and Ahjany Lee come back for their sophomore seasons after Blue played in all 33 games, with 22 starts, and Lee played in 32 with four starts.

TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
Tauer's teams have historically taken care of the basketball and last season was no different. The Tommies ranked tied for 11th nationally for fewest total turnovers (327) after leading the category in 2021-22. The Purple also tied for 12th for fewest turnovers per game (9.9) and tied for 50th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.30). Of the 14 teams with as few or fewer turnovers per game, only four (Iowa, NC State, Oral Roberts, Toledo) finished with a higher scoring offense than St. Thomas' 74.2 points per game. St. Thomas recorded 10 or fewer turnovers in 21 of 33 games last season and averages 10.0 per game through seven games in 2023-24.

POWER FIVE
The 2023-24 season opener was the third game for St. Thomas against a Power Five opponent as the previous two came last season. The Tommies opened the 2022-23 season at No. 9 Creighton (Big East) in front of a crowd of 17,098, holding a 57-56 lead against the Blue Jays with 9:58 to play before ultimately falling. The first Pac-12 opponent for St. Thomas came during a loss at Utah on Nov. 26. The Tommies face another preseason top 10, Power Five opponent this season Dec. 14 at No. 3 Marquette (Big East).

HITTING FROM DEEP
St. Thomas has been one of the top teams in the country in sinking 3-pointers over the past five seasons (2020-21 COVID shortened season excluded). Since joining NCAA Division I in 2021-22, the Tommies have ranked among the top 47 in the nation each season. The trend began in DIII as St. Thomas finished 2018-19 10th and 2019-20 ninth nationally in total 3-pointers made.

ALL BUSINESS FOR BJORKLUND
Since joining the Tommies off the intramural courts, it's been all business for Parker Bjorklund as he's averaged double-digit scoring in each of his three seasons and leads the team this season with 14.3 points per game. He put in 12.6 points per game during the program's first DI season in 2021-22 on 54.4 percent shooting from the field. Bjorklund is averaging 13.9 points per game through his career on 52.6 percent shooting, one of two Tommies (Raheem Anthony, 51.9%) with a career field goal percentage above .500 (minimum 250 FGA). He ranked second in the Summit League last season shooting 49.5 percent from the field and finished 13 games shooting above 50 percent while taking at least seven shots in all games. His 15.1 points per game ranked 10th in the Summit League and he's currently fourth among active Summit League student-athletes in career scoring average (13.9 PPG). Bjorklund currently sits at 871 career points in 63 career games.

SUCCESS ON BOTH SIDES
The Purple were the only Summit League team to rank among the top three in both scoring offense (74.2) and scoring defense (70.2). St. Thomas joined South Dakota State as the only two teams in the league to rank among the top four in both 3-point field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage defense.

KEEPING THE DIVISION III PIPELINE
A newcomer to the team in 2023-24 is graduate student guard Raheem Anthony, a transfer from NCAA DIII Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minn. He was a two-time All-American (NABC, D3hoops.com) in 2022-23 after averaging 24.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and shooting 54.5 percent from the field. Anthony started all 78 games played in at Saint Mary's and averaged 19.3 points during three games against St. Thomas during the 2019-20 season. He's scored a career-high 41 points twice and currently has 1,486 career points.

Anthony is second on the Tommies with 11.1 points per game and leads with 2.7 assists per game, with at least three assists in five games this season. He scored a season-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting with 9 rebounds during a 54-53 win over Idaho State on Nov. 10.

PREP CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
Five of the Tommies' 15 student-athletes have reached the ultimate pinnacle of their high school prep careers, winning state titles, while COVID brought another imminent title run to a halt. Three others also led their programs to Minnesota State Tournament appearances in Kendall Blue (2018-22) and Courtney Brown, Jr., (2015-19) at East Ridge High School and Adam Tauer (2019-23) at Cretin-Derham Hall.

Carter Bjerke - Wayzata HS
            - 2020-21 Class AAAA MSHSL State Championship - 2021-22 Runner-Ups
Drake Dobbs - Eden Prairie HS
            - 2019-20 28-0 and #10 in the nation (COVID shortened season)
Ryan Dufault - Waseca HS
            - 2020-21 Class AA MSHSL State Championship - Game-winner with 3 seconds left
Ben Nau - Brookfield Central HS
            - 2018-19 WIAA Division I State Championship
Hayden Tibbits - Wayzata HS
            - 2020-21/2022-23 Class AAAA MSHSL State Championship - 2021-22 Runner-Ups
Ahjany Lee - Totino-Grace HS
            - 2021-22 Class AAA MSHSL State Championship

A FRESHMAN FEAT
Redshirt freshman Carter Bjerke scored 14 points Nov. 12 against North Central, setting a career high. In doing so, he became the eighth freshman under Head Coach Johnny Tauer with a 14+ point performance within his first three career games.

2022-23
Kendall Blue: 15 pts vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (3rd career game)
Ahjany Lee: 14 pts vs. Chicago State (2nd career game)
Andrew Rohde: 15 pts vs. Creighton (1st career game)

2020-21
Parker Bjorklund: 15 pts vs. Concordia College (Minn.) (2nd career game)

2019-20
Will Engels: 15 pts vs. Whitman (1st career game)

2018-19
Anders Nelson: 24 pts vs. Emerson (2nd career game)

2017-18
Burt Hedstrom: 15 pts vs. St. Scholastica (3rd career game)

Follow Along
For more information on St. Thomas Men's Basketball, follow along on X (formerly Twitter) at @TommieMBBall and on Instagram at @TommieHoops

Join Us
To reserve your seat to be a part of the Tommies' 2023-24 season, click HERE to view ticketing information and purchase options.

-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Tommies, Broncos play for first time ever Friday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Raheem Anthony

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Courtney Brown, Jr.

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Will Engels

Ahjany Lee

Ben Nau

Andrew Rohde

Adam Tauer

Hayden Tibbits

University of St. Thomas Athletics

Tommies, Broncos play for first time ever Friday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Raheem Anthony

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Courtney Brown, Jr.

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Will Engels

Ahjany Lee

Ben Nau

Andrew Rohde

Adam Tauer

Hayden Tibbits

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