Tauer’s Tommies take on Highlanders Dec. 29 for non-conference finale

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Thomas men's basketball concludes the 2024 calendar year with its non-conference finale Sunday, Dec. 29 at UC Riverside. The Tommies and Highlanders meet for the first with a scheduled tip-off of 4 p.m. CT at SRC Arena in Riverside, Calif.

TUNE IN
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: UC Riverside
Listen: The Varsity Network

SERIES HISTORY
St. Thomas and UC Riverside have not played since the Tommies went Division I. The Tommies are facing a Big West opponent for the second time, previously falling to Cal Poly 61-60 Nov. 17, 2023 at The Lancer Joust hosted by Cal Baptist in Riverside, Calif.

St. Thomas and UC Riverside played twice prior to the DI era, during the 1991-92 (L, 60-51) and 1993-94 (L, 78-58) seasons when the Purple were Division III and Highlanders were Division II. Tommie Head Coach Johnny Tauer played in both games, recording his first career double digit scoring game during the 1991-92 loss.

NEW LOOK TOMMIES
The 2024-25 Tommies will feature a majority of new faces on the court after the departure of seven letter winners. St. Thomas returns five letter winners (including two starters) and three redshirt freshmen, and brought in three transfers and five true freshmen.

PUSH THE STREAK TO SIX
St. Thomas extended its winning streak to a DI program best six games with a set of dominant victories heading into the Christmas break. The Tommies most recently came away with a dominant 93-68 victory over Bowling Green, fueled by a stellar first-half defensive performance, balanced scoring from four players in double figures, and a team-best 23 points from Miles Barnstable. The Tommies closed out their 2024 home schedule with a gritty 77-71 win over Western Michigan, led by Ben Nau's career-high 22 points and a pivotal 16-0 second-half run. They capped it off with a commanding 100-61 triumph over Crown College, where freshman Ryan Lafferty shined with a record-setting double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Purple shot above 45.8 percent with 10 or fewer turnovers in five of the last six wins, including six turnovers or fewer in three of the last five wins.

BIG SKY-SUMMIT SUCCESS
For the second consecutive season, St. Thomas went perfect during the Big Sky-Summit Challenge with wins at Northern Colorado (87-75) and versus Montana (88-81). The Tommies are the only team between the two conferences to go undefeated in both seasons. Kendall Blue is averaging 14 points per game shooting 51.3 percent followed by Drake Dobbs with 12.5 points per game on 60.1 percent shooting in the four Big Sky-Summit games. During their first Big Sky-Summit Challenge, Nolan Minessale averaged 20 points per game on 71.4 percent shooting while Miles Barnstable averaged 18.5 points per game on 76.5 percent shooting.

A TRUE CREAM CITY CHALLENGE
St. Thomas Men's Basketball concluded the Cream City Challenge with a 69-65 loss to host Milwaukee after splitting its first two games of the tournament. The Tommies opened the event Friday with a career-high 20-point performance from Carter Bjerke during an 81-73 loss to Wofford, followed by a dominant 91-65 win over Portland State on Saturday, highlighted by Ben Nau's career-best 18 points and 10 Tommies with at least five points. Drake Dobbs led the way in Sunday's narrow defeat with 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists, marking his first career game with at least 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

BY THE TIME I GET TO ARIZONA
St. Thomas men's basketball battled Arizona State closely but fell short, 81-66, after a late 11-0 Sun Devil run at Desert Financial Arena. The Tommies trimmed a 10-point halftime deficit to three with eight minutes remaining, fueled by improved second-half defense and outscoring ASU 16-5 on second-chance points. Despite leading by as many as six in the first half, St. Thomas struggled with turnovers and offensive rebounds early, while Arizona State capitalized with 18 free throws compared to the Tommies' three. Miles Barnstable led the Purple with 12 points, including three 3-pointers, while Kendall Blue added 11 points and a team-high four assists.

HANGING WITH THE BOYS
St. Thomas men's basketball fell to Oklahoma State, 80-71, on Sunday Nov. 10, hindered by 20 turnovers that led to 20 points for the Cowboys in front of 5,447 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Despite shooting just 27.6% in the first half, the Tommies bounced back to finish the game at 40.3%, with Kendall Blue recording a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Three other St. Thomas starters also scored in double figures — Drake Dobbs with 14 points, Nolan Minessale with 13, and Carter Bjerke with 12 — but a strong Oklahoma State run and effective free-throw shooting in the final minutes secured the win for the Cowboys.

A SUCCESSFUL ROAD OPENER
St. Thomas men's basketball defeated Green Bay 90-76 at the Kress Center Friday night during its first road game of the season. The Tommies, now 2-0, were led by junior Miles Barnstable, who scored 23 points on 6-of-11 shooting. St. Thomas showcased impressive efficiency, shooting 60.4% from the field, including 44.4% from three-point range, and dominated the rebounding battle 37-25. The Tommies built a 19-point lead at halftime and extended it to 24 early in the second half, with contributions from Kendall Blue (17 points) and Ryan Dufault (14 points). Despite a late push by Green Bay, St. Thomas held on, sealing the win with a clutch three-pointer from Ben Oosterbaan with four minutes to play to keep the lead in double digits.

DIVISION I FRESHMEN DEBUTS
The freshmen duo of Nolan Minessale and Ben Oosterbaan (a redshirt freshman) each finished with 14 points during the season opener against North Central, marking the second and third Tommie freshmen to score as many points in their debuts. The only other freshman to do so was Andrew Rohde with 15 points at No. 9 Creighton to open the 2022-23 season.

Minessale and Oosterbaan are also each one of 10 Tommie freshmen, five within the past three seasons, to score at least 14 points within their first three career games.

CLIMBING THE NET RANKINGS
The Tommies are one of three Summit League teams currently among the top 104 (North Dakota State, 86/South Dakota State, 104). St. Thomas is back at 100 in the NET Rankings, as of games through Dec. 25.

St. Thomas was initially ranked 133 in the NET Rankings on Dec. 1, 2024 before jumping to 99, the highest ranking in program history, following its win over Northern Colorado on Dec. 4. The Tommies' 99 ranking marks just the second transition team to top the 100 ranking since 2000, joining Grand Canyon from the 2015-16 season when it finished the season 88.

KEN POM RANKINGS
St. Thomas is 124 in the Ken Pom Rankings after winning six straight games. The Purple are 86th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, which includes points scored per 100 possessions. NDSU and SDSU are just ahead of St. Thomas in the Ken Pom Rankings at 112 and 119, respectively. UC Riverside is 157 in the NET Rankings and 174 in the Ken Pom Rankings as of games through Dec. 25.

GOODBYE, SCHOENECKER ARENA
Tommie Basketball is preparing its farewell tour at Schoenecker Arena with the anticipation of the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, expected to be completed in late 2025. Schoenecker Arena has featured 184 men's basketball contests, in which the Tommies have gone 155-30 in those games and 31-4 at home over the past 35 games. The Tommies are the only Summit League team with 12-win seasons at home in both 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Since February 26, 2022, St. Thomas has won its home games by an average margin of 21.5 points, including a margin of 15.3 points against DI opponents. Ten of the program's 22 home wins against DI opponents since that time have been by more than 20 points while just five were decided by fewer than 10 points.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE NATION
St. Thomas continues to rank among the best in the country in several stats, landing among the top 44 programs in seven categories and top 20 in three.

Category	Total	Rank
Effective FG Pct.	.586	10th
3FG Pct.	.396	t-17th
3FG/Game	10.7	t-18th
Scoring Offense	85.5	t-22nd
FT Pct.	.785	t-23rd
FG Pct.	.498	t-24th
Assist/TO Ratio	1.50	t-44th

GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE
The Toms have been pouring on points all season, including at least 87 points in 9 of 10 wins, and are second in the Summit League averaging 85.5 points per game and lead with a 13.4-point scoring margin. The league's most efficient field goal shooting team is powering the offense, shooting 49.7 percent overall to lead the league while the team's 39.5 percent shooting from long range trails only North Dakota State.

SHOOTING 60
St. Thomas set season highs in field goal percentage in a half during the Dec. 4 win at Northern Colorado, opening the game shooting a season best 63.3 percent before topping that at 65.4 percent to close the final 20 minutes. The Tommies have now shot over 60 percent in a half five times this season.

The Purple's 64.3 percent shooting overall against the Bears set a new Division I single-game record, hitting at least 60 percent shooting in seven games since 2021-22. St. Thomas shot above 60 percent during its road win at Green Bay and held a previous record of 63.3 percent on Nov. 11, 2022 against Chicago State.

GOING FOR THE KILL SHOT
St. Thomas recorded a "Kill Shot," a scoring run of 10-0 or more, in 18 games last season, going 14-4 in those games. The Tommies completed "Kill Shots" in nine games this season, going 8-1 in those games. St. Thomas went on a season best 20-0 run in the first half against St. Norbert along with runs at Green Bay, at Oklahoma State, at Northern Colorado, and at Bowling Green.

Opponents recorded a "Kill Shot" in nine games against the Tommies last season, in which the Purple went 4-5. The first "Kill Shot" against St. Thomas this season came at Oklahoma State as the Cowboys went on a 10-0 run to overtake a Tommie lead for good, while Arizona State went on two runs of 10-0 or better, each coming within the final 10 minutes of each half. The only other Kill Shots against St. Thomas this season came during its 98-76 win over Chicago State and 77-71 win over Western Michigan.

DOBBS BACK HOME
With St. Thomas serving as the most unique story in college basketball, it's only fitting graduate student Drake Dobbs closed out his unique path as a part of the 2024-25 Tommie squad. The guard from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was a regarded high school recruit as a senior at Eden Prairie High School. During his senior season, Dobbs led EPHS to a perfect 28-0 record and ranked #10 nationally before COVID shortened the season. He led his team to a road win over nationally ranked Minnehaha Academy and future NBA draft picks Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren. Dobbs was a Minnesota Mr. Basketball top five finalist, a McDonald's All-America nominee, an all-metro first team selection (alongside Suggs, Holmgren and Dawson Garcia), and the all-time leading scorer at EPHS with over 2,000 points.

Dobbs committed to Liberty University and played 39 games (including a NCAA Tournament First Round versus Oklahoma State) with two starts before transferring in the middle of the 2021-22 season to St. Thomas. Dobbs played in 11 games in 2022-23 before starting all 33 games as a senior. He set the tone as the Tommies' staple in the backcourt last season (playing a team-high 30.3 minutes per game), consistently drawing the opponent's top offensive threat while also directing the St. Thomas offense (3.28 assist-to-turnover ratio). He's again leading in minutes per game and holds a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio to lead the Summit League.

THE DIII PIPELINE
After the departure of three former NCAA Division III athletes (Brooks Allen, Raheem Anthony, Parker Bjorklund), St. Thomas brought in another DIII product in junior Miles Barnstable from University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. Barnstable played two seasons with the Warhawks (2022-24) where he was a 2023-24 NABC All-District Second Team and two-time WIAC All-Conference First Team selection. He was named the WIAC and WBCA Newcomer of the Year and to the D3hoops.com All-Region Third Team after leading UW-Whitewater to a Final Four run, upsetting five ranked teams along the way, while scoring 22 points per game. During his Tommie debut, Barnstable led St. Thomas with 16 points in 16 minutes. He followed with 23 points on 6-of-11 shooting in the win at Green Bay and leads the team in scoring (13.5 ppg). Barnstable scored his 1,000th career collegiate point Nov. 15, 2024 versus St. Norbert and has led the Tommies in scoring in five games.

THE TELEVISED TOMMIES
Fans can watch all home games and Summit League contests on the Summit League Network, while four will be broadcast locally on FOX9+ including Dec. 7 against Montana (part of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge), Dec. 13 versus Western Michigan, Jan. 8 against South Dakota State, and Feb. 15 against Omaha. The Feb. 2 home contest against North Dakota State will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network while road non-conference games will be streamed on ESPN+.

RETURN OF THE LONG BALL
St. Thomas returns four of its top five 3-point shooters from last season as the team's top seven scorers all made at least 35 3-pointers on the season. Bjerke led all Tommies with 47 long balls and a .456 3-point percentage, followed by Brooks Allen with 46 3--pointers. Nau came off the bench to drain 45 on a .363 3-point percentage as Blue totaled 40 3-pointers and Dobbs finished with 38.

This season, Bjerke is again leading with 31 3-pointers on 45.6 percent shooting, which would lead the Summit League. He and Ben Nau made the team's most in a game this season at six each. Five Tommies have at least 15 3-pointers made this season while all but one of those are shooting at least 42.6 percent from long range.

St. Thomas currently ranks second in the Summit League in 3-point percentage at .395, trailing only North Dakota State at .412. The Tommies are also second to the Bison in 3-pointers per game at 10.7 compared to 12.2 for NDSU.

SMOOTH TRANSITION
St. Thomas is one of nine teams currently making the transition into NCAA Division I. Of those nine teams, the Tommies are the only one making the jump directly from the Division III ranks (while all 47 teams to transition to Division I since 2001 came from Division II). Among the current transitioning teams, St. Thomas led all last season in wins, Ken Pom, and NET Rankings, and was third in each among 2023-24 transitioning teams.

St. Thomas is one of four teams since 2001 to transition to Division I that improve its win total in each of its first three seasons. The 20-win season was just the third for a transitioning team in its third year during that span.

In addition to its win total, the Tommies saw their Ken Pom and NET Rankings rise in each of the past three seasons. The Toms final 2023-24 rankings in both (one of two Summit League teams to rank among the top 200) stand as the fourth best for a transitioning team in its third year of DI play. The Tommies' 99 NET Ranking prior to the Montana win this season marked just the second time a transitioning team has hit double digit marks in the NET Ranking (Grand Canyon '15-16).

After finishing the first year ranked 305 and the second at 202, the Tommies ended 2023-24 at 148 in the Ken Pom Rankings. The NET Rankings jumped from 314 to 199 between years one and two before ranking 159 to finish the 2023-24 season.

Johnny Tauer is one of four head coaches currently transitioning to Division I coaching at their alma mater. He is also one of eight DI head coaches in their first head coach stint, coaching at their alma mater, and a member of their athletics hall of fame. Tauer is the second longest tenured (14 seasons) among the eight, trailing only LeVelle Moton of NC Central (16 seasons).

QUANITITY OF EFFECIENCY
Among Tommies averaging 3.0 FGA per game, all 10 are shooting above 41.9 percent from the field while six are shooting at least 50.0 percent. In total, eight different Tommies have led the team in single-game scoring, led by Miles Barnstable five times. The Purple are a combined 7-1 when Barnstable and Ben Nau lead in scoring.

POWER FIVE
St. Thomas has played against two Power Five opponents in each of the past three seasons, this season traveling to face Oklahoma State and Arizona State. The Tommies fell in both games by an average margin of 12 points (-9 at Oklahoma State, -15 at Arizona State).

The Cowboys are led by first-year head coach Steve Lutz, who was an assistant under Creighton's Greg McDermott and Purdue's Matt Painter, before serving as head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2021-23 and at Western Kentucky last season. In the first game of the all-time series, the Tommies nearly overcame 20 turnovers and a poor shooting first half before falling to the Cowboys, 80-71.

Oklahoma State Head Coach Steve Lutz on St. Thomas: "They're well coached. They're disciplined. They really shoot the basketball well."

The Sun Devils feature one of the top 10 incoming freshman classes of 2024-25 including two five-star and one four-star recruit. Joining ASU are five-star freshmen Jayden Quaintance (C, 6-9), who flipped his commitment from Kentucky, and Joson Sanon (G, 6-5), who previously committed to Arizona. Also joining Arizona State is four-star freshman Amier Ali (G/F, 6-8). ASU is led by Head Coach Bobby Hurley in his 10th season as the program transitions into the Big 12.

Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley on St. Thomas: "I knew it was going to be a tough game. Their style is different. They're a very unique team. They move very fast, they back cut, shoot a lot of threes, a lot of long rebounds, a lot of long possessions of defense... There are easier teams that you most likely could find to play than this one."

TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
Tauer's teams have historically taken care of the basketball and last season was no different. The Tommies finished tied for ninth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (9.2) after ranking tied for 11th nationally in the fewest total turnovers (327) in 2022-23 and leading the category in 2021-22. St. Thomas was one of seven teams nationally to record fewer than 10.0 turnovers per game in each of the past three seasons. Only Houston, Vermont and Virginia had a better scoring defense and fewer turnovers per game than St. Thomas nationally last season.

A WINNING TRADITION
Winning has been the tradition at St. Thomas with the trend continuing under Head Coach Johnny Tauer. Since 2011, the Tommies have finished with eight 20-win seasons, 10 19-win seasons and 11 nine-win conference seasons. The only seasons to not win 19 games or nine conference games included the COVID season and the 2021-22 inaugural DI season.

Tauer has averaged 20.5 wins per season at St. Thomas and became the fastest coach in program history to reach 250 career wins, doing so in 337 career games. He is one of 18 active head coaches among all of NCAA with at least 250 wins and a .731 winning percentage at any program, and one of eight active among all of NCAA with both at one program.

TENURED IN THE SUMMIT
Head Coach Johnny Tauer is in his 14th 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 all league head coaches in winning percentage and is third in career wins.

2024-25 Summit League Head Coaches
Head Coach	School	Wins	Pct.
Paul Sather	North Dakota	348	.578
Marvin Menzies	Kansas City	281	.581
Johnny Tauer	St. Thomas	277	.733
David Richman	North Dakota State	201	.598
Eric Henderson	South Dakota State	118	.690
Jeff Wulbrun	Denver	49	.434
Chris Crutchfield	Omaha	39	.398
Eric Peterson	South Dakota	33	.423
Russell Springmann	Oral Roberts	15	.349

SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE
Head Coach Johnny Tauer's excellence within the Tommie Men's Basketball program dates back to his days as an Academic All-American that led to his induction to the St. Thomas Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001. As a student-athlete from 1991-95, Tauer was an All-MIAC player, first team All-West Region, and as a senior led the 1994-95 Toms to a school-record 27-0 start, including an MIAC Championship with an unprecedented 20-0 record. He helped the Toms to NCAA DIII Tournament berths in 1992-93, 1993-94, and 1994-95, including a run to the Final Four in 1993-94. Tauer ranks 25th in career scoring (1,219 points) and 23rd in career rebounding (482) at St. Thomas and was the school 3-point leader until 1999-2000.

After earning master's and PhD degrees at Wisconsin, Tauer joined the Tommie Men's Basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach and ran the St. Thomas defense for two seasons (2001-03) and also directed the Tommies' offensive sets that had consistently ranked among the best in NCAA basketball in overall offensive efficiency, field-goal percentage, 3-point proficiency, fewest turnovers, and assist-to-turnover ratio. With Tauer serving as an assistant, the Toms won the 2010-11 DIII National Championship title, made a run to the 2008-09 Final Four, and totaled seven DIII National Tournament runs.

With the retirement of longtime head coach Steve Fritz in 2011, Tauer took over the program and continued its storied tradition with another national title in 2015-16, a Final Four run in 2012-13, and five DIII National Tournament appearances.

As a student-athlete, assistant coach, and head coach at St. Thomas, Tauer has helped the Tommies to 609 wins in 28 seasons, averaging out to over 20 wins per season. He's been part of 19 conference titles, 15 national tournament appearances, three Final Fours, and two national championships.

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
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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Tauer’s Tommies take on Highlanders Dec. 29 for non-conference finale

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Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Raheem Anthony

Miles Barnstable

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Ryan Lafferty

Nolan Minessale

Ben Nau

Ben Oosterbaan

University of St. Thomas Athletics

Tauer’s Tommies take on Highlanders Dec. 29 for non-conference finale

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Raheem Anthony

Miles Barnstable

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Ryan Lafferty

Nolan Minessale

Ben Nau

Ben Oosterbaan

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