University of St. Thomas Athletics
Sunday, March 10
Sioux Falls, S.D. / Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
6:00 p.m. Central
vs
North Dakota State
Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
Men’s Basketball ready to take on North Dakota State at 6 p.m. Sunday
3/8/2024 9:26:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Tommies and Bison look to advance to Summit League Championship Semifinal
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Thomas men's basketball is set for its second appearance all-time at the Summit League Championships, taking on North Dakota State at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 10 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The Tommies (19-12, 9-7 Summit League) finished the regular season with the No. 4 seed to be pitted against the No. 5 seed Bison (15-16, 8-8 Summit League). St. Thomas improved its seeding by one spot from a season ago and will look to stop NDSU's streak of five consecutive seasons reaching the Summit League Championship game.
TUNE IN
Basketball fans can watch the quarterfinal and semifinal games on MidcoSports and the Summit League Network and listen on ESPN 1500 AM radio with Corbu Stathes calling the action. Live stats are available HERE.
Tuesday's Summit League Championship will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
JOIN THE TOMMIE FAITHFUL IN SIOUX FALLS
Those in Sioux Falls for Sunday's quarterfinal game are encouraged to attend the Tommie Fan Room at the Denny Sanford PREIMER Convention Center meeting rooms 6-7, which will open at 4:30 p.m. on game day.
SERIES HISTORY | VS NORTH DAKOTA STATE
St. Thomas and North Dakota State have played 24 times in the series history, led by NDSU 14-10, dating back to the 1908-09 season. The Tommies are 2-4 against the Bison since joining the Summit League.
Parker Bjorklund scored a career high 32 points Jan. 25 during a 79-66 win over NDSU, adding nine rebounds. He averages 18.5 points per game in six career contests against the Bison. Bjorklund has led the Toms in scoring in four of the past five games against the Bison.
THE OPPOSITION | NORTH DAKOTA STATE
North Dakota State finished the regular season 15-16 overall and 8-8 in the Summit League, dropping its final two games of the season at South Dakota and against league champion South Dakota State in Fargo, N.D. David Richman is 190-130 in his 10th season coaching his alma mater and has led the Bison to five straight Summit League Tournament championship game appearances.
Senior Boden Skunberg leads NDSU with 14.3 points per game, which ranks 11th in the Summit League, as he also leads with 5.3 rebounds per game, which is 13th in the league. Junior Andrew Morgan follows with 13.2 points per game while sophomore Damari Wheeler-Thomas averages 11.0 points. Morgan led NDSU with 17 points against St. Thomas on Feb. 22 while freshman Noah Feddersen led with 20 points on Jan. 25 in St. Paul.
NDSU is fifth in the league with 75.2 points per game and sixth allowing 74.1 points. The Bison are 17th nationally and lead the Summit shooting 37.7 percent from 3-point range and 39th in the country shooting 47.5 percent overall, 0.1 percent higher than St. Thomas.
LAST TIME OUT | DENVER
A strong defensive performance propelled St. Thomas men's basketball to an 83-58 victory over the Denver Pioneers on Senior Night Saturday evening in Schoenecker Arena. The Tommies held the Summit League's number one offense to only 25 points in the first half, their lowest scoring first half since Dec. 13 against the nationally ranked 18th BYU Cougars at the time. The Tommie defense also held the nation's leading scorer, Tommy Bruner (25.7 points per game) to a scoreless night. Bruner played 24 minutes and was held to 0-of-5 shooting from the field.
THE CAST | VS DENVER
Graduate student Parker Bjorklund led the scoring efforts for the Tommies, recording 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting along with a team-high seven rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore Kendall Blue and junior Ben Nau added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Blue shot 6-of-8 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds in addition to three assists and a block in another all-around performance. Ben Nau put on a clinic from 3-point land, knocking down 4-of-6 3-point attempts, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first half.
AMONG THE BEST IN THE NATION
The Toms rank among the best nationally in several categories
A WINNING TRADITION
The Tommies ended the 2023-24 season with a 19-12 record overall and 9-7 mark in conference play, matching both win totals from a season ago. It's al-so the 22nd season with a winning record overall and at least nine conference wins for the program since Johnny Tauer joined the program as an assistant coach in 2000. The Tommies have totaled 19 wins overall in all but three seasons with Tauer as head coach, including the 2020-21 COVID season and the 2021-22 inaugural NCAA Division I season.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
The Toms' defense has been the best in the Summit League during conference play, holding its league opponents to 68.4 points per game. St. Thomas' conference scoring margin of +6.9 is also the best in the league, Overall, the Toms rank 20th in the nation with 65.3 points allowed per game.
MARGIN FOR SUCCESS
St. Thomas has made a statement with its margin of victories thus far, beating its DI opponents by an average of 14.0 points per game, including an average of 18.0 points in Summit League wins. The Purple's margins of loss have been slim at 6.7 points per loss, including the first two losses in league play coming by a combined two points, with four double-digit losses this season overall. Eight of the Toms' 12 losses have been by two or fewer possessions.
A GRACEFUL TRANSITION
St. Thomas is one of 11 teams currently making the transition into NCAA Division I. Of those 11 teams, the Tommies are the only one making the jump directly from the Division III ranks (while all 42 teams to transition to Division I since 2001 came from Division II). Among the current transitioning teams, St. Thomas is third to Tarleton State and UC San Diego in total wins, in Ken Pom Rankings, and in the NET Rankings.
The Tommies' 154 rankings in the NET Rankings would be the second highest ever for a transitioning team in its third season of DI play, while its 144 ranking in the Ken Pom Rank-ings would be the third highest ever.
The Purple lead all current transitioning teams in assist-to-turnover ratio, effective field goal percentage, field goal percentage, scoring defense, scoring margin, 3-point percentage, 3-point percentage defense and turnovers per game this season.
TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
Tauer's teams have historically taken care of the basketball and this season is no different. The Tommies are currently eighth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (9.1) after ranking tied for 11th nationally in the fewest total turnovers (327) last season and leading the cate-gory in 2021-22. Only Houston, Princeton and Virginia have a better scoring defense and fewer turnovers per game than St. Thomas nationally.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
St. Thomas is one of 17 teams in the nation to feature two or fewer starting lineups this season. The group of Allen, Anthony, Bjorklund, Blue and Dobbs started the first 11 games this season before injury forced Anthony to miss the 12th game. That initial group has started the past 19 games.
BACK-TO-BACK ON ALL-SUMMIT LEAGUE TEAMS
For the second consecutive season, St. Thomas placed two student-athletes on All-Summit League teams with a selection to the league's All-Newcomer Team. Raheem Antho-ny and Parker Bjorklund were both named to the All-Summit League Second Team while Anthony also earned a spot on the Summit League All-Newcomer Team. Bjorklund was named to the league's second team for the second consecutive season while Anthony joins An-drew Rohde (2022-23) as back-to-back selections to the newcomer team for St. Thomas.
BACK-TO-BACK FOR 32 POINTS
Bjorklund and Anthony recorded back-to-back 32-point performances during its home series against North Dakota State on Jan. 25 and North Dakota on Jan. 27, marking the first Tommie teammates with at least 32 points in consecutive games since at least the 2008-09 season.
Bjorklund scored a career high 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, along with nine rebounds against the Bison. His field goals made, attempted and 3-point attempts are the most for the team in a single game this season. Anthony scored 32 points on 10-of-16 shooting overall, 3-of-4 from long range and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, along with eight rebounds, against the Fighting Hawks.
Prior to the duo's 32-point games, the Tommies hadn't had multiple 30-point performances in a single season since 2019-20 when Anders Nelson scored 42 points Jan. 6 and 33 points Feb. 5.
HOME COOKING
The Tommies have embraced playing in front of the hometown crowd, going 25-4 over its last 29 home games. St. Thomas closed the 2021-22 season with a home win and went 12-2 at Schoenecker Arena in each of the past two seasons, including 10 straight to open the 2022-23 season and seven straight to open 2023-24.
St. Thomas is the only Summit League program to win at least 12 games at home over each of the past two seasons and leads all league programs with an .857 winning percentage at home over the same span.
Since Feb. 26, 2022, St. Thomas has won its home games by an average margin of 21.0 points, including a margin of 16.2 points against Division I opponents. Nine of those wins against DI opponents have been by more than 20 points while just three were decided by less than 10 points.
NOTHING BUT NET
When the NCAA's first NET Rankings were released on Dec. 4, St. Thomas was slotted at 175 and currently ranks 154, second in the Summit League to South Dakota State (153) and ahead of Kansas City (231), through games on March 6. The Tommies entered its matchup at No. 7 Marquette ranked 185 and jumped 20 spots to 165 following a five-point loss to the Golden Eagles. North Dakota State enters the weekend ranked 258, seventh among Summit League programs.
I'M JUST KEN (POM RANKINGS)
The Tommies saw a more impressive ascent in the Ken Pom Rankings following the game at Marquette. The Purple entered Milwaukee, Wis., ranked 218 in the Ken Pom Rankings before moving up to 185 after the loss. St. Thomas, currently ranked 144, is first in the Summit League ahead of South Dakota State (149) and Kansas City (212). North Dakota State is 271 in the rankings, seventh in the league.
Of 363 NCAA Division I programs, St. Thomas ranks 351 in adjusted tempo with 63.6 pos-sessions per 40 minutes. The Tommies are 139 with an adjusted offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions) of 109.2 and 174 with an adjusted defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 107.1.
GOING IN FOR THE KILL SHOT
St. Thomas has recorded a "Kill Shot," a scoring run of 10-0 or more, in 17 games this sea-son, going 13-4 in those games. The largest scoring run of the season came against Sacra-mento State when it went on a spurt of 21-0.
Opponents have recorded a "Kill Shot" in eight games against the Tommies, in which the Purple have gone 3-5. The largest run against St. Thomas were two 12-0 runs during a win at Western Michigan, a game in which the Toms put together two "Kill Shots," and the loss to SDSU.
PICK YOUR LEADER
The Tommies have seen nine different student-athletes lead the way in scoring and six lead in rebounds through their first 29 games. Anthony and Bjorklund have led in rebounds 11 times, Blue six times, Lee three times, and Nau and Allen twice.
Bjorklund has led in scoring 14 times while the next highest is Anthony with seven, Dobbs with four, Allen with three, Bjerke and Blue with two, and Lee and Nau with one. The Tommies have three athletes averaging at least 10 points while Dobbs is at 9.7 points per game, and haven't had a quartet finish above that mark since the 2015-16 national championship season (excluding 2020-21 COVID season).
ALL BUSINESS FOR BJORKLUND
Bjorklund became the first Tommie to reach 1,000 career points in Division I play Feb. 27 against North Dakota and became the 39th member of the 1,000-point club at St. Thomas Jan. 6 during the win over Sacramento State. He ranks 26th in program history with 1,194 ca-reer points and with 473 career rebounds, which is 25 points and nine rebounds behind Johnny Tauer on the all-time lists.
THE 1,500 POINT/NEWCOMER CLUB
Raheem Anthony, a transfer from NCAA DIII Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minn., eclipsed 1,500 career points Dec. 6, 2023 during a 75-71 win over Milwaukee. His 1,779 career points rank 98th in the NCAA (I, II, III) among active scoring leaders and his 758 career re-bounds are 126th among active rebound leaders. St. Thomas has five members of the 1,500-point club, all besides Anthony scored the entirety of their points in the Purple and Gray. Six Tommies have transferred into the program and ended their careers with at least 1,000 points.
Anthony is second on the Tommies with 12.4 points per game and leads with 3.3 assists per game, with at least three assists in 19 games this season, including six of the last seven games, and an eight-assist performance Dec. 10 in a win at Chicago State.
Anthony 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 at SMU. Anthony has started all 108 games played in during his college career, in-cluding 78 at SMU, and averaged 19.3 points in three games against St. Thomas during the 2019-20 season.
HOLDING 'EM BELOW 45
The Purple held a Summit League opponent at 45 points or fewer in a game for the second time over the past two seasons following its 70-45 win at North Dakota. St. Thomas previously defeated Kansas City, 73-43, on Feb. 11, 2023. No other team in the Summit League has held a conference opponent to 45 points or fewer multiple times since 2021-22. Denver, Kansas City, and Oral Roberts have all done it once since then.
JOINING ELITE COMPANY
Johnny Tauer is one of seven active head coaches among all of NCAA with at least 250 career wins and a .735 winning percentage at one program.
Tauer is also one of 15 active head coaches with at least 250 career wins with a .735 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.
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 .735 winning percentage and is third in career wins (266).
Tauer's winning percentage of .735 ranks 15th among active head coaches across all of NCAA (Division I, II, and III) 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).
DOCTOR, DOCTOR
An NCAA Postgraduate Scholar and Academic All-America honoree, Head Coach Johnny Tauer earned master's and PhD degrees in social psychology at UW-Madison. He returned to St. Thomas as a member of the faculty in 2000 before being promoted to full professor in 2011. Tauer taught for 21 years at St. Thomas and is one of the only head college basketball coaches in the nation to be a tenured faculty member and to hold a doctorate in sport-related psychology. He has published academic work on motivation, goal setting and competition in top academic journals, in addition to a book on youth sports, parents and motivation titled "Why Less is More for WOSPs (Well-Intentioned, Overinvolved Sports Parents); How to Be the Best Sport Parent You Can Be."
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 599 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.
POWER SIX
St. Thomas played two games against Power Six opponents this season, a 71-66 season-opening loss Nov. 6 at Cal and an 84-79 loss Dec. 14 at No. 7 Marquette. The 71 points scored against the Tommies is the Golden Bears' third lowest offensive output of their season. Marquette allowed its most points (79) to St. Thomas while the margin of victory (5) was the second smallest for MU this season.
The meeting against Marquette was the second game against a Top 10 Big East opponent in as many years for St. Thomas after opening the 2022-23 campaign at No. 9 Creighton. The Tommies overcame a double-digit deficit to lead in the second half against the Bluejays and nearly overcame a double-digit deficit to the Golden Eagles, pulling within one point multiple times against MU.
The Tommies have now played four Power Six opponents over the past two seasons, adding a loss Nov. 26, 2022 at Utah for its first ever game against a Pac-12 opponent.
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)
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
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.
The squad has nine guards and six forwards with an average height of 6-foot-4-inches, which ranks tied for 223rd in the nation among tallest teams. The Purple have three graduate students, four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, one redshirt freshman, and three true freshmen.
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 --
The Tommies (19-12, 9-7 Summit League) finished the regular season with the No. 4 seed to be pitted against the No. 5 seed Bison (15-16, 8-8 Summit League). St. Thomas improved its seeding by one spot from a season ago and will look to stop NDSU's streak of five consecutive seasons reaching the Summit League Championship game.
TUNE IN
Basketball fans can watch the quarterfinal and semifinal games on MidcoSports and the Summit League Network and listen on ESPN 1500 AM radio with Corbu Stathes calling the action. Live stats are available HERE.
Tuesday's Summit League Championship will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
JOIN THE TOMMIE FAITHFUL IN SIOUX FALLS
Those in Sioux Falls for Sunday's quarterfinal game are encouraged to attend the Tommie Fan Room at the Denny Sanford PREIMER Convention Center meeting rooms 6-7, which will open at 4:30 p.m. on game day.
SERIES HISTORY | VS NORTH DAKOTA STATE
St. Thomas and North Dakota State have played 24 times in the series history, led by NDSU 14-10, dating back to the 1908-09 season. The Tommies are 2-4 against the Bison since joining the Summit League.
Parker Bjorklund scored a career high 32 points Jan. 25 during a 79-66 win over NDSU, adding nine rebounds. He averages 18.5 points per game in six career contests against the Bison. Bjorklund has led the Toms in scoring in four of the past five games against the Bison.
THE OPPOSITION | NORTH DAKOTA STATE
North Dakota State finished the regular season 15-16 overall and 8-8 in the Summit League, dropping its final two games of the season at South Dakota and against league champion South Dakota State in Fargo, N.D. David Richman is 190-130 in his 10th season coaching his alma mater and has led the Bison to five straight Summit League Tournament championship game appearances.
Senior Boden Skunberg leads NDSU with 14.3 points per game, which ranks 11th in the Summit League, as he also leads with 5.3 rebounds per game, which is 13th in the league. Junior Andrew Morgan follows with 13.2 points per game while sophomore Damari Wheeler-Thomas averages 11.0 points. Morgan led NDSU with 17 points against St. Thomas on Feb. 22 while freshman Noah Feddersen led with 20 points on Jan. 25 in St. Paul.
NDSU is fifth in the league with 75.2 points per game and sixth allowing 74.1 points. The Bison are 17th nationally and lead the Summit shooting 37.7 percent from 3-point range and 39th in the country shooting 47.5 percent overall, 0.1 percent higher than St. Thomas.
LAST TIME OUT | DENVER
A strong defensive performance propelled St. Thomas men's basketball to an 83-58 victory over the Denver Pioneers on Senior Night Saturday evening in Schoenecker Arena. The Tommies held the Summit League's number one offense to only 25 points in the first half, their lowest scoring first half since Dec. 13 against the nationally ranked 18th BYU Cougars at the time. The Tommie defense also held the nation's leading scorer, Tommy Bruner (25.7 points per game) to a scoreless night. Bruner played 24 minutes and was held to 0-of-5 shooting from the field.
THE CAST | VS DENVER
Graduate student Parker Bjorklund led the scoring efforts for the Tommies, recording 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting along with a team-high seven rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore Kendall Blue and junior Ben Nau added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Blue shot 6-of-8 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds in addition to three assists and a block in another all-around performance. Ben Nau put on a clinic from 3-point land, knocking down 4-of-6 3-point attempts, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first half.
AMONG THE BEST IN THE NATION
The Toms rank among the best nationally in several categories
| Category | Rank | Value |
| Turnovers/Game | 8th | 9.1 |
| Effective Field Goal Percentage | t-19th | .556 |
| Scoring Defense | 20th | 65.3 |
| Assist-to-Turnover Ratio | t-25th | 1.54 |
| Turnover Margin | t-30th | 3.0 |
| 3FGs/Game | t-32nd | 9.1 |
A WINNING TRADITION
The Tommies ended the 2023-24 season with a 19-12 record overall and 9-7 mark in conference play, matching both win totals from a season ago. It's al-so the 22nd season with a winning record overall and at least nine conference wins for the program since Johnny Tauer joined the program as an assistant coach in 2000. The Tommies have totaled 19 wins overall in all but three seasons with Tauer as head coach, including the 2020-21 COVID season and the 2021-22 inaugural NCAA Division I season.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
The Toms' defense has been the best in the Summit League during conference play, holding its league opponents to 68.4 points per game. St. Thomas' conference scoring margin of +6.9 is also the best in the league, Overall, the Toms rank 20th in the nation with 65.3 points allowed per game.
MARGIN FOR SUCCESS
St. Thomas has made a statement with its margin of victories thus far, beating its DI opponents by an average of 14.0 points per game, including an average of 18.0 points in Summit League wins. The Purple's margins of loss have been slim at 6.7 points per loss, including the first two losses in league play coming by a combined two points, with four double-digit losses this season overall. Eight of the Toms' 12 losses have been by two or fewer possessions.
A GRACEFUL TRANSITION
St. Thomas is one of 11 teams currently making the transition into NCAA Division I. Of those 11 teams, the Tommies are the only one making the jump directly from the Division III ranks (while all 42 teams to transition to Division I since 2001 came from Division II). Among the current transitioning teams, St. Thomas is third to Tarleton State and UC San Diego in total wins, in Ken Pom Rankings, and in the NET Rankings.
The Tommies' 154 rankings in the NET Rankings would be the second highest ever for a transitioning team in its third season of DI play, while its 144 ranking in the Ken Pom Rank-ings would be the third highest ever.
The Purple lead all current transitioning teams in assist-to-turnover ratio, effective field goal percentage, field goal percentage, scoring defense, scoring margin, 3-point percentage, 3-point percentage defense and turnovers per game this season.
TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
Tauer's teams have historically taken care of the basketball and this season is no different. The Tommies are currently eighth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (9.1) after ranking tied for 11th nationally in the fewest total turnovers (327) last season and leading the cate-gory in 2021-22. Only Houston, Princeton and Virginia have a better scoring defense and fewer turnovers per game than St. Thomas nationally.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
St. Thomas is one of 17 teams in the nation to feature two or fewer starting lineups this season. The group of Allen, Anthony, Bjorklund, Blue and Dobbs started the first 11 games this season before injury forced Anthony to miss the 12th game. That initial group has started the past 19 games.
BACK-TO-BACK ON ALL-SUMMIT LEAGUE TEAMS
For the second consecutive season, St. Thomas placed two student-athletes on All-Summit League teams with a selection to the league's All-Newcomer Team. Raheem Antho-ny and Parker Bjorklund were both named to the All-Summit League Second Team while Anthony also earned a spot on the Summit League All-Newcomer Team. Bjorklund was named to the league's second team for the second consecutive season while Anthony joins An-drew Rohde (2022-23) as back-to-back selections to the newcomer team for St. Thomas.
BACK-TO-BACK FOR 32 POINTS
Bjorklund and Anthony recorded back-to-back 32-point performances during its home series against North Dakota State on Jan. 25 and North Dakota on Jan. 27, marking the first Tommie teammates with at least 32 points in consecutive games since at least the 2008-09 season.
Bjorklund scored a career high 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, along with nine rebounds against the Bison. His field goals made, attempted and 3-point attempts are the most for the team in a single game this season. Anthony scored 32 points on 10-of-16 shooting overall, 3-of-4 from long range and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, along with eight rebounds, against the Fighting Hawks.
Prior to the duo's 32-point games, the Tommies hadn't had multiple 30-point performances in a single season since 2019-20 when Anders Nelson scored 42 points Jan. 6 and 33 points Feb. 5.
HOME COOKING
The Tommies have embraced playing in front of the hometown crowd, going 25-4 over its last 29 home games. St. Thomas closed the 2021-22 season with a home win and went 12-2 at Schoenecker Arena in each of the past two seasons, including 10 straight to open the 2022-23 season and seven straight to open 2023-24.
St. Thomas is the only Summit League program to win at least 12 games at home over each of the past two seasons and leads all league programs with an .857 winning percentage at home over the same span.
Since Feb. 26, 2022, St. Thomas has won its home games by an average margin of 21.0 points, including a margin of 16.2 points against Division I opponents. Nine of those wins against DI opponents have been by more than 20 points while just three were decided by less than 10 points.
NOTHING BUT NET
When the NCAA's first NET Rankings were released on Dec. 4, St. Thomas was slotted at 175 and currently ranks 154, second in the Summit League to South Dakota State (153) and ahead of Kansas City (231), through games on March 6. The Tommies entered its matchup at No. 7 Marquette ranked 185 and jumped 20 spots to 165 following a five-point loss to the Golden Eagles. North Dakota State enters the weekend ranked 258, seventh among Summit League programs.
I'M JUST KEN (POM RANKINGS)
The Tommies saw a more impressive ascent in the Ken Pom Rankings following the game at Marquette. The Purple entered Milwaukee, Wis., ranked 218 in the Ken Pom Rankings before moving up to 185 after the loss. St. Thomas, currently ranked 144, is first in the Summit League ahead of South Dakota State (149) and Kansas City (212). North Dakota State is 271 in the rankings, seventh in the league.
Of 363 NCAA Division I programs, St. Thomas ranks 351 in adjusted tempo with 63.6 pos-sessions per 40 minutes. The Tommies are 139 with an adjusted offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions) of 109.2 and 174 with an adjusted defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 107.1.
GOING IN FOR THE KILL SHOT
St. Thomas has recorded a "Kill Shot," a scoring run of 10-0 or more, in 17 games this sea-son, going 13-4 in those games. The largest scoring run of the season came against Sacra-mento State when it went on a spurt of 21-0.
Opponents have recorded a "Kill Shot" in eight games against the Tommies, in which the Purple have gone 3-5. The largest run against St. Thomas were two 12-0 runs during a win at Western Michigan, a game in which the Toms put together two "Kill Shots," and the loss to SDSU.
PICK YOUR LEADER
The Tommies have seen nine different student-athletes lead the way in scoring and six lead in rebounds through their first 29 games. Anthony and Bjorklund have led in rebounds 11 times, Blue six times, Lee three times, and Nau and Allen twice.
Bjorklund has led in scoring 14 times while the next highest is Anthony with seven, Dobbs with four, Allen with three, Bjerke and Blue with two, and Lee and Nau with one. The Tommies have three athletes averaging at least 10 points while Dobbs is at 9.7 points per game, and haven't had a quartet finish above that mark since the 2015-16 national championship season (excluding 2020-21 COVID season).
ALL BUSINESS FOR BJORKLUND
Bjorklund became the first Tommie to reach 1,000 career points in Division I play Feb. 27 against North Dakota and became the 39th member of the 1,000-point club at St. Thomas Jan. 6 during the win over Sacramento State. He ranks 26th in program history with 1,194 ca-reer points and with 473 career rebounds, which is 25 points and nine rebounds behind Johnny Tauer on the all-time lists.
THE 1,500 POINT/NEWCOMER CLUB
Raheem Anthony, a transfer from NCAA DIII Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minn., eclipsed 1,500 career points Dec. 6, 2023 during a 75-71 win over Milwaukee. His 1,779 career points rank 98th in the NCAA (I, II, III) among active scoring leaders and his 758 career re-bounds are 126th among active rebound leaders. St. Thomas has five members of the 1,500-point club, all besides Anthony scored the entirety of their points in the Purple and Gray. Six Tommies have transferred into the program and ended their careers with at least 1,000 points.
Anthony is second on the Tommies with 12.4 points per game and leads with 3.3 assists per game, with at least three assists in 19 games this season, including six of the last seven games, and an eight-assist performance Dec. 10 in a win at Chicago State.
Anthony 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 at SMU. Anthony has started all 108 games played in during his college career, in-cluding 78 at SMU, and averaged 19.3 points in three games against St. Thomas during the 2019-20 season.
HOLDING 'EM BELOW 45
The Purple held a Summit League opponent at 45 points or fewer in a game for the second time over the past two seasons following its 70-45 win at North Dakota. St. Thomas previously defeated Kansas City, 73-43, on Feb. 11, 2023. No other team in the Summit League has held a conference opponent to 45 points or fewer multiple times since 2021-22. Denver, Kansas City, and Oral Roberts have all done it once since then.
JOINING ELITE COMPANY
Johnny Tauer is one of seven active head coaches among all of NCAA with at least 250 career wins and a .735 winning percentage at one program.
| Head Coach | School | Wins | Pct. |
| Mark Few | Gonzaga | 712 | .835 |
| Tom Brown | West Texas A&M | 262 | .814 |
| Ben McCollum | Northwest Mo. State | 389 | .812 |
| Joe Lombardi | Indiana (PA) | 417 | .777 |
| Jeff Young | Walsh | 458 | .760 |
| Mitch Oliver | Albertus Magnus | 331 | .740 |
| Johnny Tauer | St. Thomas | 266 | .735 |
Tauer is also one of 15 active head coaches with at least 250 career wins with a .735 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.
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 .735 winning percentage and is third in career wins (266).
| 2023-24 Summit League Head Coaches | |||
| Head Coach | School | Wins | Pct. |
| Paul Sather | North Dakota | 343 | .584 |
| Marvin Menzies | Kansas City | 273 | .583 |
| Johnny Tauer | St. Thomas | 266 | .735 |
| David Richman | North Dakota State | 190 | .594 |
| Eric Henderson | South Dakota State | 106 | .693 |
| Jeff Wulbrun | Denver | 41 | .432 |
| Chris Crutchfield | Omaha | 33 | .402 |
| Eric Peterson | South Dakota | 24 | .387 |
| Russell Springmann | Oral Roberts | 11 | .379 |
Tauer's winning percentage of .735 ranks 15th among active head coaches across all of NCAA (Division I, II, and III) 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).
DOCTOR, DOCTOR
An NCAA Postgraduate Scholar and Academic All-America honoree, Head Coach Johnny Tauer earned master's and PhD degrees in social psychology at UW-Madison. He returned to St. Thomas as a member of the faculty in 2000 before being promoted to full professor in 2011. Tauer taught for 21 years at St. Thomas and is one of the only head college basketball coaches in the nation to be a tenured faculty member and to hold a doctorate in sport-related psychology. He has published academic work on motivation, goal setting and competition in top academic journals, in addition to a book on youth sports, parents and motivation titled "Why Less is More for WOSPs (Well-Intentioned, Overinvolved Sports Parents); How to Be the Best Sport Parent You Can Be."
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 599 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.
POWER SIX
St. Thomas played two games against Power Six opponents this season, a 71-66 season-opening loss Nov. 6 at Cal and an 84-79 loss Dec. 14 at No. 7 Marquette. The 71 points scored against the Tommies is the Golden Bears' third lowest offensive output of their season. Marquette allowed its most points (79) to St. Thomas while the margin of victory (5) was the second smallest for MU this season.
The meeting against Marquette was the second game against a Top 10 Big East opponent in as many years for St. Thomas after opening the 2022-23 campaign at No. 9 Creighton. The Tommies overcame a double-digit deficit to lead in the second half against the Bluejays and nearly overcame a double-digit deficit to the Golden Eagles, pulling within one point multiple times against MU.
The Tommies have now played four Power Six opponents over the past two seasons, adding a loss Nov. 26, 2022 at Utah for its first ever game against a Pac-12 opponent.
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)
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
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.
The squad has nine guards and six forwards with an average height of 6-foot-4-inches, which ranks tied for 223rd in the nation among tallest teams. The Purple have three graduate students, four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, one redshirt freshman, and three true freshmen.
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 --
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