KIRKSVILLE, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team has started the season with four straight wins and will face two tough tests on the road this week as they head to Maryville, Mo. to take on reigning National Champions Northwest Missouri State Tuesday night and then head to Fayette, Iowa to take on 4-0 Upper Iowa.
The Bulldogs have started 4-0 after they picked up two wins in Joplin over the weekend against former MIAA foes Pittsburg State and Missouri Southern. Against the Gorillas the Bulldogs shot lights out in the first half as they scored 45 points in the first half and then the defense won the day in the second half as they held PSU to just 22 points after a 40 point first half to win 71-62. Hunter Strait led the team with 20 points, while Dylan Peeters grabbed a season high 13 rebounds. Masen Miller led the team with five assists.
Against Missouri Southern, the Bulldogs had five players score in double figures as they won a wild game 95-89. Cade McKnight led with 24 points while Miller and Elijah Hazekamp each scored 16 and then Trey Shearer scored 12 off the bench and Keaton Mitchell had his first career double digit scoring game with ten points. McKnight led with seven rebounds and Strait had his second eight assist game of the season to lead the way in helpers. Eric Northweather had two blocked shots while Dylan Peeters had eight points and six boards. Mitchell also came up with two steals.
As a team the Bulldogs are top 50 in the nation in points per game with 85.8 per game. From the field Truman is shooting 53.3% which is 19th in the nation. From three point range the Bulldogs are shooting a scorching 48.8%, which is fourth in the nation behind only Ferris State, Carson-Newman and Eastern New Mexico.
Player Notes
Miller leads the Bulldogs with 37.5 minutes per game through four games (which is 25th nationally) and has 14 made threes so far this year, one of 40 players in the nation with that averages 3.5 per game.
Strait has two eight assist games this year, which is a career high. He is currently tied with nine other players with 5.2 assists per game, which is tied for 40th nationally. He leads the team with 21 assists and is tied for second on the team with eight made three pointers.
McKnight won the GLVC Player of the Week for the first weekend of the season. Against Missouri Southern he had his second 20 point game of the season as he led the Bulldogs with 24. With 21.5 points per game, he is tied for second in the GLVC and tied for 36th in the country.
Peeters set a season high with 13 rebounds against Pitt State, and leads the team with 37 through four games. He's averaging just under ten points per game and had a double-double against Findlay with 13 points and 11 boards. He's also averaging two assists per game.
Hazekamp has had a strong start to the season all around with three games in double figures, and a double-double against Findlay with 11 points and 11 boards. He set his career high with 23 points against Cedarville in the season opener.
Northweather played a career high 18 minutes against Pitt State and scored a career high six points. He's scored 15 points in four games and grabbed eight rebounds. He also has three blocked shots, which leads the team.
Mitchell scored a career high ten against Missouri Southern, and is averaging over ten minutes through four games this season. He's averaging 4.5 points per game this season and grabbed six rebounds. Against Pitt State he got his first career blocked shot.
Shearer lit up the scoreboard for Montezuma High School, and found the scoreboard for the first time as a Bulldog against Missouri Southern as he scored 12 against the Lions—including going 6-6 from the foul line and making two three pointers. He also has four rebounds and five assists so far this season.
Sam Nissen had his first double digit scoring game with 11 points against Findlay. The third year guard has played in three games this season and has 13 points in 23 minutes of action. He tallied assists against Findlay and Pitt State and got a rebound against the Oilers.
Josh Ollendieck has played 11 minutes so far this season in three games, and recorded assists against Cedarville and Pitt State.
Sam Lock has logged six minutes of action through three games, with an assist and a rebound against Findlay.
Devin Fields came on at the end of the Findlay game for three minutes of action, making his first appearance since January against Missouri S&T.
Series History with NW Missouri State: The Bearcats own a slight edge in the long history between these two teams with a 104-94 edge. Currently the Bearcats are on a three game winning streak, and holds a 3-1 edge on the Bulldogs since Truman left for the GLVC. Most recently two seasons ago NWMSU downed the Bulldogs 81-66 in Maryville. The series goes all the way back to February 1920 when the Bulldogs won 29-25 in Kirksville.
Look at the Bearcats: The reigning National Champions have started the season 4-1 with a loss to Sioux Falls early in the season, but downed Northern State (S.D.) in the rematch of the Regional Final which was a nail biting overtime victory to send them to the Elite Eight. Trevor Hudgins leads the team with 23.6 points per game and Diego Bernard leads with 6.2 rebounds per game.
Series history with Upper Iowa: The two teams met for the first time in 1940 as the Bulldogs won 55-28 in Fayette. The teams met in 1941 but then would not meet again until 2004. Truman won the first four in the series before UIU won in 2012. UIU won the most recent meeting in 2017 110-92. Overall Truman leads the series 6-3.
Look at the Peacocks: The Peacocks have started the season 4-0 and have wins over both Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State, whom the Bulldogs saw last weekend. Three players are averaging double figures as Jareese Williams leads with 20 points per game, followed by Joe Smoldt at 15.5 and then Jake Hilmer at 14. Williams leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and Hilmer leads with five assists per game.
Up Next: Truman will come home for the first time as they open GLVC play against Missouri-St. Louis on December 2nd. The Tritons were voted ahead of the Bulldogs in the GLVC preseason poll coming into this season. That will be a 7:30 tip off Thursday night followed by a game against Maryville on December 4th, a Saturday afternoon.
