Notes
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Men's Basketball team will finish out their regular season slate this week, still jockeying for position in the GLVC Tournament. The team travels to Bolivar Thursday for an important showdown with Southwest Baptist, who is ranked fourth in the GLVC PRS standings (Truman is second), and then concludes the regular season against Rockhurst on Saturday.
Truman has now won six in a row and seven of their last eight as they defeated Maryville and William Jewell this past week. This winning streak by the Bulldogs helped them secure the top spot in the first Midwest regional rankings of the season, edging out Ferris State for the top spot. SBU joined Truman in the first regional rankings as they came in ninth.
Against the Cardinals Cade McKnight scored a season high 29 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 20 point win (82-62). For the second straight game the Bulldogs made double digit threes with 11, and drilled 10 against Maryville. Masen Miller and Elijah Hazekamp tied for the team lead with 17 points in the win over the Saints.
The Bulldogs have led the GLVC in scoring most of the season, and remain on top with 79.4 points per game and remain fifth in scoring margin at +7.8. Moreover, the Bulldogs are tops in the GLVC in shooting percentage .504 and have taken back first place in three point percentage at .409, and are tops in the GLVC with 9.8 made threes per game.
About the Players:
Cade McKnight remains number one in the GLVC with 20.2 points per game. His 29 points against William Jewell last Thursday were a season high, and extended his lead over second place Bryson Bultman of McKendree. At .592, he has the sixth highest shooting percentage in the GLVC among qualified players (those with at least three shots made per game), and also the third highest three point percentage at .468 (among players with at least one made three per game). He began the season 20th on the all-time scoring list in the history of the Bulldog program, but has now moved up to 5th this season. He now has 1531 career points, passing Broderic Thomas for fifth place. He is 24 points behind Brian Basich for fourth place.
Masen Miller continues to be one of the top sharpshooters in the GLVC, shooting .466 from downtown—fifth among qualified players. At 3.3 makes per game, he leads in the GLVC in made threes per contest. He continues to lead the Bulldogs in minutes per game with 35.2, which ranks fourth in the GLVC. His current career shooting percentage from three point range is .448, which puts him second on the all-time list—just .02 behind Boyd Printy for the top spot.
Hunter Strait remains one of the top distributors in the GLVC with 4.6 per game, just behind Mitch Ganote of SBU; with whom he's been exchanging the top spot with all season. He also has moved into the top ten all time in career assists in Bulldog history with 311 assists, needing eight to catch Banks Estridge for ninth.
Elijah Hazekamp continues to be an all-around player for the Bulldogs—third in points per game with 12.4 and leads the team in rebounds with 7.0. His mark on the boards is good for sixth in the GLVC. He grabbed 13 boards in the two games last week while he scored 30 points and dished out an assist in each game. His 12.4 scoring average ranks 24th in the GLVC.
Eric Northweather started each of the past eight games, and scored in double figures in seven of them. He is among nine players averaging a block per game in the GLVC, and continues to lead the Bulldogs in that category. He scored in double figures in both games—with ten at Maryville and 14 against William Jewell.
Dylan Peeters came off the bench in both games last week and grabbed six rebounds, and also recorded two blocked shots against William Jewell. He also recorded a steal against the Cardinals and one assist in each of the two games. He's averaging 5.7 rebounds per game and eight points per game this season.
Keaton Mitchell is averaging 10.1 minutes per game off the bench this season, and has seven blocked shots which ranks third on the team. He also averages 4.9 points per game and 2.4 rebounds per game. He scored four points against WJC and grabbed a rebound in each of the two games last week.
Sam Nissen is averaging 10.6 minutes per game this season, with 1.4 points per game. He saw 14 minutes of action against William Jewell, picking up a steal—his eighth of the season.
Josh Ollendieck has appeared in 16 games this season, and is averaging 8.1 minutes per game. He got an assist against William Jewell in 11 minutes of action and has seven assists and three steals on the season.
Sam Lock has played in 19 games this season, playing 6.7 minutes per game. He's shooting over 50% from the floor and 50% from downtown and averages 2.2 points per game. He picked up a steal at Maryville, his sixth of the season.
Devin Fields has been in five games this year and made three shots from downtown.
Series History w/SBU: The teams have met 51 times, with SBU leading the series 29-22. Truman has won the last three meetings, and both meetings between the two as GLVC opponents. Truman won the first matchup back in 1973 78-70. Overall, home teams are 33-16 in the series (with two neutral site games being split between the teams).
About the Bearcats: The Bearcats enter the game 19-5 overall, and 13-4 in GLVC play. They had a seven game winning streak snapped at Lewis this past Saturday as they fell 89-79 in Romeoville. In addition to averaging 78.6 points per game (second only to Truman in the GLVC), they are a stout defensive team allowing just 67.2 points per game. Quinn Nelson leads with 14.8 points per game, while Mitch Ganote is second with 14.2 and leads them with 6.2 boards per game and leads the GLVC in assists.
Series History w/Rock: The teams met for the first time in 1947, which was a 53-52 win for the Bulldogs. The teams met consistently until the end of the century, but after their meeting on December 1, 1999 they did not meet again until 2014; as members of the GLVC. As members of the GLVC Truman owns an 11-3 edge and a 30-16 edge overall.
About the Hawks: Nick Volz is the leader of the team with 15.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. He's joined in double figures by Jake Auer (12.7), Rich Bhyre (11.5) and Maxim Romanov (10.8). The team comes in 10-18, and 5-13 in the GLVC. The team has lost their first six games in February, with their last win coming into the week being against Illinois Springfield on January 31st.
Up Next: The Bulldogs will host the first round of the GLVC Tournament on Monday night, February 28th, against an opponent still to be determined.
