Notes (PDF)
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman Men's Basketball team is entering the stretch run of the season, and this weekend they will host two teams from Illinois in Quincy and Illinois-Springfield. Just five games remain in the regular season and currently the Bulldogs sit in second place in the GLVC points system, behind only Lewis.
Truman won two in a row as they defeated Lewis in Romeoville and then took down Indianapolis in the capital of the Hoosier State. In both games Truman shot over 60% from the floor and won by double digits over the Flyers and Greyhounds.
The Bulldogs offensive output jumped them over Southwest Baptist and now lead the GLVC in scoring with 79.3 points per game and the Bulldogs remain fifth in scoring margin at +7.5. Moreover, the Bulldogs are tops in the GLVC in shooting percentage .503 and second in three point percentage at .411, and are tops in the GLVC with over ten made threes per game.
About the Players:
Cade McKnight ranks third in the GLVC in points per game with 19.6, in between Bryson Bultman of McKendree and Jacoby Ross of Lindenwood. He scored 26 points in the win at Lewis after being held to a season low 11 against the Flyers at Pershing. At .597, he is fifth in shooting percentage among players that make at least three field goals 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 6th this season, passing David Winslow in the win at UIndy Saturday. He now has 1462 career points, 38 behind Broderic Thomas for fifth place.
Masen Miller continues to be one of the top sharpshooters in the GLVC, shooting .467 from downtown this season. At 3.4 makes per game, he ranks second in the conference behind Julien Smith of Missouri S&T. He continues to lead the Bulldogs in minutes per game with 35.1, which ranks fourth in the GLVC. Against UIndy he scored 22 points to lead the team and made six three pointers. His current career shooting percentage from three point range is .446, which puts him second on the all-time list—just .04 behind Boyd Printy for the top spot.
Hunter Strait remains one of the top distributors in the GLVC with 4.8 per game, just ahead of Mitch Ganote of SBU; with whom he's been exchanging the top spot with all season. His eight assists at Lewis was the most since he picked up nine against Lindenwood on January 2. He also has moved into the top ten all time in career assists in Bulldog history with 298 assists, leapfrogging Broderic Thomas for tenth place. His current average of 4.8 assists per game would rank third all-time in assists per game in a season.
Elijah Hazekamp continues to be an all-around player for the Bulldogs—third in points per game with 12.0 and leads the team in rebounds with 6.8. His mark on the boards is good for seventh in the GLVC. This past weekend he scored 21 at Lewis, his fourth game with 20+ points this season.
Eric Northweather started each of the past four games, and scored in double figures each game. His 16 points led the team against Lewis last Monday—and then scored ten in the rematch with the Flyers and then 16 against UIndy. He also set a new career high with seven rebounds against Southern Indiana last month, which he matched at UIndy. He blocked two shots against Lewis, his first game with multiple blocks since Quincy on Jan. 4th. He has 19 blocked shots on the season, which leads the team.
Trey Shearer is averaging 14.7 minutes per game, and has started the last four games; three of which have been Bulldog wins. He made two three point shots in the win over the Greyhounds, which matched a season high.
Dylan Peeters is second on the Bulldogs with 6.0 rebounds per game. He grabbed seven against Lewis at Pershing, and then in the rematch at Lewis he scored 13 points—his first game in double figures since at Lindenwood on January 22nd. He also dished out seven assists in the two games at Lewis and at UIndy.
Keaton Mitchell is averaging 10.8 minutes per game off the bench this season, and has seven blocked shots which ranks third on the team. He also averages 5.6 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per game.
Sam Nissen is averaging 10.1 minutes per game this season, with 1.5 points per game. He's dished out 15 assists this season with seven steals.
Josh Ollendieck has appeared in 13 games this season, and is averaging 7.5 minutes per game. He has five assists, two steals and one blocked shot this season.
Sam Lock has played in 16 games this season, playing 7.1 minutes per game. He's shooting over 50% from downtown and averages 2.8 points and 1.0 rebounds per game.
Devin Fields has been in four games this year and made three shots from downtown.
Series History w/Quincy: The teams have met 128 times before in the long history between the two. Currently the Bulldogs are on an eight game winning streak in the series and own a 67-61 edge in the all-time set. The Bulldogs won 73-72 in Quincy earlier this season.
About the Hawks: Malik Hardmon leads the team with 14.2 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game. In the first meeting he led the Hawks with 17 points while Paul Zilinskas, Charles Collier and Adam Moore also scored in double figures. The team comes into the weekend 12-13, 5-10 in the GLVC.
Series History w/UIS: The teams met for the first time in 2014, when Truman first joined the GLVC. All-time Truman owns an 8-1 edge in the series, and has won the last seven. The two teams last met on February 11, 2021 in Springfield with Truman winning 72-63 in overtime.
About the Prairie Stars: Chase Robinson leads the team with 13.7 points per game, while transfer Chris Hamil is second with 11.7. Jack Weber leads with 5.5 rebounds per game. UIS comes into the game with a record of 9-13, 4-10 in the GLVC.
Up Next: After this weekend the Bulldogs have one more home game against William Jewell on the 17th, then go on the road for the final two games of the regular season against Southwest Baptist and Rockhurst.
