CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team will open the 2015-16 regular-season Friday and Saturday as they take on Waldorf College and University of Wisconsin-Stout. The Golden Eagles will take on Waldorf Fri., Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at Hanson Fieldhouse/Denny Jerome Court in Forest City, Iowa. UMC will then head to Menomonie, Wis., to take on University of Wisconsin-Stout at 5 p.m. Sat., Nov. 14 at Johnson Fieldhouse.

Minnesota Crookston at Waldorf
Fri., Nov. 13, 7 p.m., Forest City Iowa (Hanson Fieldhouse)
Live Stats: http://live.waldorfwarriors.com/mbball/umnc/xlive.htm
Minnesota Crookston Wisconsin-Stout
Sat., Nov. 14 ,5 p.m., Menomonie, Wis. (Johnson Fieldhouse)
Live Stats: http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/athletics/mbb/live/xlive.htm
Live Video: http://athletics.uwstout.edu/sports/2013/8/21/GEN_0821130819.aspx

UMC Notes
-          The Golden Eagles have 10 players on their roster who have yet to play an official NCAA game. UMC will look to continue improve as they get more seasoned and gain experience against strong competition heading into the NSIC slate.
-          UMC returns their leading-scorer from the 2014-15 season in Derrick Redd, Jr. (Sr., G, Menifee, Calif.). Redd averaged 11.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game last season for the Golden Eagles
-          The Golden Eagles have a strong recruiting class that included four of the Top 50 preps in the state of Minnesota for the 2015 recruiting class. In addition, UMC added two local talents in Crookston H.S. product Aaron Hollcraft and Fosston H.S. product Darin Viken. In addition to their high school recruits, UMC added four players from very strong junior college programs in C.J. Polk, Xavier Hall and Riley Rice from North Platte C.C. and Ben Grygiel from Rock Valley College.
-          UMC went 7-20 (5-17 NSIC). The five conference wins was the most since the 2000-01 season for the men's basketball program.
-          UMC Head Coach Dan Weisse enters his second season leading the charge as he looks to build a new culture in Crookston. Weisse came over from Minnesota State University Moorhead, which was built into a national contender by Chad Walthall while Weisse served as his lead assistant. Weisse also has NCAA Division I experience from North Dakota State University and Middle Tennessee State University and was a player at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under Bo Ryan and Bruce Pearl.
-          UMC returns assistant Bryan Beamish to the fray for his second season. Beamish came to UMC after a year as graduate assistant at the University of Miami. Weisse added Blaise Davis to the staff this season. Davis spent two seasons at Dakota County Technical College as an assistant coach. He was a successful player at Carleton College prior to entering coaching.
-          The Golden Eagles went 1-2 in exhibition play, earning a win over College of St. Scholastica and playing hard against University of Minnesota. The Golden Eagles were down just four at the half to the Golden Gophers.
-          UMC was led during their exhibition season by junior college transfer C.J. Polk (So., G, Milwaukee, Wis.). Polk averaged 18 points in three games including 32 points in the win over St. Scholastica.
-          The Golden Eagles got a spark off the bench in three exhibition games from Chase Knickerbocker (Fr., G/F, Annandale, Minn.), who averaged 10.7 points per game off the bench for UMC. In addition, freshman Nate Lorenz (Fr., F/C, Breckenridge, Minn.) averaged 8.7 points while Kobe Critchley (Fr., G, Roseville, Minn.) averaged seven points a game. UMC's lone senior Redd averaged eight points per game.
 
Projected Starters
Fr. PG 13 Kobe Critchley (6-0 160, Roseville, Minn.)
So. SG 2 C.J. Polk (6-0 170, Milwaukee, Wis.)
Sr. 3G 10 Derrick Redd, Jr. (6-1 180, Menifee, Calif.)
R-Fr. SF 44 Gable Smith (6-7 215, Lodi, Wis.)
Fr. PF 34 Nate Lorenz (6-7 215, Breckenridge, Minn.)
 
Waldorf Notes
-          The Warriors went 15-15 and 10-4 in conference last season. Waldorf is a member of the NAIA. The Warriors are 1-1 on the season after upsetting No. 24 Dakota Wesleyan University and falling to Cardinal Stritch University.
-          Waldorf is in their fifth season under Head Coach Nigel Jenkins
-          Waldorf has been led on the season by Erik Brewer, who is averaging 21 points and eight boards per game for the Warriors. In addition to Brewer, Kaimen Slay comes in averaging 15 points per game and shooting 63.6 percent from beyond the arc.
-          The Warriors are averaging 66.5 points per game and shooting 47.1 percent from beyond the arc and 69.2 percent from the charity stripe.

Jr. PG 11 June Prowell (6-2 160, Atlanta, Ga.)
Jr. SG 23 Pierre Roddy (6-3 185, Coon Rapids, Minn.)
Jr. SF 20 Michael Morgan (6-4 180, Charlotte, Tenn.)
Sr. PF 21 Erik Brewer (6-6 205, Las Vegas, Nev.)
So. C 55 Kaden Verdin (6-9 240, Atwater, Calif.)


Wisconsin-Stout Notes

- The Blue Devils are 0-0 on the season and fell 95-41 in their lone exhibition of the season to University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, an NCAA Division I team.
- Wisconsin-Stout went 3-22 on the 2014-15 season. They are a member of NCAA Division III and the WIAC.
- The Blue Devils return three starters from last season led by Brett Ahsenmacher, who averaged 8.9 points per game for Wisconsin-Stout, while shooting 37.0 percent from beyond the arc. In addition, John Keefe averaged 6.5 points per game and was a 42.1 percent shooter from distance, while John Lahti averaged 6.5 points per game.
- Wisconsin-Stout averaged 66.8 points per game last season, while giving up 77.0 points per game. They were a 34.0 percent three-point shooting team and a 61.1 percent free-throw shooting team.
- The Blue Devils are in their 16^th season under Eddie Andrist, who has 41 years experience in coaching.

Projected Starters
So. PG 11 John Keefe (6-1 180, Medford, Wis.)
Jr. SG 13 Brett Ahsenmacher (6-0 175, Annandale, Minn.)
Jr. 3G 23 Cory Speer (5-10 180, Elgin, Minn.)
So. SF 42 John Lahti (6-5 210, Turtle Lake, Wis.)
Jr. PF 3 Jacob Nordstrom (6-8 210, Melrose, Wis.)