Men's Basketball 2/2/2017 4:57:00 PM Shawn Smith, Sports Information Director

Golden Eagles Hit The Road to Face Augustana and Wayne State

CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team will trek to Sioux Falls, S.D. and Wayne, Neb. for a pair of road games in the NSIC. UMC will take on defending NCAA National Champion Augustana University Fri., Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. They will then take on Wayne State College Sat., Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.

The Golden Eagles are coming into the weekend with a 7-15 mark (3-13 NSIC). They are tied for seventh in the NSIC North. With a win over Concordia University-St. Paul last weekend, UMC tied their best wins mark since 2000-01. They will look to shatter that mark and possibly tie the best season record of any team with nine wins in a year.

Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Dan Weisse
Record at UMC: 17-59 Season at UMC:Third Season

Augustana Vikings
Head Coach: Tom Billeter
Record at Augie: 262-150 Season at Augie: 14th Season

Wayne State Wildcats
Head Coach: Jeff Kaminsky
Record at WSC: 7-15 Season at WSC: First Season

Feb. 3, 2017 • Sioux Falls, S.D. • Sioux Falls Arena • 8 p.m.
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/augie/
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/augie/mbball/

Feb. 4, 2017 • Wayne, Neb. • Rice Auditorium • 6 p.m.
Video: : https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wsc/
Live Stats: http://wildcat.wsc.edu/athletics/mediastats/basketball/xlive.htm
Radio: 1260 KROX AM/105.7 FM

#5StoryLines

1. Can UMC play a full 40 minutes of basketball?

2. Can Harrison Cleary follow up a big weekend?

3. Can UMC slow down Jordan Spencer of Augie?

4. Can the Golden Eagles slow down Kendall Jacks and Matt Thomas for Wayne State?

5. Who will have a big weekend for the Golden Eagles?

Weekly Snapshot

Minnesota Crookston
Projected Starters
So. PG 13 Kobe Critchley (6-0 173, Roseville, Minn.) 7.4 PPG, 3.7 APG
Fr. SG 0 Harrison Cleary (6-1 175, Oak Creek, Wis.) 20.5 PPG, 3.6 RPG
So. 3G 25 Chase Knickerbocker (6-6 189, Annandale, Minn.) 11.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG
Fr. SF 21 Chase Johnson (6-6 207, La Crosse, Wis.) 5.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG
R-So. PF 44 Gable Smith (6-7 215, Lodi, Wis.) 7.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.7 BPG
Top Bench Players
R-Fr. G 1 Connor Gamble (6-0 157, Stillwater, Minn.) 8.3 PPG, 1.1 RPG
Sr. G 14 Xavier Hall (6-1 170, Woodbury, Minn.) 3.0 PPG, 1.6 APG
Jr. F 54 Jim Warmack (6-7 240, East Grand Forks, Minn.) 5.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG

Augustana
Projected Starters
Jr. PG 23 Jordan Spencer (6-2 165, Milton Keynes, England) 16.1 PPG, 7.4 APG
So. SG 3 John Warren (6-5 175, Hopkins, Minn.) 10.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG
Sr. 3G 11 Adam Beyer (6-6 175, De Pere, Wis.) 12.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG
Sr. SF 4 Mike Busack (6-5 205, Belview, Minn.) 14.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG
Sr. PF 33 Zach Huisken (6-9 215, Chandler, Minn.) 5.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG
Top Bench Players
G 24 Steven Schaefer (6-3 165, Rapid City, S.D.) 8.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG
Jr. F 30 Marcus Asmus (6-7 210, Westminster, Colo.) 6.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG
Fr. F 35 Lucas Walford (6-8 190, Elko, Minn.) 4.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG

Wayne State
Projected Starters
Jr. PG 11 Matt Thomas (6-0 190, Elkhorn, Neb.) 10.6 PPG, 2.1 APG
So. SG 10 Vance Janssen (6-1 180, Blair, Neb.) 9.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG
So. 3G 1 Kendall Jacks (6-4 200, Bettendorf, Iowa) 14.9 PPG, 3.7 RPG
Jr. SF 15 Brian Goodwin (6-4 185, Brooten, Minn.) 7.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG
Jr. PF 22 Jordan Cornelius (6-7 195, Sisseton, S.D.) 9.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG
Top Bench Players
Jr. G 13 Austin Esters (6-3 195, Bettendorf, Iowa) 9.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG
R-Fr. G 23 Luke TerHark (6-2 165, Algona, Iowa) 6.0 PPG, 2.2 RPG
Fr. C 40 Tony Bonner (6-8 240, Council Bluffs, Iowa) 3.6 PPG, 2.3 RPG
Jr. G 34 J.J. Zumbrennen (6-0 180, Elkhorn, Neb.) 2.2 PPG, 0.7 RPG

#ChaseIsOnTheCase
UMC sophomore wing Chase Knickerbocker continues to become a more
polished offensive player as the season goes along. Knickerbocker is averaging 13.6 points per game over the last six for UMC. He led the team with 21 in a win over Concordia-St. Paul last Saturday. Knickerbocker is currently second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game. His average has increased 2.3 points per game since Dec. 10.

#42
UMC freshman Harrison Cleary put on the best single-game performance of any Golden Eagle Friday against Minnesota State. Cleary broke Joe Hasz's 14-year school record of 40 points. Cleary would finish with 42 points on 17-of-28 from the field. Cleary is second in the NSIC in scoring this season with 21.4 points per game.

#XMarksTheSpot
Xavier Hall is one of the most unselfish players you will find as he is almost always looking to find looks for other teammates. On Saturday in a win over Concordia-St. Paul, the UMC senior from Woodbury, Minn. found his as he tallied a career-high of 10 points. Hall had a strong game offensively, while also bringing his strong defense and passing to the table. He will look to continue to build off a strong game as he heads into the weekend.

#ComingIntoHisOwn
Kobe Critchley continues to improve as a Golden Eagle. He hasn't found as much success scoring this season as he did at times last year, a lot due to not having to be as much of a scoring threat in the system this year. Critchley did put forth a strong game in a win over Concordia-St. Paul Saturday as he had 13 points, including going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. The UMC point guard will continue to do anything he can to help the Golden Eagles as they head into the weekend.

#Tidbits
- Minnesota Crookston snapped a six-game losing streak with a 73-70 win over Concordia-St. Paul last Saturday. UMC has moved into a tie for seventh place in the NSIC North with University of Minnesota Duluth. The win also tied the best wins mark for UMC since the 2000-01 season. The Golden Eagles also had seven wins in Head Coach Dan Weisse's first season with the Golden Eagles in 2014-15.

- Minnesota Crookston is averaging 73.3 points per game this season, while giving up 77.1 points to their
opponents. UMC is shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles are shooting 69.7 percent from the charity stripe. They are allowing opponents to shoot 47.6 percent from the field.

- Harrison Cleary averaged 30.5 points per game last weekend, while shooting 51.1 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from beyond the arc and 80.0 percent from the charity stripe.

- UMC takes on Augustana on Friday. The defending NCAA Division II National Champion Vikings come in with a 15-7 mark on the year and 10-6 in the league. The Vikings are led by 16.1 points per game from point guard Jordan Spencer. Mike Busack comes in tallying 14.5 points per game, while wing player Adam Beyer is tallying 12.6 points per game and shooting 51.0 percent from beyond the arc. Steven Schaefer is a key off the bench for Augustana as he is hitting 59.7 percent of his three-point shots this season.

- Augustana is averaging 83.1 points per game, while giving up 73.0 points per game to their opponents. They shoot 48.7 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc.

- Wayne State is in their first season under former Valley City State University coach Jeff Kaminsky. The Wildcats are 7-15 on the season. Wayne State is led by 14.9 points per game from Kendall Jacks, while Matt Thomas adds 10.6 points per game. They run a guard oriented offense with only one true post in Jordan Cornelius.

- The Wildcats are averaging 73.5 points per game, while giving up 76.2 to their foes. They are shooting 44.1
percent from the field and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc.

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