Men's Basketball | 11/14/2024 11:20:00 AM

#TIDBITS

Golden Eagle men's basketball will be at home for the first time this season and will host two quality opponents to unwrap their home portion of the 2024-25 schedule. Minnesota Crookston welcomes in Parkside, whom they beat a season ago on the Rangers home floor and then will host former NSIC foe Upper Iowa, for a rare Sunday afternoon tilt. The Golden Eagles were one of six quality teams to compete at the American Family Insurance Classic and went 1-1 on the weekend, but had halftime leads in both of those games. The Golden Eagles will look to get their home court advantage started this weekend.

·   GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK FIVE. Boy, how nice is it to have Chandler Meeks back in the lineup? After missing all of last season due to injury, Meeks made his triumphant return to the lineup and was outstanding for the maroon and gold. The Omaha native started in both games this past weekend and in his first game back against Oklahoma Baptist, finished with 18 points on 6-14 shooting from the field. Meeks finished the weekend averaging 15.5 points per game, 2.5 assists per game and finished with four makes from behind the arc. Meeks also played 29 minutes against Oklahoma Baptist and followed that up with 36 minutes less than 24 hours later against East Central.

• ALL THE LENGTH. One thing that showed up last season was the Golden Eagles ability to not only block shots, but also affect those shots. That showed again this weekend in a pair of games. It's extremely early and an extremely small sample size, but the Golden Eagles averaged 8.5 blocks per game last weekend, including nine against Oklahoma Baptist. Jordan Mitchell currently leads the NSIC in blocks with seven and had a career high six in the loss to OBU. The Golden Eagles are second in the nation in blocks per game.

·  QUARTERBACK. Reid Grant showed a little bit of everything this past weekend against the Bison and Tigers. Grant opened the season with his first double-double in a Golden Eagle uniform, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while also dishing out six assists. Grant followed that up with nine points and seven more assists on Saturday. Grant led the team in assists a season ago and the Golden Eagles love it when he is at the controls of the offense.

·   NON-STOP STOKES.  Andrew Stokes was a catalyst coming off the bench this past weekend. The D-III transfer, who averaged 17 points per game last season at Benedictine College a season ago, made his presence felt in Duluth. The Westchester, Ill., native is averaging 12.0 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game for one of the best rebounding teams in the NSIC. Stokes finished with 15 points on 6-8 shooting from the field, including some big buckets down the stretch. If Stokes can shoot 81.8 percent from the field, like he is through two games, the Golden Eagles have to love their chances in every game.

·    HE GRABS THE DENG MISS. One of the big stats and a reason for the Golden Eagle win last Saturday was their ability to finish a defensive possession following a Tiger miss. The Golden Eagles are top-10 nationally in defensive rebounds, which also means they're forcing a lot of misses. Through two games, senior Aguek Deng is averaging 12 rebounds per game and finished with a career-high 18 in the win last Saturday, just five short of a school record. Deng is one of the best defenders in the conference and his ability to leap high for a rebound is a big reason why he is so valuable to head coach Bryan Beamish.

·   PLUS 15. That's the margin at the three-point line through two games for the Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles are averaging 8.5 makes from deep per game this season and made 10 in the season opener. Minnesota Crookston continues to make it tough on their opponents from deep, as the Bison and Tigers combined for just 12 makes on 49 attempts from long range, good for just 24 percent. Again, it's early, but the Golden Eagles have to like their chances if they can win that battle night in and night out.

• FAMILIAR NUMBERS. Micah Garrett debuted last Friday afternoon against Oklahoma Baptist and finished with 14 points, six rebounds on 5-15 from the field, 4-9 from deep in 31 minutes. In the win over the Tigers, Garrett finished with 14 points, six rebounds on 6-14 from the field and 2-8 from deep in 33 minutes. Consistency is such an important part to every sport and the Golden Eagles might have just that in the junior from Portland.

Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Bryan Beamish
Record at UMC: 9-49 Season at UMC: 11th Season (Third as Head Coach)

Parkside Rangers
Head Coach: Luke Reichel
Record at Parkside: 310-283  Season at Parkside: 22nd Season

Upper Iowa Peacocks
Head Coach: Brooks McKowen
Record at UIU: 190-139  Season at UIU: 12th Season

Weekly Snapshot

Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles (1-1)
Projected Starters
Sr. G 3 Reid Grant (6-3, Johnston, Iowa) 13.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 6.0 APG
R-So. G 5 Chandler Meeks (6-1, Omaha, Neb.) 15.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG
R-Sr. F 2 Aguek Deng (6-9, Des Moines, Iowa) 5.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG
Jr. G 13 Micah Garrett (6-3, Portland, Ore.) 14.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG
R-Jr. F 10 Jordan Mitchell (6-8, Columbus, Ohio) 7.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 4.0 BPG
Top Bench Players
Jr. F 25 Andrew Stokes (6-5, Westchester, Ill.) 12.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG
Sr. F 33 Ben Hoverson (6-6, Grand Forks, N.D.) 1.5 PPG, .5 RPG
Jr. G 1 Christian Bowen-Webb (6-2, Atchison, Kan.)
Fr. F 23 Brayden Carlson (6-9, Woodbury, Minn.)

Parkside Rangers (0-2)
Projected Starters
Fr. G 2 Ehi Ogbomo (Plainfield, Ill.) 7.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG
Jr. F 4 Ethan Ivan (6-7, Batavia, Ill.) 8.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG
So. G 5 Rokas Castillo (6-0, Lemont, Ill.) 6.0 PPG, 1.0 RPG
Gr. F 12 Nick Brown (6-5, Elkhorn, Wis.) 14.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG
Sr. F 23 Cameron Mallory (6-5, Joliet, Ill.) 7.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG
Top Bench Players
So. G 11 Matas Castillo (6-0, Lemont, Ill.) 3.5 PPG, 1.0 RPG
Jr. F 42 Keelan Allen (6-7, Mequon, Wis.) 6.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG

Upper Iowa Peacocks (2-0)
Projected Starters 
Gr. F 3 Nick Reid (6-7, Central City, Iowa) 19.0 PPG, 13.5 RPG
R-So. F 4 Kyle Hrncir (6-5, Farmington, Minn.) 15.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG
R-Jr. G 7 Noah King (6-2, Caledonia, Minn.) 19.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG
R-Fr. G 8 Gavin Hershberger (5-10, Castle Pines, Colo.) 10.5 PPG, 2.0 RPG
Gr. F 12 Caleb Delzell (6-9, Camanche, Iowa) 6.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Top Bench Players
Fr. G 0 Jack Miller (6-0, Jesup, Iowa) 4.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG
So. G 14 William Kiburis (6-4, Reinbeck, Iowa) 4.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Jr. G 22 Austin Hilmer (5-10, Walker, Iowa) 1.5 PPG, 1.0 RPG
R-Fr. F 25 Ryan Heise (6-9, Lake City, Minn.) 8.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG

KNOW THE OPPONENTS

Parkside. The Rangers will make their first ever trip to Crookston and Lysaker Gymnasium on Saturday morning. They will make their first trip to Northern Minnesota, looking for their first victory of the season. The Rangers lost a pair of games last weekend to Upper Iowa by 19 and Illinois-Springfield by 17. Both the Peacocks and the Prairie Stars are ranked in their region, so it's been a tough two game slate for the youthful Rangers.

YOUTH. The Rangers are a fairly youthful team in 2024-24, as they have started a freshman and two sophomores through the first weekend. One of their top returning scorers, Josiah Palmer, didn't suit up last weekend and it will be interesting to see if he plays this weekend. If he doesn't, it would be a big loss for the Rangers.

ONE KEY FACTOR. We've already talked about how good of a rebounding weekend the Golden Eagles had in Duluth. In last season's loss to the Golden Eagles, stats would've indicated a different outcome. If you look at the rebounding, it might tell the story of how the Golden Eagles won that game. Parkside was outrebounded by eight in the game and gave up nine offensive boards. The Rangers were outrebounded 15 times last season and were 1-14 in those games.

RALLY FOR RIEGEL. Head Coach Luke Reigel has built the Rangers into one of the best programs in the GLVC and now the GLIAC. When the Rangers were in the GLVC, they made the National tournament six different times, including a stretch from 2012-17, when they made the tournament five years in a row. The Rangers have been to the NCAA Tournament seven different times under the helm of Reigel and will look to get back there in the near future.

Upper Iowa. The Peacocks may have lost the program's all-time leading scorer in Jake Hilmer to graduation, but through two games, they haven't slowed down. UIU is averaging more than 90 points per game in wins over the Golden Eagles opponent on Saturday, Parkside and Roosevelt. UIU is currently ranked in the top-10 in the Midwest Region CSC poll.

OLD FOE. This game on Sunday afternoon could be a fun one between two programs that are very familiar with each other. Both teams competed in the Northern Sun for many years before Upper Iowa left for the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The last time these two teams met, it was a high scoring affair, which saw the Peacocks defeat the Golden Eagles, 101-94, back in 2019. Are we in for an encore on Sunday?

THE KINGS RULING. Fans of basketball in Minnesota might know the last name 'King' fairly well. Noah King, a redshirt junior from Caledonia, Minn., hails from a royal family in terms of basketball. King has two brothers that have played high Division I basketball. His brother Owen started out at South Dakota State and then transferred in the conference to Winona State and is now an assistant coach for the Warriors. Eli, his younger brother, started out in the Big 12 at Iowa State and is now at the University of North Dakota. Oh yeah, his dad was also a long time coach at traditional power Caledonia. Noah is making a name for himself as a Peacock, averaging 19 points per game through two games this season.

GET UP AND DOWN. Upper Iowa might be one of the best offensive teams in the nation, if last weekend was any indication. Upper Iowa averaged 93.5 points per game last weekend, which is 18th in the nation. They are off to a 2-0 start after beating Parkside and Roosevelt by an average of 23.0 points per game, which is 11th in the nation. It's going to be a stiff challenge defensively this weekend for the maroon and gold.