MOORHEAD, Minn. - The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team (0-0, 0-0 NSIC) begins the 2016-17 regular season this week at the Crowne Plaza Classic in Bethany, Okla. hosted by Southern Nazarene University.
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Dragons Take Flight...
The Dragons take to the skies this week as they get their 2016-17 regular season underway. MSUM plays Harding University (0-0) on Friday (Nov. 11) at 4 p.m., before taking on the host Southern Nazarene University (0-0) on Saturday (Nov. 12) at 5 p.m.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK...
MSUM concluded its preseason on Saturday (Nov. 5) with an exhibition game against the defending D-III National Champions in St. Thomas. The Dragons downed the Tommies 93-73. Sophomore forward
Addison Park registered a double-double for the Dragons with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Park was 8-for-8 from the field and had two assists and one block. Senior guard
Aaron Lien added 19 points off of 6-for-11 from the field. Lien also had four assists and one rebound.
Redshirt freshman
Matt Anderson had 14 points, five rebounds and one steal, while junior guard
Tanner Kretchman had 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Johnny Benninga had 10 points as well.
The Dragons shot 57.6 percent from the field (34-of-59) for the game, while holding the Tommies to 43.6 percent from the field (24-of-55). MSUM won the battle of the glass out rebounding UST 39-28.
Scouting the Opposition...
Harding
Harding enters the contest having not played a preseason or regular season game. The Bison were picked to finish 3rd in the Great American Conference (GAC). Harding returns a pair of double-digit scorers in guard Will Francis (13.6 ppg, 4.1 apg) and forward Stefan Andelkovic (10.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg). The Dragons have faced Harding only once with MSUM walking away with an overtime win 83-81.
Southern Nazarene
Southern Nazarene opens its regular season with Northern State (NSIC) on Friday (Nov. 11) before taking on the Dragons on Saturday (Nov. 12). The Crimson Storm were selected to finish fourth in the Great American Conference (GAC) by the league this season. Southern Nazarene finished sixth in the GAC a season ago. The Crimson Storm return three of its top four scorers from last year's roster in LB Willis (15.7 ppg), Deshon Portley (10.9 ppg) and C.J. White (9.8 ppg). This is the first ever meeting between MSUM and Southern Nazarene.
Who's Back?
The Dragons return eight players from a season ago, including three of the top-six scorers and two members of last year's season-ending starting five (
Aaron Lien, Tanner Kretchman). Junior guard
Tanner Kretchman averaged 14.5/ppg, senior forward
Ayob Ayob averaged 11.4/ppg, and senior guard
Aaron Lien averaged 10.5/ppg.
Fresh Meat
The Dragons welcome seven newcomers to the squad this season. Senior guard
Jon Doss, senior forward
Mackuei Puondak, freshman guard
Johnny Beeninga, freshman guard
Evan Hines, freshman forward
Joe Sevlie, freshman guard
Chris Olson and freshman forward
Ben Lauer.
Walthall Readies for 7th Season
Head Coach
Chad Walthall is entering his seventh season at the helm for MSUM. Walthall has amassed an impressive 141-51 record (.734) during his time as the head coach of the Dragons. Walthall is joined on the coaching staff by
Justin Wieck (third season) and
Tim Bergstraser (second season).
Lien on Me
Senior guard
Aaron Lien had an impressive preseason for MSUM. He averaged 18.5 points per game in the two exhibition wins, while totaling seven assists, five rebounds and two steals. Lien shot 56.5 percent from the field, going 13-for-23 including 4-for-8 from behind the arc.
Double Trouble
Sophomore forward/center
Addison Park registered a double-double in an exhibition win over St. Thomas (DIII) on Nov. 5. Park had 17 points on 8-for-8 from the field to go along with 12 rebounds. He also registered two assists and one block.
Nation's Finest
Junior guard
Tanner Kretchman dished out 16 assists to just two turnovers for an 8.00 assist-to-turnover ratio. Last season, Kretchman ended the season ranked first nationally in assist to turnover ratio with a 3.96 average.
Freshman Contributions
Reshirt freshman forward
Matt Anderson averaged 12.5 points per game in the preseason, with 4.0 rebounds/game, one assist, one block and one steal. Anderson shot .714 from the field going 10-for-14. Freshman guard
Johnny Beeninga added 7.5 ppg for the Dragons shooting .667 from the field.
Season Opener
The Dragons are 5-1 in season opening games under the direction of head coach
Chad Walthall:
2015-16: L, 80-84 OT
2014-15: W, 75-66
2013-14: W, 84-51
2012-13: W, 72-67
2011-12: W, 80-65
2010-11: W, 81-68
Sevlie's Back
No, not the two-time All-NSIC First Team selection that averaged 22.0 points per game during his senior season for MSUM. His brother, freshman
Joe Sevlie, is a member of the Dragons this season. The 6-8 forward averaged 13.5 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game during his prep career.
Winning Ways
During his tenure at MSUM, Walthall has the highest winning percentage of any head coach in MSUM men's basketball history (.734). Since taking over the program in 2010, Walthall has led the Dragons to a winning season each year:
2015-16: 30-6, 19-3 NSIC
2014-15: 35-4, 20-2 NSIC
2013-14: 21-8, 15-7 NSIC
2012-13: 19-11, 12-10 NSIC
2011-12: 21-10, 14-8 NSIC
2010-11: 15-12, 12-10 NSIC
Up Next
MSUM heads to Michigan for games against Northern Michigan (Nov. 18) and Michigan Tech (Nov. 19).
