Saint John's, the No. 6 seed in the MIAC Playoffs, travels to face No. 3-seed Augsburg for a quarterfinal matchup tonight at 7:30 p.m. The game will be held at Si Melby Hall (Directions) in Minneapolis. – Listen Live | Live Stats | Watch Live
Preview Video:
-Head Coach Jim Smith (2:58)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (14-11, 11-9 MIAC) ended its regular season with 79-74 loss at Gustavus Adolphus last Saturday. SJU went on a 35-17 scoring run to cut the Gusties 19-point lead to one (75-74) with 25 seconds left. Sophomore Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) finished the game with 18 points including five three-pointers, two of which came on back-to-back possessions that cut the lead to one. Junior Nermin Hujdurovic (Tuzla, Bosnia/Medical) led all scorers with 19 points off the bench and shot 9-9 from the free-throw line. Junior Todd Herman (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer) added 12 points for the Johnnies.
A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg finished the regular-season with an overall record of 18-7 and a 13-7 mark in the MIAC. The Auggies defeated Saint Mary's 76-72 on Feb. 19 to clinch the No. 3 seed. David Olson led Augsburg with 17 points and six rebounds. Cory Polta finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while Matthew Quammen added 13 points. Olson leads the team with 14.2 points per game, followed by Jon Cassens' 12.6 scoring average and 108 assists.
THE 2009-10 SERIES: Each team exchanged 15-point victories on the home floor this season. Saint John's posted a 77-62 win in Collegeville on Jan. 6. Augsburg scored the first five points of the game but the Johnnies went on a 13-0 run to gain the lead and never looked back. Sophomore Aaron Barmore (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) led the Johnnies with 20 points, shooting nine of 14 from the floor. Burns added 14 points and was 4-7 from behind the arc and juniors Aaron Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) and Chris Schwartz (Sioux Falls, S.D./Lincoln) added 11 points apiece. The Auggies won the return matchup 78-63 on Feb. 10 in Minneapolis. SJU cut a 14-point deficit to one with 12 minutes left in regulation, but was outscored 33-19 the rest of the way. Herman shot 9-for-12 and led the Johnnies with 22 points, while Burtzel added 12 points and eight rebounds. Olson led the Auggies with 18 points.
MIAC PLAYOFFS: The Johnnies are 49-46 against Augsburg under the direction of head coach Jim Smith, but are 19-29 in Minneapolis. SJU, however, is 2-0 all-time at Augsburg in the MIAC Playoffs (58-57 on Feb. 24, 2000; 53-48 on Feb. 22, 1985). The Auggies have won each of the last three meetings in Minneapolis by an average of 15 points. The winner of tonight's game will either play top-seeded St. Thomas or Gustavus Adolphus. If the Johnnies win, they will travel to face St. Thomas this Thursday, Feb. 25.
