The Johnnie basketball team travels to face Augsburg for a 7:30 p.m. game tonight at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: St. Olaf shot 60.4 percent from the field and 24-for-27 from the free-throw line in a 94-89 win over Saint John's (5-6, 3-3 MIAC) on Jan. 11 in Northfield. SJU survived a wild finish to the first half and entered intermission with a 40-37 lead. Neither team missed a field goal in the final 4:39 of the opening half. The Johnnies tied the back-and-forth contest at 82-82 with 3:21 remaining, but the Oles (8-4, 5-2 MIAC) out-scored the visitors 12-7 the rest of the way. Sophomore Alex Schmitt (Chaska, Minn./Waconia) led the Johnnies with 20 points off the bench and senior Patrick Butcher (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) added 17 before fouling out. SJU was whistled for 20 fouls to the Oles' 13 in the contest. Junior Blake Maslonkowski (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo) ended the day one rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine boards, while senior Seth Marx (Maple Grove, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) totaled 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting from three-point range in 20 minutes, his first extensive game of the season. The score was tied 11 times in the game and there were 17 total lead changes. SJU, which shot 57.9 percent from the field (54.5 percent from beyond the arc), registered 15 points off six STO turnovers in the game (an average of 2.5 points per turnover).
20 POINTS: Schmitt led SJU in scoring, off the bench, for the fifth time this season on Saturday. The contest was also his third of 20 points or more on the year.
HE'S BACK: As mentioned above, Marx hit four three-pointers and recorded 14 points in his first "full" game (20 minutes) after injuring his knee during preseason practices. The four treys enabled him to break from the three-way tie with Corey Jackson (1992-96) and Tyler Westman (2005-07) for ninth on SJU's all-time list and move into eighth. He needs four to tie Kevin Buth (1999-03) for seventh with 134.
LOTSA POINTS: The 183 combined points scored between SJU and St. Olaf was the most in the series since Feb. 4, 1978, when the host Johnnies earned a 101-87 victory.
STUNG AT THE CHARITY STRIPE: The Johnnies begin their four-game stretch in the next eight days hoping to have a better "free-throw-line defense." Last week's opponents, Macalester and St. Olaf, combined to shoot 41-for-45 (91.1 percent) at the charity stripe.
TOPS IN THE MIAC: A pair of Johnnies, Butcher and Maslonkowski, currently lead the MIAC (all games) in a statistical category. Maslonkowski touts a .754 shooting percentage (46-for-61), 11 points ahead of Augsburg's Dan Kornbaum, while Butcher boasts a .525 shooting percentage (21-for-40) from behind the three-point arc. Butcher entered his senior season 21-for-70 (30.0 percent) from three-point range.
A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg (7-4, 3-3 MIAC) erased a five-point halftime deficit (27-22) by out-scoring Macalester 22-2 in the first 11 minutes of the second half en route to a 69-42 win on Saturday at home. Kornbaum, a senior transfer from Division II Minnesota-Duluth, scored a game-high 22 points, reaching the 1,000-point plateau for his collegiate career (724 at AUG, 281 at UMD), and added seven rebounds and three blocked shots. The Auggies have three of the MIAC's top-five scorers (all games): Kornbaum (first, 19.2 ppg.); senior Noah Veach (third, 17.5 ppg.); and senior Andy Seidlitz (fifth, 15.2 ppg.). The three have combined for 71.3 percent (570 of 800) of the team's scoring, as well as a .525 shooting percentage (199-for-379), though the rest of the team is at 41.2 percent (82-for-199) from the field.
LAST YEAR'S MEETINGS: SJU lost all three games to the Auggies last season. Augsburg took full advantage of its extra possessions in a 77-65 win at SJU last Jan. 7 (2013). The Johnnies jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game's first minute, but Augsburg retaliated with seven straight points of its own en route to a 38-15 run and a 38-22 halftime lead. The Auggies shot 47.1 percent (16-for-34), including four of eight from beyond the arc, in the first half. The 16-point lead was crafted from points off turnovers (11-5) and second-chance points (12-2). SJU, meanwhile, shot 33.3 percent (9-for-27) in the opening half with 11 misses in the paint (19 total in the game). Marx led SJU with 11 points, while junior Jacob Peterson (Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins) and freshman Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) added nine points apiece. Kornbaum led the Auggies with 26 points and nine rebounds. The Johnnies shot 57.1 percent (16-for-28) to out-score the visitors 43-39 in the second half. Augsburg, however, also shot 56.5 percent in the game's final 20 minutes and ended the contest with 21 points off the Johnnies' 13 turnovers and a 19-10 advantage in second-chance points.
Augsburg shot 68 percent (34-for-50) from the field to snap Saint John's win streak at seven games with a 106-87 victory on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis. The Auggies shot 63.3 percent (19-for-30) and out-scored SJU 24-12 in the paint to take a 48-41 lead into halftime. SJU cut its deficit to six (85-79) with 4:20 left, but shots in the paint on each of the Johnnies' next three possessions rolled around the rim and out and Augsburg proceeded to out-score the visitors 21-8 the rest of the way. The Auggies finished 31-for-39 at the free-throw line as fouls were whistled 27-15 against SJU. The home team shot 7-for-11 from three-point range in the contest and 75 percent (15-for-20) from the floor in the second half. Marx led all scorers with 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to record his third double-double of the season. Schmitt added 15 points off the bench before fouling out with 58 seconds remaining. Chris Neumann '13 totaled nine points in 17 minutes of play due to foul trouble. He fouled out with 4:35 left. Butcher followed with eight points in the start in place of SJU's second-leading scorer (9.9 ppg., 11.2 ppg. in MIAC play), sophomore Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial), who was battling infections in both ears. Kuck collected seven points in 12 minutes off the bench. Kornbaum led the Auggies with 27 points, while Parker Hines and Tyler Schmidt added 17 points apiece. SJU out-rebounded Augsburg 30-27, including 15-7 on the offensive glass, but surrendered a 44-32 scoring advantage in the paint.
SJU ended its 2012-13 season with a hard-fought 74-67 loss at Augsburg in the quarterfinal round of the MIAC playoffs on Feb. 20 in Minneapolis. Augsburg shot 61.5 percent (16-for-26) with six three-pointers to gain a 38-27 halftime lead. SJU led by as much as six (19-13) with less than 10 minutes to play in the first half, but the Auggies responded with a 25-8 run. The Johnnies burst out of the locker room with an 18-4 run to start the second half, but Augsburg bounced back with a 9-1 run to re-gain a 51-46 lead. SJU cut its deficit to three, 70-67, with 43 seconds remaining, but the Auggies scored the game's final four points. Marx drilled six three-pointers and led SJU with 20 points and six rebounds. Kuck followed with 17 points and four assists, while senior Jack Wittenborg (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) totaled 10 points and three assists. Kornbaum led the Auggies with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Seidlitz (19 points) and Schmidt (18 points) combined to record seven of the team's nine (9-for-17) three-pointers in the game. Seidlitz led the way with 13 points (5-5, 3-3) on a perfect 5-for-5 showing from the floor (3-for-3 from three-point range) in the first half. He entered the game averaging 8.4 points per game and shooting 31.9 percent from beyond the arc on the year. SJU forced 17 turnovers but was out-rebounded 34-25 and only held a 23-21 edge in points off turnovers. The Johnnies finished the contest at 43.1 percent (25-for-58) from the field, including 13 missed layups/shots in the paint, compared to a 52.9-percent (27-for-51) output from the home team.
SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 51-53 against Augsburg under the direction of head coach Jim Smith, including a 20-34 record in Minneapolis. The Auggies have won 10 of the last 14 meetings overall and eight of the last nine at Si Melby Hall.
