The SJU basketball team visits Macalester for a 7:30 p.m. game tonight at the Leonard Center in St. Paul. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-10, 9-7 MIAC) made three of its final eight shots and committed four turnovers in the final three minutes, of which St. Olaf turned into five points, in a 72-61 loss to the Oles on Saturday (Feb. 8) in Collegeville. SJU out-shot St. Olaf 44.4 percent (24-for-54) to 42.9 percent (21-for-49) from the field, held a 34-28 edge in rebounds (13-8 offensive) and posted a 32-22 scoring advantage in the paint. The Oles, however, forced 15 Johnnie turnovers and went 24-for-27 from the free-throw line in the game. STO also shot 5-for-10 from three-point range in the second half. The Johnnies trailed by three, 29-26, at the half and by four, 59-55, with 3:54 remaining before the game slipped away. Junior Blake Maslonkowski (St. Joseph, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo) led SJU with 14 points and 10 rebounds (five offensive) for his third double-double of the season. Sophomore Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) added 12 points off the bench and senior Kevin McKenzie (De Pere, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) tallied 10 points and three assists. The Johnnies' five seniors combined for 19 points, six turnovers and a .296 shooting percentage (8-for-27) in the game. Sterling Nielsen led the Oles with 23 points, including a 10-for-10 performance from the charity stripe. Connor Gunderson added 18 points and 11 rebounds.
GOOD WEEK: Kuck led SJU with an average of 16.3 points per game, while shooting 55.3 percent (21-for-38) from the field, off the bench as the Johnnies went 2-1 against teams above them in the MIAC standings last week. He led all scorers with 21 points in 22 minutes off the bench, including 14 points in the second half and nine of the team's final 13, in the 68-63 win at Gustavus Feb. 3. Kuck led SJU again off the bench with 16 points in the 83-71 win over Augsburg Feb. 5 and ended the week with 12 points in the 72-61 loss to St. Olaf Feb. 8.
BEAST MODE: Maslonkowski led SJU with 14 points and 10 rebounds (five offensive) for his third double-double of the season in Saturday's home loss to St. Olaf. He played only four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble and registered all 14 points and nine of the 10 boards after halftime. Maslonkowski still leads the MIAC (conference games only) with 46 offensive rebounds in 16 conference games (2.9 orpg.). Half of his 24 rebounds recorded in the three games last week were snatched off the offensive glass. He also averaged 12 points per game and shot 72.7 percent (16-for-22) from the field.
FOUR-MAN CORE: Kuck, Maslonkowski, McKenzie and sophomore Joe Risinger (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) combined to shoot 60.4 percent (55-for-91) from the floor, including a 7-for-14 performance from three point range, in the Johnnies' three games last week. The rest of the team, however, shot 36.4 percent (28-for-77) overall and 20 percent (5-for-25) from behind the arc.
BONUS POINTS: Nearly 25 percent (24.8, 51 of 206) of the points scored in three games against the SJU basketball team last week came at the free-throw line.
A LOOK AT THE SCOTS: Macalester (3-19, 2-15 MIAC) enters Wednesday night's game with losses in 16 of its last 17 losses. Both conference wins, however, were recorded on the Scots' home court: vs. Concordia (Dec. 5, 79-76) and vs. Hamline (Feb. 1, 71-67 OT). Sophomore Dylan Kilgour leads the team with an average of 14.3 points per game and 57 three-pointers (2.6 pg.). Freshman big man (6-foot-7) Kareem Ismail follows with 11.4 points and a team-leading 5.8 rebounds per game. Turnovers continue to be the Scots' Achilles heel, as they average 16.9 per game on the year, including 17.8 over their last 12 games.
EARLIER THIS SEASON: Saint John's battled to a 70-57 win over Macalester in head coach Jim Smith's 1,300th game just over a month ago (Jan. 8) in Collegeville. The Johnnies responded to an early 9-5 deficit 5:31 into the game with an 11-0 run and ended the first half with a 9-4 run after the Scots tied it at 20-20 with 3:22 remaining before the break. Macalester cut its deficit to one point, 31-30, but SJU, again, retaliated with an 8-0 run. Mac came to within four points, 45-41, with 8:22 left, but the Johnnies scored five straight points and later added a 10-2 run to break the game open for good. Maslonkowski led SJU with 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Senior Patrick Butcher (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) followed with 13 points and three assists. Kareem Ismail led all scorers with 17 points in 19 minutes. Griffin Glatt contributed 10 points and Kilgour added nine points and five assists. Kilgour traveled to Collegeville averaging 15.9 points per game, but was held to a 1-for-8 showing from the field and collected six of his points from the free-throw line. SJU tallied 19 points off 17 Mac turnovers and registered a 25-6 scoring advantage off the bench. The Scots were 4-for-15 from three-point range but stayed in the game thanks to a 17-for-18 showing at the free-throw line. The two teams combined for 32 free throws on 36 attempts in the contest.
SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 72-28 against Mac under the direction of head coach Jim Smith, including a 33-17 record in St. Paul. The Johnnies have won each of the last seven meetings on the Scots' home court, which ended a five-game skid for SJU in St. Paul (2001-05).
