No. 25 Saint John's basketball opens its 2022-23 season with a 7 p.m. tip-off on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at No. 15 Wisconsin-La Crosse. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: There are a couple of big holes to fill, but the Saint John's University basketball team returns the core of a group that finished 23-5 and won the program's second-straight MIAC regular-season title and third-straight postseason championship a year ago.

The 2022-23 Johnnies will be led by three returning starters in senior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral), junior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) and sophomore guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.).

Thissen led his team in scoring a year ago, averaging 13 points per game. Vaughn was second with an average of 11.6. Plombon ranked fourth with an average of nine points per game.

SJU will need to find a replacement for longtime standout Zach Hanson '21, an All-MIAC and all-region post, as well as starting point guard Colton Codute '21. 

But senior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake High School), who came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers and finish with 16 points in last season's MIAC championship game, returns. He averaged 6.2 points per game a year ago

The 2022-23 season is the eighth for head coach Pat McKenzie '04, who earned his second MIAC Coach of the Year award last year. He currently owns a 137-36 career record (100-24 MIAC).

Here's a look at the 2022-23 Johnnies:

Team Leader Returns
Thissen shot 52 percent (145-for-279) from the field and led the Johnnies in scoring (13.0 ppg.) en route to earning 2021-22 All-MIAC second-team honors. He started all 28 games and also finished third in assists (61) and rebounding (4.5 rpg.). Thissen shot 62.5 percent (20-for-32) overall and averaged a team-best 14.7 points in the three MIAC-tournament wins. 

Off the court, Thissen earned the MIAC Elite 22 Award, which is presented to the individual with the highest GPA among the student-athletes who played in the MIAC Playoff Championship game.

Freshman Standout
Vaughn earned All-MIAC third-team honors and was also named to the five-man MIAC All-First Year team last season. He started all 28 games and reached double figures in 16 contests, including a career-high 27 points on five three-pointers Feb. 9 at St. Olaf. Vaughn broke SJU's single-season record for three-pointers made by a freshman - 53 by Chris Schwartz '11 in 2007-08 - with 70 and finished second on the team in scoring (11.6 ppg.). In MIAC play, Vaughn led the league in three-pointers (55) and was second, among those with 90 attempts or more, at 43.3 percent (55-for-127) from behind the arc, while leading SJU in scoring (13.1 ppg.) and from the free-throw line (89.1 percent, 41-for-46).

Post Pair
Two senior posts, Plombon and Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.), return in the paint for SJU in 2022-23. Plombon played 20 games, with 18 starts, a year ago and averaged 9.0 points per game, while shooting 52.0 percent (79-for-152) from the field. He also finished second on the team in rebounding (4.6 rpg.) and collected two-double doubles. 

Schoeller shot 52.9 percent (64-for-121) from the field and 46.3 percent (25-for-54) from three-point range last season, while averaging 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He played 26 games, with six starts, and recorded a career-high 20 points, thanks to four three-pointers, Jan. 29 at Concordia-Moorhead.

Junior Ethan Youso (Gilbert, Minn./Virginia) is also expected to contribute in 2022-23 following an injury-plagued season a year ago. He appeared in 12 games and totaled 21 points and 22 rebounds in 93 minutes of play.

Guard Help
The guard duo of junior Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) and sophomore Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) provided key minutes and energy off the bench last season. Berg played all 28 games (three starts) and averaged 5.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest, and shot 56.5 percent (61-for-108) from the field, including 45.5 percent (10-for-22) from beyond the arc. He posted a career-high 15 points in the MIAC-Championship win vs. Macalester. Longueville appeared in 15 games and shot 42.6 percent (20-for-47) from long range off the bench.

Home-Court Advantage
The 2022-23 season is the 50th for SJU in the Warner Palaestra/Sexton Arena, where the Johnnies boast a 449-148 (.752) all-time record, including a 52-7 (.881) mark over the last five years.

The 2022-23 Schedule
Although the 2022-23 schedule is bookended by road games, four of SJU's first seven games are at home and eight of the final 14 games will be played in Sexton Arena.

SJU follows Tuesday's season opener by hosting back-to-back games against Wisconsin-Eau Claire (Nov. 12) and Buena Vista of Iowa (Nov. 16). The Johnnies' five non-conference opponents combined for a .654 winning percentage (87-46 record) last season. Four of the five were regionally ranked a year ago.

MIAC play begins with a pair of road games at St. Olaf (Nov. 19) and Gustavus Adolphus (Nov. 22), before the Johnnies welcome two consecutive opponents to Collegeville in St. Scholastica (Nov. 30) and Augsburg (Dec. 3).

SJU end the 2022 calendar year with four straight road games, including the final two non-conference games Dec. 20-21 in Spokane, Wash. The Johnnies face host Whitworth, which went 22-5 and made the NCAA Tournament last season, in the opener and take on Linfield (Ore.) the following day.

Then after the new year, SJU makes a trip to Winona to face Saint Mary's on Jan. 7 before moving on to a three-game homestand against Concordia-Moorhead (Jan. 11), Bethel (Jan. 14) and Carleton (Jan. 16). The Johnnies follow two straight road trips with five of the regular season's last eight games in Collegeville, including Alumni and Senior Day Feb. 11 against Saint Mary's.

The MIAC quarterfinals are set for Tuesday, Feb. 21, and the MIAC semifinals follow on Thursday, Feb. 23. The MIAC championship game, with the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament on the line, is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 25. The high seed hosts in all three rounds.

PRESEASON POLL: SJU was ranked No. 25 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top 25 poll released Oct. 26. La Crosse was ranked No. 15 and another Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) team, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, was listed at No. 3.

A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Wisconsin-La Crosse was picked second in the WIAC preseason coaches' poll Oct. 28 and returns two starters from last year's team that finished 21-7 overall (9-5 WIAC). The 21 wins tied the Eagles' single-season school record for victories (1975-76, 2019-20). UWL made its third appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament and earned its first win, 90-86, over Heidelberg (Ohio) in the first round. La Crosse exited the tourney with a 65-56 loss at then-No. 7 Illinois Wesleyan in the second round. 

UWL returns three players with at least 14 starts in 2022-23, including senior (6-foot-4) guard Ethan Anderson, who was named to the D3hoops.com Preseason All-America second team Nov. 4. He started 27 games last season and is a three-time All-WIAC first-team selection. He was named to D3hoops.com's All-America fourth team and led UWL in scoring (19.3), field goals made (199) and attempted (383), and free throws made (91) and attempted (107), last season. His .850 free-throw percentage also led the Eagles. Senior (6-foot-1) guard Henry Noone and junior (6-foot-0) guard Will Fuhrmann both started 14 games a year ago. Noone played all 28 games and averaged 7.1 points per contest, while leading UWL in made three-pointers (56). Fuhrmann started 14 of the 16 games he played, averaging 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds.

THE LAST TIME: The Johnnies won the last meeting against UWL, 84-79, on Nov. 20, 2018, in Collegeville. Then-No. 25 SJU shot a sizzling 72.7 percent (16-for-22) in the first half, including a 6-for-9 showing from long range, to take a 46-34 into the break. SJU cooled off in the second half (40.9 percent), however, and finished at 56.8 percent (25-for-44) for the game.

The Eagles committed 26 fouls in the contest but turned SJU's 16 turnovers into 23 points and generated 23 more shot attempts than the Johnnies thanks to a 15-9 advantage on the offensive glass. SJU out-rebounded UWL overall, 34-29.

SJU led by 10 (58-48) with 7:17 remaining in the previous year's (Nov. 22, 2017) meeting at UWL but scored only five points the rest of the way in a 65-63 loss. 

Guard David Stokman '19 led all scorers with 22 points, the 18th game of 20 points or more in his career, in a game-high 34 minutes. He added six assists and did not commit a turnover. Post Lucas Walford '20 posted his first double-double of the season, and fifth of his Johnnie career, with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Wing Oakley Baker '21 and post Hanson added 14 points apiece for SJU, which shot 75.8 percent (25-for-33) from the free-throw line.

Taulvish McCray led La Crosse with 20 points and Ben Meinholz added 15 points in only 13 minutes of play. Meinholz fouled out with 9:11 to play. SJU held Brendon Manning, who entered the game averaging a team-leading 19.7 points per game, to four points in 26 minutes.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 5-4 all-time against the Eagles, but 0-2 in La Crosse, Wis. Both losses, in 1993 (85-82) and 2017 (65-63), were decided by three points or less.