The Johnnie basketball team visits St. Olaf for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday, Feb. 9, in Northfield. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

SPECTATOR POLICY AT ST. OLAF: Attendance at St. Olaf home games is limited to two spectators per student-athlete per team and guest names must be submitted through a pass list with one of the teams in advance of each game. All fans at St. Olaf home games must provide proof of vaccination upon entry to the venue. Guests must also leave campus at the conclusion of the game and not congregate with student-athletes afterwards.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (18-3, 15-1 MIAC) continued its winning ways with a 65-35 victory over Hamline last night (Feb. 7) in Sexton Arena. SJU held Hamline to 29.2 percent (14-for-48) overall and 2-for-17 from three-point range. Twelve different Johnnies scored a point, including a team-high 18 from freshman guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.).

Junior post Carson Schoeller (Prior Lake, Minn.) totaled nine points and seven rebounds, while tying a career high with three blocks off the bench. Sophomore guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) followed with eight points in 17 minutes off the bench, while senior guard Colton Codute (Wayzata, Minn./Orono) added five points, five steals and four rebounds.

SJU closed the first half with a 12-6 run to take a 27-15 lead into the break. The home team opened the second half with an 8-0 run and never looked back, leading by as much as 30.

Jake Larson led HU with nine points. The Johnnies out-rebounded the Pipers by a 37-27 margin and out-scored them 34-12 in the paint.

SCORING LOW: The 35 points allowed by the Johnnies last night to Hamline were the fewest since SJU earned a low-scoring 33-32 win at Carleton on Jan. 11, 1984. 

Games of 39 Points Allowed or Less (since Jan. 11, 1984)
-Jan. 22, 2020 at Concordia-Moorhead (W, 73-38)
-Dec. 29, 2001 vs. Luther, Iowa at Wisconsin-River Falls (W, 60-39)
-Feb. 18, 1987 at St. Thomas (W, 42-39)

3 FROM THE FRESHMAN RECORD: Vaughn currently leads the MIAC in both three-pointers made (53) and three-pointers attempted (129). His .411 shooting percentage from long range is third-best in the conference among those with 80 attempts or more. The 53 treys are only three behind SJU's single-season record for a freshman set by Chris Schwartz '11 in 2007-08 (26 games). Schwartz's three-point percentage of .368 (56-for-152) led the Johnnies that season.

FOUR PLACES IN 15 POINTS: Hanson's four points Monday night increased his career total to 1,066, which passed Kevin Coleman '72 (1,065) for 32nd on SJU's all-time scoring list. A total of 15 points would enable Hanson to pass four former Johnnies into 28th: Andy Burns '12 (31st, 1,068); Larry Bassett '92 (30th, 1,072); Tim Muller '71 (29th, 1,079); and Eric Kohorst '93 (28th, 1,080).

REGIONAL RANKINGS: The first public NCAA Division III regional rankings, which are alphabetical lists of the teams the Division III men's basketball committee considers the top teams in each region, were released today (Feb. 8). The first numerical rankings will be released next week.

Other teams listed with SJU in Region 9 include:     Augsburg, Coe (Iowa), Dubuque (Iowa), Wartburg (Iowa), Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wisconsin-Platteville and Wisconsin-Stout. 

STAT COMPARISONS: SJU continues to lead the MIAC in shooting percentage, overall and three-point, as well as scoring defense, in conference games.

Scoring Offense
3. SJU, 73.9 ppg. (72.8 overall)
6. STO, 69.1 ppg. (69.4 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 57.4 ppg. (59.4 overall *No. 4 in Division III)
3. STO, 67.3 ppg. (66.1 overall)

Shooting Percentage
1. SJU, 50.5 percent (50.0 overall *No. 7 in Division III)
4. STO, 45.6 percent (45.8 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
1. SJU, 44.0 percent (40.0 overall *No. 3 in Division III)
10. STO, 29.9 percent (30.2 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
4. SJU, 74.6 percent (73.6 overall)
8. STO, 68.1 percent (70.0 overall)

Rebounding
4. STO, 34.9 rpg. (35.6 overall)
9. SJU, 33.1 rpg. (33.1 overall)

A LOOK AT THE OLES: St. Olaf (12-9, 8-8 MIAC) picked up its fourth straight win with a 65-64, come-from-behind victory Monday night (Feb. 7) at Saint Mary's. STO trailed 36-24 at halftime and by six (61-55) with 3:11 remaining before the Oles went on an 8-0 run. Sophomore (6-foot-2) guard Connor Martin scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half. He is third on the team in scoring with an average of 11.4 points per game, behind senior (6-foot-0) guard Dominic Bledsoe (13.7 ppg.) and senior (6-foot-4) forward Nathan Hendler (12.6 ppg.). 

A MONTH AGO: SJU extended its win streak to eight games with a 75-72 victory over St. Olaf back on Jan. 10 in Collegeville. The game was the first in nearly a month (Dec. 14) for SJU, which shot 50 percent (25-for-50) from the field and 47.4 percent (9-for-19) from three-point range in the win.

The Johnnies led by 10 (39-29) at the break, thanks to a hot start (56 percent overall and 58.3 percent from behind the arc), and by as much as 12 (43-31) in the second half. SJU, however, went nearly six minutes (5:57) between made field goals and made two buckets during an 8:10 span as St. Olaf (7-6, 3-5 MIAC) cut its deficit to one (53-52) with 7:56 to play.

The home team's lead swung between six and four points for most of the game's final seven minutes and the Johnnies went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the last 32 seconds to seal the victory. The Oles' Dominic Bledsoe was fouled behind the three-point arc twice in the final 12 seconds and made all six free throws to make it a two-point game (74-72). Sophomore wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) made one of his two attempts from the charity stripe and Bledsoe's game-tying trey bounced off the rim as time expired.

Thissen led four Johnnies in double figures with a season-high 25 points. He just missed his first collegiate double-double with nine rebounds and added four assists.

Codute followed with 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half on a 4-for-4 performance from long range, and junior post Mitchell Plombon (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) added 10 points.

Freshman guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran), the MIAC's top three-point shooter at the time (51.6 percent), recorded 11 points off the bench on a 3-for-4 night from downtown.

Bledsoe led STO, which finished at 48.1 percent (25-for-52) from the floor, with 25 points.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 72-34 against the Oles since the 1964-65 season, but just 27-25 on St. Olaf's home court. SJU has won each of the last six meetings overall (nine of the last 10).