Saint John's basketball makes its final regular-season trip to the Twin Cities for a 7 p.m. game at Augsburg on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (15-4, 13-1 MIAC) held Macalester to 32.1 percent (9-for-28) in the second half for a 76-59 win this past Saturday (Jan. 27) in St. Paul.
 
Macalester cut the Johnnies' lead to two (50-48) with 10:58 remaining in the game, but junior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) drained a three-pointer that sparked a 13-0 run (19-4 overall) over the next seven minutes. 
 
The Johnnies led 38-36 at halftime, thanks to a 55.6-percent (15-for-27) performance from the floor, but committed nine turnovers (10 for the game). The visitors finished at an even 50 percent (27-for-54) for the game, including 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from three-point range, and went 15-for-17 (88.2 percent) from the free-throw line. SJU entered the game as the NCAA Division III leader in shooting percentage (.509), as well as fourth in free-throw percentage (.807), seventh in three-point percentage (.398) and ninth in fewest turnovers per game (10.1).
 
Senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) led three Johnnies in double figures with 20 points, including 12 in the second half, on 8-for-15 shooting. The 20-point game was the second of the season (third career) for Berg, who also collected four rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
 
Senior guard Brandon Adelman (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) recorded his first collegiate double-double – 16 points and 11 rebounds – off the bench with four assists and junior post Luke Budzyn (St. Paul, Minn./East Ridge) added 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
 
SJU was without senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview), its leader in scoring (14.1 ppg.) and assists (42), due to illness.
 
Caleb Williams led the Scots with 20 points on 9-for-22 shooting and Coby Gold followed with 19 points. Williams poured in a school-record 51 points thanks to a 20-for-28 showing from the field in the Scots' 92-88 Wednesday night (Jan. 24) at Concordia.
 
SJU outrebounded Mac by a 40-29 margin and the bench tallied a 37-10 scoring advantage. The home team finished at 37.1 percent (23-for-62) overall and 29.2 percent (7-for-24) from behind the arc. The Scots took the court Saturday ranked fifth nationally in three-pointers per game (11.3) and 12th in three-point percentage (.390).

TIED FOR THIRD: Vaughn's three-pointer in the second half on Saturday tied him with Larry Bassett '92 for third in SJU history with 180 for his career. After Bassett, Patrick Strom '18 is next in second with 232.

TIED FOR 18TH: Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview), who did not play at Macalester due to illness, scored 17 points in last Wednesday's (Jan. 24) home win over Carleton, which lifted him past Aaron Burtzel '11 (1,153) and Bill Christopherson '53 (1,164), and into a tie with Tom Melancon '68 for 18th on SJU's all-time scoring list with 1,166 for his career. Former teammate Zach Hanson '21 is 17th with 1,168 points.

RECEIVING VOTES AGAIN: For the third time this season, SJU received votes in the latest D3hoops.com's Top 25 poll posted Monday (Jan. 29).

STAT COMPARISONS: The Johnnies lead the league in five of the six major statistical categories in conference play.

Scoring Offense
1. SJU, 85.5 ppg. (83.1 overall)
10. AUG, 69.8 ppg. (72.6 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 67.1 ppg. (69.9 overall)
8. AUG, 78.5 ppg. (80.8 overall)

Shooting Percentage
1. SJU, .535 (.509 overall *No. 1 in Division III)
10. AUG, .429 (.440 overall)

Three-Point Percentage
1. SJU, .431 (.395 overall *No. 7 in Division III)
11. AUG, .310 (.319 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
1. SJU, .799 (.810 overall *No. 4 in Division III)
9. AUG, .677 (.681 overall)

Rebounding
4. AUG, 34.8 rpg. (35.8 overall)
5. SJU, 33.5 rpg. (33.5 overall)

NATIONAL STATS: As noted above, SJU leads all of NCAA Division III shooting percentage (.509), is fourth in free-throw percentage (.810), seventh in three-point percentage (.395) and 10th in fewest turnovers per game (10.1). Individually, Vaughn is eighth in three-point percentage at .473 (51-for-109).

A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg (7-11, 5-8 MIAC) won a 85-76, overtime thriller at St. Olaf last Saturday (Jan. 27) in Northfield. The Auggies led by as much as eight points in the second half before the game went back and forth down the stretch. The Oles led 68-65 with just 10 seconds on the clock before freshman (6-foot-0) guard Trent Gomez successfully pump-faked a defender and hit a game-tying three-pointer to send the game to overtime. The Auggies started out slow in the extra period before going on a 17-2 run to secure the win. Freshman (6-foot-4) guard Caden Sullivan led Augsburg with 16 points off the bench on a 7-for-10 showing from the field, while Gomez added 15. Senior (6-foot-5) forward Colin Meade leads the Auggies on the season with 12.5 points per game and junior (6-foot-4) guard Will Blascziek is the other Auggie averaging in double digits with 11.7. 

BACK IN DECEMBER: Everything went the Johnnies' way in a 112-54 rout of Augsburg earlier this season on Dec. 4 in Sexton Arena. SJU shot 67.2 percent (41-for-61) from the field, including 53.8 percent (14-for-26) from three-point range, to Augsburg's 24.1 percent (14-for-58) in the win. The bench accounted for 78 points and the home team scored 20 points off 18 Auggie turnovers.
 
Eight Johnnies scored the team's first eight field goals and 17 scored two points or more.
 
-The 58-point differential was SJU's largest since Dec. 15, 1978 – a 121-62 home win over George Williams (Wis.).
-The 41 made field goals and 112 points were both the third-most in an SJU game and the most since Jan. 17, 2018 (a 133-80 win with 47 made field goals at Macalester).
-The .672 (41-for-61) shooting percentage is tied for the fourth-best in the Johnnies' recorded history and their best since earlier this year on Feb. 11, 2023 (a 90-58 win over Saint Mary's), when they also shot .672 (39-for-58) from the field.
 
Adelman led all scorers with a career-high 19 points off the bench, thanks to a perfect 7-for-7 night from the field (3-for-3 from three-point) in 12:24 played. Vaughn followed with 14 points – on a 4-for-6 performance from behind the arc – and three assists in 13 minutes. 
 
Junior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) totaled 12 points, on 4-for-4 shooting (3-for-3 from three-point), with four rebounds and a career-high four blocks. Sophomore guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) was the fourth Johnnie in double figures with 10 points and three assists.
 
SJU opened up a nine-point game (24-15) with a 15-5 run, on 7-for-8 shooting, and led 51-26 at halftime. The Johnnies missed their first two shot attempts of the second half but responded by making each of their next 14 – 6-for-6 from three-point – and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line over span of 8:16 to build an 89-40 lead with 10:26 to play.
 
Will Blascziek and Isaac Rabaey led Augsburg with eight points apiece but combined to go 1-for-8 from the floor (13-for-18 from the free-throw line). Twenty-four (24-for-35) of the Auggies' 54 points came at the charity stripe.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 68-60 against the Auggies since 1964-65, but just 27-38 in Minneapolis. SJU, however, has won 17 of the last 22 meetings overall and seven of the last nine in Si Melby Hall. The Johnnies made half of their shots but committed 22 turnovers in a 75-66 loss at Augsburg the last time they visited Minneapolis on Jan. 21 (2023).