No. 12 Saint John's travels south to Iowa this weekend for a pair of games, beginning with a 7 p.m. tip-off on Friday, Nov. 15, at Central. SJU then visits Simpson for a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, Nov. 16.

LIVE COVERAGE
-Friday, Nov. 15, at Central: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video
-Saturday, Nov. 16, at Simpson: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (1-0 overall) opened its 2024-25 basketball season with a 73-62 win over Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday (Nov. 9) in Sexton Arena.

NCAA Division III's leader in shooting percentage (.516) and three-point percentage (.409) last season, SJU shot 35.9 percent (23-for-64) from the field and 32.4 percent (11-for-34) from behind the arc in the opener. The Johnnies, however, out-rebounded Oshkosh (0-1 overall) by a 43-36 margin, including 10-5 on the offensive glass, and scored 20 points off 15 Titan turnovers. The home team also scored an 8-4 advantage in second-chance points. 

Senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) led the Johnnies with 25 points on a 6-for-12 showing from the floor, including 4-for-8 from three-point range, and added five rebounds in the win. The performance enabled Vaughn to become the 41st Johnnie in program history to reach 1,000 career points. 

Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) followed with 21 points, his 21st game of 20 points or more, and passed Mitchell Kuck '16 for 14th in school history with 1,276 career points. Vaughn (9-10) and Thissen (4-4) combined to go 13-for-14 at the free-throw line.

The Johnnies made five of their first six shot attempts to build an early 13-2 lead, but Oshkosh responded with a 12-2 run and scored the half's final six points to take a 33-30 deficit into halftime.

UWO opened the second half with an 8-2 advantage for its first lead of the game (38-35), but the Johnnies answered with a 12-0 run and led the rest of the way.

The Titans' Michael Metcalf-Grassman led all scorers with 28 points, on 10-for-21 shooting, and added 10 rebounds for a double-double. The visitors shot 40.4 percent (23-for-57) for the game, but just 21.1 percent (4-for-19) from long range.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) was named the MIAC Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Week on Monday (Nov. 11) for his performance – 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals – off the bench in SJU's season-opening win. He played all 26 games, with one start, and led SJU with 23 blocked shots last season.

3 P.M. START ON NOV. 27: The Johnnies' next home game – a non-conference showdown with Wisconsin-La Crosse on Wednesday, Nov. 27 – has been moved from a 7 p.m. tip-off to 3 p.m. ahead of Thanksgiving the following day.

FIRST MEETINGS: This weekend's games will be the first for SJU against Central and Simpson on the basketball court.

A LOOK AT THE DUTCH: Friday's contest is the season opener for Central, which finished 17-9 (11-5 ARC) last season. Fifth-year (6-foot-10) center Joshua Van Gorp, a 2024-25 D3hoops.com preseason All-American and last season's American Rivers Conference (ARC) Most Valuable Player, returns after he averaged 23.4 points and 10.3 rebounds per game to go along with a .641 shooting percentage. Another fifth-year player, (6-foot-5) guard Kaleb Brand, was second on the team in scoring with 14.9 points per game. The Dutch were picked to finish fourth out of nine teams in the ARC preseason coaches' poll released Oct. 22.

A LOOK AT THE STORM: Simpson (1-1 overall) picked up its first win of the season – 87-85 – over St. Scholastica last Sunday (Nov. 10) to wrap up Loras' Tip-Off Classic in Dubuque, Iowa. The Storm built a 52-41 halftime lead but needed a three-pointer from freshman (5-foot-10) guard Cam Henderson at the buzzer to pull out the win. Simpson dropped the tournament's opener to Olivet (Mich.), 71-55. Senior (6-foot-6) forward Caden Rehmeier, the team's lone returning starter, is averaging 13.5 points so far this season. Henderson is next at 11.5 points and junior (5-foot-10) guard Bo Huston averages 10.5. The Storm commit 15.5 turnovers through the season's first two games and were picked eighth out of nine teams in the ARC preseason poll. Simpson hosts Augsburg Friday night bef