No. 12 Johnnie basketball travels to Grand Rapids, Mich., for the prestigious Great Lakes Invitational this Friday-Saturday, Nov. 22-23. SJU faces No. 21 Hope (Mich.) at 2 p.m. CT Friday, followed by a showdown with the tournament's host – No. 9 Calvin (Mich.) – at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday.

LIVE COVERAGE 
-Friday, Nov. 22: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video
-Saturday, Nov. 23: Listen Live (*WMIN-1010-AM/101.1 FM*) | | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (3-0 overall) went 2-0 last weekend in Iowa.

Saint John's 78, at Central 60 (Nov. 15)
SJU obliterated a four-point, halftime deficit with a 20-2 run to start the second half en route to a 78-60 win last Friday (Nov. 15) in Pella, Iowa. The Johnnies shot 52.8 percent (19-for-36) and out-rebounded the Dutch 20-15 in the second half. The key for the Johnnies was their defense, however, as the visitors held Central to 32 percent (8-for-25) from the floor, including 1-for-11 (9.1 percent) from three-point range, and scored 18 points off 10 turnovers in the game's final 20 minutes.

Senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) led four Johnnies in double figures with 21 points for the 10th 20-point game of his career. The performance enabled Vaughn to climb past Corey Jackson '96 (1,015), Nate Guetter '99 (1,018) and Kipp Christianson '97 (1,025) into 38th on SJU's all-time scoring list with 1,028 career points.

Senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) followed with 18 points, including 13 in the second half, and added seven rebounds.

Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) chipped in 12 points and senior guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) made all three of his three-point attempts and was next with 11 points, as well as six rebounds and five assists.

Senior wing Connor Schwob (Waconia, Minn.) totaled eight points, seven rebounds and three steals.

The Dutch erased a one-point deficit (27-26) with a 10-1 run before SJU closed the first half with the final four points from Thissen to cut the home team's lead to 36-32 at the break.

Central's 6-foot-10 center Joshua Van Gorp, an All-American and the American Rivers Conference (ARC) Most Valuable Player last season, was the Dutch's lone player in double digits with 29 points in addition to 11 rebounds.

SJU finished at 47.7 percent (31-for-65) for the game, including 40.9 percent (9-for-22) from behind the arc, to Central's 40-percent output (22-for-55) and 4-for-24 showing from long range. The Johnnies added 15 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds.

Saint John's 75, at Simpson 52 (Nov. 16)
The Johnnies rolled to a 75-52 win at Simpson (Iowa) to wrap the trip on Saturday night (Nov. 16). SJU broke an 18-18 tie with a 19-4 run over the first half's final 7:30 to take a 37-22 lead into the break. The visitors then opened the second half with a 25-11 run to build their largest lead of the game – 29 (62-33) – with 9:46 remaining.

Berg and junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) scored 21 points apiece. Berg finished 10-for-11 from the field in 23 minutes of play, while the 21 points were a career high for Johnson off the bench. Fifteen of Johnson's 21 points came in eight minutes during the second half.

Senior post Luke Budzyn (St. Paul, Minn./East Ridge) was the third Johnnie in double digits with 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

SJU shot 47 percent (31-for-66) for the game, including 37 percent (10-for-27) from three-point range, and out-rebounded the Storm (1-3 overall) by a 39-31 margin. The Johnnies scored 14 points off 12 turnovers and held Simpson to 33.3 percent (16-for-48) from the field and 4-for-19 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc.

A LOOK AT THE FLYING DUTCHMEN: Hope (2-1 overall) won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) playoff title for the third-consecutive season and ended the 2023-24 campaign with a 23-7 record in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Senior (6-foot-9) center Gabe Quillan is a two-time All-MIAA second-team selection and is averaging 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game with a .583 shooting percentage (14-for-24) so far this season. Senior (6-foot-3) guard Josh Decker is next at 15.7 points and is a 50-percent shooter, both overall (12-for-24) and from three-point land (9-for-18). Hope was picked to finish third, behind defending national champion Trine (Ind.) and Calvin, in the MIAA preseason coaches' poll.

THE LAST MEETING: Hope topped SJU 62-58 in the third-place game of Illinois Wesleyan's Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational back on Nov. 13, 2021. The Johnnies made three of their 25 three-points attempts (12 percent) and finished at 36.1 percent (22-for-61) overall in the loss. 

SJU rode a 7-0 run to its second lead of the game, 53-52, with just over four minutes remaining and held its last advantage (55-54) with 2:52 left. The Johnnies, however, made only one of their final six shot attempts as the Flying Dutchmen scored eight of the game's final 11 points.

Thissen led all scorers with 19 points and post Carson Schoeller '23 scored a career-high 15 in his first collegiate start. He shot 7-for-10 from the floor and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Thissen, meanwhile, was later named to the six-man, all-tournament team. Post Zach Hanson '21 totaled seven points, nine rebounds and a team-high three assists.

Jeff Bikus led four Hope players in double figures with 14 points and grabbed 12 boards as the Flying Dutchmen out-rebounded SJU, 40-33.

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Calvin (0-4 overall) won a share of its second-straight MIAA regular-season title and ended the 2023-24 season with 25-5 record in Division III's Elite Eight. Graduate student Uchenna Egekeze, a 6-foot-4 forward, returns for his fifth season after he was named a D3hoops.com third-team All-American last year. He was also a D3hoops.com Preseason All-America second-team pick this fall and is second on the team in scoring (15.0 ppg.) with a .500 shooting percentage (19-for-38) through the season's first four games. Junior (6-foot-6) forward Owen Varnado currently leads the team in scoring (16.5 ppg.), rebounding (7.8 rpg.) and steals (8). The Knights face No. 8 Emory (Ga.) Friday before Saturday's game vs. SJU.

A FEW YEARS AGO: The first meeting between Calvin and SJU came in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament and resulted in a 77-71 loss for the Johnnies in Platteville, Wis.

SJU out-shot (46.3 percent to 45.1 percent) and out-rebounded (35-25) the Knights, but Calvin scored 16 points off 10 Johnnie turnovers. The Johnnies started the national tournament third across all NCAA divisions with an average of 8.7 turnovers per game.

The Johnnies entered the game averaging 13.7 fouls committed per contest, but were whistled for 26 in the loss. Calvin shot 69.1 percent from the free-throw line in its previous 28 games this season, but went 24-for-28 (85.7 percent), including an 18-for-20 performance in the second half. The 26 fouls were the most for SJU in a regulation game since Feb. 4, 2017 (26 at Bethel).

Hanson led SJU with his second consecutive double-double, and 11th of his career, with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He ended his career 17th in program history with 1,168 career points.

SJU shot 45.5 percent (10-for-22) from the field to the Knights' 34.6 percent (9-for-26), but CU scored 10 points off six SJU turnovers in the first half and the score was tied at 28-28 at the break.

The Johnnies were called for the second half's first six fouls, in the first 5:10 after halftime, as Calvin built a 42-36 lead. The Johnnies battled back with a 6-0 run to tie it, but the Knights used a 9-3 run to gain a six-point lead (51-45) and went on a 7-0 run - to gain its largest lead of the game (58-50) - after SJU cut the deficit to one (51-50). The Knights were in the bonus with 11:42 left, ahead 47-45.

Vaughn hit a three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining to make it a 71-68 game, but Calvin's Thad Shymanski made both free throws on the other end of the court. Vaughn made one of his two free-throw attempts on the ensuing possession, but wing Alex Rasmussen '22 tipped the rebound to guard Jake Binley '22 for an easy layup and a 73-71 score. Shymanski made two more at the charity stripe and SJU missed its final three shot attempts from behind the arc.

Vaughn followed Hanson with 14 points, while Thissen added 13 points. Thissen left the game due to injury with 9:56 to play.

Luke Morrison, the Knights' leading scorer (18.6 ppg.) and one of four graduate students in Calvin's starting lineup, poured in a game-high 22 points - all in the second half. Calvin shot 56 percent (14-for-25) overall and 3-for-6 from long range after halftime.