No. 15 Saint John's hosts No. 21 Wisconsin-La Crosse – its third-straight nationally ranked opponent – at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27, in Sexton Arena. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

EARLIER TIME: Wednesday's game was originally scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off but was moved up due to Thanksgiving.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (4-1 overall) went 1-1 at the prestigious Great Lakes Invitational last weekend (Nov. 22-23) in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Saint John's 64, then-No. 21 Hope (Mich.) 48
SJU opened the Great Lakes Invitational with a strong defensive showing and a 64-48 win over then-No. 21 Hope (Mich.) on Friday afternoon (Nov. 22). The Johnnies held the Flying Dutchmen to 28.3 percent (15-for-53) from the field, including 16.7 percent (3-for-18) from three-point range, and scored 18 points off 12 turnovers.

SJU started the game with a 19-6 run but made only two of its final 15 shots to finish at 29.6 percent (8-for-27) from the floor, to Hope's 24 percent (6-for-25), for a two-point halftime lead (22-20). The Flying Dutchmen made only two of their first 16 shots and closed the half with a 14-3 run. 

The Johnnies opened the second half with a 17-2 run for a 39-24 lead, but Hope trimmed its deficit to seven – 42-35 – with 8:44 to play. SJU, however, responded with 12-straight points in an eventual 16-1 run to seal the victory.

Eleven Johnnies found the scoresheet but only one, senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) reached double digits with 11 points and also led the team with eight rebounds.

Senior guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) was next with nine points, thanks to a 6-for-7 showing at the free-throw line, in just 14 minutes due to foul trouble. 

Senior guard Luke Healy (Hudson, Wis.) and junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) followed with seven points apiece off the bench. Healy added five rebounds and a team-high four assists for SJU, which finished at 40 percent (22-for-55) from the field.

at then-No. 9 Calvin (Mich.) 71, Saint John's 67
The Johnnies led by as much as 11 (39-28) with 16:20 remaining, but the Knights responded with a 22-6 run, including a 17-2 advantage over a 6:14 span. SJU was whistled for its seventh foul of the second half, sending Calvin to the bonus, with 13:28 left and a 43-37 lead. The two teams combined for 51 fouls (28-23 against SJU) and 73 free-throw attempts in the contest.

A runner in the paint from senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) cut the Johnnies' deficit to three (54-51) with 6:45 left. The made field goal, however, was SJU's last until Longueville made a long three-pointer from midcourt with 3.4 seconds remaining – a 6:41 stretch that saw SJU go 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-5 from behind the arc. 

The Johnnies shot 36 percent (9-for-25) from the field in the first half and held the Knights to 25.9 percent (7-for-27) overall and 16.7 percent (2-for-12) from three-point range for a 32-24 halftime lead.

Calvin made four of its first five three-point attempts and shot 45.8 percent (11-for-24) in the second half to the Johnnies' 31 percent (9-for-29). SJU went 2-for-15 from long range after halftime and 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) for the game.

Healy led SJU with 14 points off the bench, while Thissen and senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) followed with 13 points apiece. Saturday's output enabled Thissen to pass Mike Nester '02 for 12th in program history with 1,317 career points and Vaughn jumped past Steve Ward '75 and Mark Lenss '78 into 36th with 1,047. Thissen was later named to the eight-man, All-Great Lakes Invitational team (one player from each team).

Owen Varnado led the Knights with 23 points, including an 11-for-14 performance from the charity stripe.

NEW POLL: SJU slipped three spots to No. 15 in the first D3hoops.com Top 25 poll of the 2024-25 regular season posted on Monday (Nov. 25). Trine (Ind.), the defending NCAA Division III champions, received 23 of the 25 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 with 623 points. Washington (Mo.) and Emory (Ga.) picked up a first-place vote each at Nos. 2 (578 points) and 3 (556), respectively.

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
-UWL, 84.0 ppg.
-SJU, 71.4 ppg.

Scoring Defense
-SJU, 58.6 ppg. (No. 13 in Division III)
-UWL, .71.0 ppg.

Shooting Percentage – Offense
-UWL, .442
-SJU, .411

Shooting Percentage – Defense
-SJU, .356 (No. 13 in Division III)
-UWL, .388

Three-Point Percentage – Offense
-UWL, .351
-SJU, .317

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
-SJU, .212 (No. 8 in Division III)
-UWL, .333

Free-Throw Percentage
-SJU, .810 (No. 17 in Division III)
-UWL, .726

Rebounding
-UWL, 40.0 rpg.
-SJU, 39.8 rpg.

A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Wisconsin-La Crosse (4-1 overall) won both of its games this past weekend at the Great Lakes Invitational: 99-75 over Marietta (Ohio) and 76-59 over Johns Hopkins (Md.). The Eagles were picked to finish second in the WIAC preseason coaches' poll as they return four starters from last year's team that finished 14-12 (8-6 WIAC). Junior (6-foot-3) guard Dustin Derousseau joined Thissen on the Great Lakes Invitational's All-Tournament team last weekend and was All-WIAC honorable mention last season. He currently leads the team in scoring (17.8 ppg.) with a .517 shooting percentage (31-for-60) and is second in rebounding (7.0 rpg.). Senior (6-foot-0) guard Will Fuhrmann was also All-WIAC honorable mention last season and is averaging 8.6 points and two assists per game game. Junior (6-foot-7) forward JJ Paider was a first-team selection in 2023-24 and leads the team in rebounding (9.6 rpg.) and assists (23), and is third in scoring (12.6 ppg.). The final returning starter from last year is sophomore (6-foot-4) guard Sam Grieger, who is currently second on the team in scoring (13.8 ppg.) and third in rebounding (4.4 rpg.).

THE LAST MEETING: Then-No. 25 SJU basketball overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half but fell in its 2022-23 season opener at then-No. 15 Wisconsin-La Crosse, 84-80, the last time these two teams met on Nov. 8, 2022.

La Crosse scored the game's first 11 points and led by as much as 16 in the first half, which SJU chipped away to a 12-point deficit (45-33) at halftime. The home team led by 14 (57-43) with 12:50 left to play, but the Johnnies made five of their next six shots, including a four-point play from guard Vaughn, to make it a one-point game (60-59) with 8:29 remaining.

A layup from guard Brandon Adelman '24 on the next possession gave SJU its first lead of the game at the 7:49 mark. Vaughn hit another three-pointer to make it 66-64 in favor of the Johnnies with 6:44 left and a dunk from post Mitchell Plombon '23, following a traditional three-point play from UWL, gave the lead back (68-67) to SJU with 5:46 remaining.

The Johnnies, however, made only one of their next four shot attempts and turned the ball over four times as the Eagles built a 78-70 lead with just over a minute left. Three free throws from Vaughn cut the deficit to 82-80 with 14 ticks left on the clock, but UWL made its final two shots from the charity stripe to seal the victory.

Thissen led all scorers with 23 points, while Vaughn added 19 with a 4-for-7 performance from behind the arc. Both Johnnies were a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.

Post Carson Schoeller '23 added 13 points and five rebounds, and Adelman was the fourth Johnnie in double-figures with a career-high 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

All-American Ethan Anderson led the Eagles with 20 points and six assists.

SJU shot 50 percent, both overall (16-for-32) and from three-point range (6-for-12), in the second half to finish at 46.4 percent (26-for-56) for the game. The Johnnies outscored the Eagles 17-12 off turnovers and 6-4 in second-chance points, but missed 12 layups/shots in the paint in the loss.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 5-5 all-time against La Crosse on the hardwood: 3-1 in Collegeville; 0-3 in La Crosse, Wis.; and 2-1 in St. Cloud (at St. Cloud State).

-Dec. 31, 1969: W, 96-93 in St. Cloud (SCSU)
-Dec. 26, 1974: L, 62-81 in St. Cloud (SCSU)
-Dec. 28, 1977: W, 97-90 (OT) in St. Cloud (SCSU)
-Dec. 30, 1992: L, 78-89 in Collegeville
-Nov. 27, 1993: L, 82-85 in La Crosse, Wis.
-Nov. 21, 1997: W, 72-68 in Collegeville
-Nov. 21, 1998: W, 79-72 in Collegeville
-Nov. 22, 2017: L, 63-65 at La Crosse, Wis.
-Nov. 20, 2018: W, 84-79 in Collegeville
-Nov. 8, 2022: L, 80-84 at La Crosse, Wis.