No. 23 Saint John's plays host to Carleton at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in Sexton Arena. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video 

5 P.M. START ON SATURDAY: Saturday's home game vs. Carleton was originally scheduled for a 1 p.m. tip-off but has been pushed back to a 5 p.m. start due to SJU football's NCAA playoff game at noon.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (5-2, 1-0 MIAC) opened the MIAC basketball schedule with a 75-60 win over St. Olaf on Wednesday night (Dec. 4) in Collegeville. The Johnnies out-rebounded the Oles by a 41-23 margin, including 10-5 on the offensive glass, which the home team turned into a 16-0 advantage in second-chance points.

STO scored a basket on its first possession of the second half to cut the Johnnies' lead to two (39-37), but SJU answered with a 13-3 run to gain its first double-digit lead of the game. The visitors battled back to within six (55-49) on a 9-3 advantage with 9:38 to play. The Johnnies responded with the game-clinching run – 10-3 – and led by as much as 17 with under a minute remaining. Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) accounted for eight of the 10 points over the five-minute span and finished with a season-high 27 on 11-for-19 shooting.

SJU shot 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from the field in the second half, including an even 50 percent (4-for-8) from three-point range.

The Johnnies led by as much as nine (14-5) 5:30 into the game and by seven (24-17) with 9:06 left before the break, but the Oles put together a 12-4 run to gain their first lead of the game (29-28) at the 5:25 mark. Buckets on three-straight possessions gave the visitors another one-point lead (35-34) with 2:26 remaining before SJU closed the half with a trey from senior guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) and a jumper from senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) to give the home team a 39-35 halftime lead.

Berg and senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.) followed Thissen with 12 points apiece. Berg added eight rebounds and two blocks.

Kobe Kirk led STO with 11 points on a 5-for-14 night from the floor.

CLIMBING THE SCORING LIST: The 20-point game was the second of the season and 22nd overall for Thissen, who passed Craig Muyres '64 (1,344) and Tyler Weiss '18 (1,349) for 10th in program history with 1,358 career points. Vaughn's 12-point performance lifted him past Ryan Lieser '08 (1,057) for 35th (1,064) on the scoring list. 

MIAC-OPENING SUCCESS: The Johnnies are now 39-11 in the MIAC opener since 1975-76, including a 27-3 record in Collegeville. 

NEW POLL: SJU fell eight spots to No. 23 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll released yesterday (Dec. 2). The poll's top three remained unchanged from last week's rankings: Trine (Ind.), Washington (Mo.) and Emory (Ga.). Three from NCAA's Region 9 - Wisconsin-Platteville (No. 6), Wisconsin-La Crosse (No. 14) and SJU (No. 23) - were listed in the top 25. Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Illinois College and Wisconsin-Oshkosh received votes.

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
-CAR, 76.0 ppg.
-SJU, 71.9 ppg.

Scoring Defense
-SJU, 61.9 ppg.
-CAR, 69.3 ppg.

Shooting Percentage – Offense
-CAR, .459
-SJU, .423

Shooting Percentage – Defense
-SJU, .377
-CAR, .448

Three-Point Percentage – Offense
-CAR, .366/41-for-112
-SJU, .324/55-for-170

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
-SJU, .229/33-for-144 (No. 3 in Division III)
-CAR, .308/36-for-117

Free-Throw Percentage
-SJU, .811/86-for-106 (No. 7 in Division III)
-CAR, .784/87-for-111 (No. 23 in Division III)

Rebounding
-SJU, 40.0 rpg.
-CAR, 35.5 rpg.

Turnovers
-SJU, 9.7 tpg. (No. 18 in Division III)
-CAR, 13.2 tpg.

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton (5-1, 1-0 MIAC) is coming off its fifth-consecutive win - a 78-50 home decision over St. Scholastica – on Wednesday night (Dec. 4) in Northfield. The Knights had two players in double figures, led by senior (6-foot-1) guard Luke Harris with 20 points on 9-for-12 from the field and three steals. He leads the team in scoring (21.3 ppg.), minutes (33.2 mpg.), free throws (30-for-39) and steals (9). Sophomore (6-foot-5) forward Sam Koelling added 15 points with nine rebounds and is averaging 15.2 points and 7.5 boards this season.

LAST SEASON'S MEETINGS: The Johnnies swept the regular-season series against the Knights for the third time in the last four seasons in 2023-24.

Saint John's 74, at Carleton 72 (Nov. 21, 2023)
Senior guard Luke Healy (Hudson, Wis.) scored what proved to be the game-winning basket with 4.4 seconds remaining to give Saint John's a 74-72 win at Carleton in last season's MIAC opener held on Nov. 21, 2023, in Northfield.

Healy caught the inbounds pass under the hoop and dribbled the length of the court for a left-handed layup with 4.4 seconds to play. Miles Frisch's three-point attempt for Carleton, from the top of the arc at the horn, hit off the right iron for the win.

Down 37-29 at halftime, SJU opened the second half with a 17-4 run and built a 10-point lead – 69-59 – with 2:57 to play. The Knights, however, answered with a 13-3 run before Healy's go-ahead basket.

A trio of missed free throws and a pair of big shots from Carleton tied the game late. Ahead 71-67 with 42 seconds, Healy made one of his two free throws before the Knights' Matt Banovetz nailed a three-pointer to cut the home team's deficit to 72-70 with 23 ticks on the clock. An 82.4-percent (168-for-204) free-throw shooter in his career at the time, Thissen missed both of his free throws with 22.2 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, Harris spun in the paint and tied the game with 10.8 seconds left.

Berg led five Johnnies in double digits for points with 16. He also added three rebounds, three assists and two blocks before he fouled out with 44 seconds remaining.

Thissen followed with 13 points, all of which came in the second half, and five rebounds. Healy finished with 11 points off the bench, while guard Brandon Adelman '24 and Vaughn added two treys and 10 points apiece. A three-pointer from Adelman gave SJU its first lead of the game – 42-41 – 5:18 into the second half.

Harris led all scorers with 31 points for Carleton. He went 17-for-20 at the free-throw line – the rest of the team was 4-for-4 – and added six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

The Knights out-rebounded SJU by a 39-30 margin, including 12-6 on the offensive glass, though second-chance points were even at 9-9. SJU shot 48.5 percent (16-for-33) from the field in the second half – to the Knights' 31-percent (9-for-29) output – to finish at 45.6 percent (26-for-57).

at Saint John's 102, Carleton 90 (Jan. 24, 2024)
SJU shot 62.7 percent (37-for-59) from the field in a 102-90 victory over Carleton back on Jan. 24 in Sexton Arena. The Johnnies made 66.7 percent (24-for-36) of their shots, including a 9-for-14 performance from three-point range, to build a 60-39 halftime lead. The Knights made each of their first six shots and led for the game's first 9:48 until SJU went on a 13-2 run – fueled by eight points from senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) off the bench – to gain a 35-25 lead with 7:09 left in the first half. The home team then proceeded to make nine of its final 13 shot attempts for the 21-point cushion at intermission.

Carleton scored the first six points of the second half and cut its deficit to as little as five (76-71) with 11:09 remaining thanks to a 15-5 run. A trio of free throws from Vaughn on the next possession put him on the scoreboard and extended the lead back to eight. Frisch made it a six-point game for the Knights on the other end, but back-to-back buckets from Berg and Longueville pushed the lead back to double digits and the Johnnies led by at least seven the rest of the way. SJU went a perfect 13-for-13 from the free-throw line in the second half and finished at 50 percent (12-for-24) from long range in the victory.

Longueville led five Johnnies in double figures with a career-high 19 points on an 8-for-10 night from the floor. He scored 12 points in the second half, eight of which came in the game's final 8:52. He also added four assists and three rebounds.

Thissen added 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) and Rushin followed with 16 and 15 points, respectively, off the bench. The duo combined to go 7-for-10 from behind the arc. Berg was the other Johnnie in double digits with 11 points. SJU outrebounded Carleton 31-23 in the contest and scored 10 points off six turnovers, all in the first half.

Harris led the Knights with a game-high 30 points with a 7-for-14 showing from the field and a 14-16 performance at the charity stripe. He also led the visitors with seven rebounds. Banovetz followed with a career-high 25 points, thanks to a 6-for-10 night from three-point.

The 102 points were a series high for SJU against Carleton, which surpassed the previous high of 89 scored in an 89-76 win on Feb. 1, 1964, in the Old Gym.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 51-36 against Carleton since the 1964-65 season, including a 31-12 record in Collegeville. The Johnnies have won 10 of the last 12 meetings in Sexton Arena.