No. 14 Saint John's travels to face Concordia for a 5:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 15, in Moorhead. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (12-2, 5-0 MIAC) made 70 percent (42-for-60) of its shots in a 96-70 win over Bethel – its eighth-straight victory – last Wednesday (Jan. 8) in Sexton Arena. SJU (missed nine shots, both inside (32-for-41) and outside (10-for-19) the arc, and out-scored the Royals 61-23 off the bench.

Although SJU led Wednesday's game by as much as 33 (83-50) with 7:31 remaining, the contest's first 12 minutes were back-and-forth and had a 22-22 score with 8:28 remaining. BU led by six (20-14) with 11:06 on the clock, but the home team made 15 of its final 19 shots (3-for-4 from three-point) to close the first half with a 33-8 run for a 47-28 halftime advantage. The Johnnies finished at 73.3 percent (22-for-30) from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The Royals opened the second half with an 8-4 run, but the Johnnies rattled off 13-straight points in an eventual 17-2 run to gain a 30-point lead (68-38) with 12:47 left.

Senior guard Luke Healy (Hudson, Wis.) led all scorers with a career-high 18 points, on 8-for-9 shooting, in 15:35 off the bench. 

Senior post Luke Budzyn (St. Paul, Minn./East Ridge) and senior wing Griffin Rushin (Baxter, Minn./Brainerd) added 12 points apiece off the bench. Budzyn went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, including three dunks, and tied for the team lead with five rebounds, while Rushin added four boards and two blocks.

Senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) was the fourth Johnnie in double figures with 10 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 23:29 played.

Nick Burke and Payton Thomsen led BU with 12 points each. The Royals finished at 41.2 percent (28-for-68) for the game, but just 21.9 percent (7-for-32) from behind the arc.

WHOA: The .700 field-goal percentage recorded last Wednesday was the Johnnies' highest since their program record of 70.1 percent (47-for-67) recorded on Jan. 17, 2018, at Macalester (a 133-80 win).

1. .701 (47-67) – Jan. 17, 2018 at Macalester
2. .700 (42-60) – Jan. 8, 2025 vs. Bethel
3. .694 (34-49) – Nov. 28, 2018 vs. Bethel
4. .688 (33-48) – Nov. 5, 2021 vs. UW-River Falls at UW-Superior
5. .672 (39-58) – Feb. 11, 2023 vs. Saint Mary's
     .672 (41-61) – Dec. 4, 2023 vs. Augsburg
7. .667 (32-48) – Nov. 20, 2014 vs. Minnesota-Morris
8. .661 (39-59) – Feb. 14, 2007 vs. Hamline
9. .657 (23-35) – Jan. 28, 2015 at Concordia
10. .655 (36-55) – Jan. 11, 2020 at St. Thomas

RECORD BOOK WATCH: Thissen is currently sixth in program history with 1,453 points, 27 behind Bill Sexton '55 in fifth (1,480). Senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.), meanwhile, is 22nd on SJU's scoring list with 1,141 points, 12 behind Aaron Burtzel '11 in 21st (1,153). Vaughn is currently second on SJU's list with 242 career three-pointers, 24 behind the record of 266 owned by David Stokman '19, and is also second in free-throw percentage (.890/243-for-273).

NCAA STATS: The Johnnies currently (through games of Jan. 13) lead all of NCAA Division III in free-throw percentage (.810), are fourth in fewest turnovers per game (9.3), 13th in assist/turnover ratio (+1.60), 15th in both scoring margin (+14.4 ppg.) and three-point defense (.268), and 18th in scoring defense (62.3 ppg.).

NEW POLL: SJU moved up one spot to No. 14 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll released Monday night (Jan. 13). Four teams from NCAA's Region 9 were ranked in the top 25: Wisconsin-Platteville (No. 1), Wisconsin-La Crosse (No. 13), SJU (No. 14) and Wisconsin-Stevens Point (No. 18). Nebraska Wesleyan and Wisconsin-Oshkosh received votes.

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
2. SJU, 79.4 ppg. (76.7 overall)
6. CC, 70.8 ppg. (69.6 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 63.6 ppg. (62.3 overall)
4. CC, 66.6 ppg. (66.4 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Offense
2. SJU, .551 (.481 overall)
8. CC, .435 (.441 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Defense
1. CC, .397 (.384 overall)
3. SJU, .429 (.394 overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Offense
2. SJU, .421 (.380 overall)
4. CC, .363 (.304 overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
1. SJU, .306 (.268 overall)
2. CC, .323 (.323 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
2. SJU, .773 (.810 overall)
5. CC, .718 (.664 overall)

Rebounding
1. CC, 41.0 rpg. (40.1 overall)
4. SJU, 34.6 rpg. (36.6 overall)

Turnovers
3. SJU, 10.0 tpg. (9.3 overall)
10. CC, 14.2 tpg. (13.7 overall)

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (6-8, 2-3 MIAC) won its second-straight game with an 82-56 win on Saturday (Jan. 11) at St. Olaf. Junior (6-foot-6) forward Jacob Cook grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds, scored 21 points and had three blocks en route to MIAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Junior (6-foot-8) forward Jackson Loge leads the team in scoring (16.2 ppg.), rebounding (9.6 rpg.), shooting percentage (.548), assists (41) and blocks (13). Cook is next with 15.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Senior (6-foot-6) forward Rowan Nelson (12.7 ppg.) and junior (6-foot-1) guard Peyton Belka (10.4 ppg.) also average in double figures for scoring.

LAST SEASON: The Johnnies and Cobbers split the series for the second-straight season in 2023-24.

Saint John's 77, at Concordia 70 (Dec. 6, 2023)
Thissen became the 40th Johnnie in program history to score 1,000 career points with a game-high 27, including 19 in the second half, in the victory. He needed 21 points and reached the milestone with a pair of free throws to give SJU a 59-52 lead with 9:44 to play. Thissen entered the game 0-for-7 from three-point range this season and finished with a career-high four (4-for-4), while adding five rebounds and three assists with a perfect 7-for-7 showing from the charity stripe. 

Concordia used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 65-65 with 3:33 remaining, but Rushin drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession and, after the Cobbers cut it to one with 2:09 left, Vaughn hit a trey to make it 71-67.

CC's Cook made one of his two free-throw attempts before senior guard Blake Berg (West Fargo, N.D./Sheyenne) hammered home a dunk with 1:13 on the clock. Both teams exchanged misses, two for SJU, and Cook cut it to 73-70 on a basket with 15 seconds left. Vaughn sealed the win when he made a pair of free throws on the next possession and two more, after Cook committed a turnover, with five seconds remaining.

Vaughn finished with 15 points and a trio of three-pointers (3-for-8). Berg and Rushin followed with eight points apiece. Berg went 4-for-6 from the floor and Rushin added a career-high 10 rebounds.

The teams entered halftime deadlocked at 33-33 thanks to a half-court heave from Matt Johnson at the horn. He entered the game averaging a team-best 17.4 points per game but was held to just those three Wednesday night.

Loge led CC with 20 points, while Cook totaled 17 points and nine rebounds.

Concordia 80, at Saint John's 79 (Feb. 5, 2024)
SJU suffered an 80-79 loss to Concordia but clinched at least a share of the MIAC regular-season title and a top-two seed in the conference playoffs (first-round bye) in Sexton Arena.

The Johnnies shot 63 percent (17-for-27) in the first half, including 5-for-7 from three-point range (71.4 percent), to take a 41-33 lead into halftime. The margin would have been much worse, but the Cobbers scored 14 points off seven offensive rebounds and were whistled for only two fouls in the first half.

The shooting percentages flipped in the second half as CC shot 61.1 percent (11-for-18) from the floor to SJU's 35.5 percent (11-for-31) despite the 13-shot deficit. The Cobbers, however, did the most damage at the free-throw line by going 22-for-26 (84.6 percent) in the second half and 24-for-29 (82.8 percent) for the game. CC entered the game shooting 70.4 percent from the charity stripe on the season.

Concordia started the second half with a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to one (41-40), but the Johnnies responded and gradually built a 57-50 lead with 10:38 to play. The Cobbers answered with a 10-0 run to gain their first lead of the game and never relinquished it.

SJU made six of its final 14 field-goal attempts but could not overcome CC's 11-for-15 showing at the free-throw line the rest of the way. The Johnnies trailed by as much as eight (77-69) with 29 seconds remaining, but trimmed it to one at the horn after Thissen and Vaughn each made a three-pointer and a pair of free throws.

Thissen and junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) tied for the team lead with 17 points apiece. The 17 points were a career high for Johnson, while Thissen also grabbed seven rebounds with two steals.

Vaughn followed with 15 points on just 3-for-5 shooting (3-for-4 from three-point) and Berg added 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting in only 14:55 due to foul trouble.

Matt Johnson led Concordia with 26 points, including 20 in the second half, and eight rebounds. CC ended the game at 50 percent (25-for-50) from the floor and outrebounded SJU, 33-28 (9-8 on the offensive glass). The Johnnies went 15-for-18 at the free-throw line.

Senior guard Zach Longueville (Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) was coming off an illness and played only six minutes, while Budzyn did not play due to illness.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 84-37 against Concordia since the 1964-65 season, but just 32-29 in Moorhead during that span.