No. 12 Johnnie Basketball visits St. Olaf for a 7:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 29, in Northfield. - Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

BACK THERE SATURDAY: The Johnnies return to Northfield for a 3 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Feb. 1, at Carleton.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (15-2, 8-0 MIAC) earned a 78-69 road win, its 11th-straight victory, last Wednesday (Jan. 22) at Augsburg.

The Johnnies scored the game's first 12 points and led 23-8 before the Auggies went on a 15-2 run to cut their deficit to two (25-23) with 8:58 left before the break. SJU, however, closed the first half with a 24-8 run for a 49-31 halftime lead. The visitors shot 64.3 percent (18-for-28) from the field, including 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from three-point range, in the first 20 minutes.

SJU led by as much as 19 (61-42) with 13:17 to play and by 16 (70-54) with 8:13 left, but did not score until senior Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) made a jumper with 53 seconds on the clock. Augsburg, meanwhile, cut the Johnnies' lead to as little as seven but SJU went 6-for-7 at the free-throw line the rest of the way to seal the win.

Thissen tied a season high with 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second-consecutive double-double. He scored the game's first basket, which enabled him to pass Bill Sexton '55  (1,480) for fifth on SJU's all-time scoring list. He also climbed past David Stokman '19 (1,492) later in the first half and is now fourth with 1,506 career points. 

Junior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) made his first collegiate start in place of senior guard Kooper Vaughn (St. Charles, Minn.), who missed the game due to injury, and made a career-high five three-pointers (5-for-10) with 19 points.

Senior post Luke Budzyn (St. Paul, Minn./East Ridge) added 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks off the bench for SJU, which shot 34.6 percent (9-for-26) in the second half to finish at an even 50 percent (27-for-54) for the game.

Will Blascziek led the Auggies with 18 points. The home team shot 38.2 percent (26-for-68) from the field and 25.9 percent (7-for-27) from behind the arc.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Thissen was named the MIAC Men's Basketball Offensive Athlete of the Week on Monday (Jan. 27) for his performance at Augsburg. The weekly honor was the second for Thissen and his first since Nov. 8, 2021.

Thissen is currently third in the MIAC in scoring (17.0 ppg.) and ninth in both rebounding (6.1 rpg.) and shooting percentage (.551) in conference play. He is first in shooting percentage among those with 76 shot attempts or more.

STILL NO. 12: SJU stayed at No. 12 in yesterday's (Monday, Jan. 27) D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. Three teams from NCAA's Region 9 were ranked in the top 25: Wisconsin-Platteville (No. 4), Wisconsin-La Crosse (No. 10) and SJU (No. 12). Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Gustavus Adolphus received votes.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Thissen is fourth in program history with 1,506 points, 62 behind Troy Bigalke '01 in third. Vaughn is 18th on the scoring list with 1,169 career points, 48 behind Tom Grudnowski '72 in 17th (1,217). He is also second in school history with 248 career three-pointers, 18 behind the record of 266 owned by David Stokman '19, and is also second in free-throw percentage (.891/245-for-275).

NCAA STATS: The Johnnies currently (through games of Jan. 27) lead all of NCAA Division III in free-throw percentage (.810), is second in assist/turnover ratio (+1.74), fourth in fewest turnovers per game (9.2), sixth in three-point defense (.269), 12th in shooting percentage (.487), 14th in three-point percentage (.389), 16th in scoring margin (+15.0 ppg.) and 17th in scoring defense (62.9 ppg.).

STAT COMPARISONS: The Johnnies currently lead the MIAC in seven of the nine major statistical categories in conference play.

Scoring Offense
2. SJU, 80.9 ppg. (77.9 overall)
11. STO, 60.9 ppg. (59.9 overall)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 64.4 ppg. (62.9 overall)
6. STO, 72.5 ppg. (72.8 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Offense
1. SJU, .536 (.487 overall)
11. STO, .376 (.392 overall)

Shooting Percentage – Defense
t1. SJU, .417 (.395 overall)
8. STO, .479 (.485 overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Offense
1. SJU, .427/79-185 (.389/160-411 overall)
11. STO, .308/68-221 (.293/107-365 overall)

Three-Point Percentage – Defense
1. SJU, .292/47-161 (.269/90-335 overall)
11. STO, .407/68-167 (.396/116-293 overall)

Free-Throw Percentage
1. SJU, .791/68-86 (.810/170-210 overall)
7. STO, .697/99-142 (.692/189-273 overall)

Rebounding
4. SJU, 34.8 rpg. (36.4 overall)
7. STO, 33.6 rpg. (31.3 overall)

Turnovers
t1. SJU, 9.5 tpg. (9.2 overall)
9. STO, 11.7 tpg. (12.7 overall)

A LOOK AT THE OLES: St. Olaf (2-16, 1-8 MIAC) followed its second win of the season (78-67 on Jan. 22 at Saint Mary's) with a 68-63 home loss to crosstown rival Carleton on Saturday (Jan. 25). The Oles made eight of their first 11 three-point attempts for a 35-21 lead with under seven minutes left in the first half, but Carleton score 21-straight points. STO pulled to within two on three occasions in the second half but could not erase the deficit. Junior (6-foot-4) guard Kobe Kirk leads the team in scoring (16.7 ppg.) and minutes played (30.7 mpg.), and has nearly double (265 to 142) the shot attempts as the team's second-place shooter. 

BACK IN DECEMBER: SJU opened the MIAC basketball schedule with a 75-60 win over St. Olaf earlier this season on Dec. 4 in Sexton Arena. 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. Thissen 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 Vaughn 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.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 78-36 against the Oles since the 1964-65 season, but just 28-27 on the Oles' home court. SJU has won 12 of the last 14 meetings overall (15 of the last 18).