Saint John's travels south to face Gustavus Adolphus at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, at Gus Young Court in St. Peter before facing St. Thomas in an exhibition game at the newly constructed Lee and Penny Anderson Arena at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11.

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THE JOHNNIE-TOMMIE GAME: Thursday's contest will serve as an exhibition for the Johnnies, but a regular-season game for St. Thomas. The exhibition game will be the first between the two basketball programs since 2021, when the Tommies won both meetings during the COVID-impacted 2020-21 season. Prior to that shortened season, SJU had won six of the previous eight meetings in the series. UST left the MIAC following the 2020-21 academic year for Division I and has started its season 7-4 overall, including 4-0 at home. 

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (3-4, 1-1 MIAC) shot 40.7 percent (11-for-27) from three-point range to hand Concordia-Moorhead its first loss of the season – 82-65 – on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 6) in Sexton Arena. The Johnnies out-rebounded the Cobbers 43-29, including a 12-5 margin on the offensive glass, for a 20-9 advantage in second-chance points.

After a Wednesday night (Dec. 3) where the Johnnies were only 22.2 percent from three (6 of 27), SJU got makes from four different players, including senior guard Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle), who was playing in just his second game this season after missing all of preseason practice and the first five games due to injury. Johnson led the Johnnies with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting, 4-for-6 from three-point range, with two assists and two steals.

The score was deadlocked between the two teams five times and the lead changed double that, but junior guard Baiden Bean's (Farmington, Minn.) free throws right before halftime gave SJU the cushion it needed to carry its lead for the rest of the game. 

Concordia worked its way back within four points in the second half, but a 10-4 SJU run, which featured five points out of the hands of freshman guard Hudson Hochstedler (Monticello, Minn.), put the game out of reach.

Saint John's had 18 more points left in its offense after the breaking point on Saturday night, delivering Concordia its first loss off the season.

Bean finished behind Johnson with a solid stat sheet – 13 points, six assists and five rebounds – in 27 minutes off the bench. Sophomore post Charlie Theis (Cottage Grove, Minn./East Ridge) was next with 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting with two rebounds in 19 minutes.

Junior wing Jamison Lien (Prior Lake, Minn.) controlled the boards with 12 rebounds – six on each end of the court – alongside eight points (3-for-5) and three assists.

CC's Jacob Cook led all scorers with 22 points, on 8 of 14 shooting, in 30 minutes. Jackson Loge (5-for-15) and Peyton Belka (5-for-11) were next with 12 points apiece.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (6-1, 2-0 MIAC) earned a convincing 90-54 win over Saint Mary's last Saturday (Dec. 6) in Winona. GAC scored more than 40 points in both halves to deal SMU its ninth loss of the season. Four Gusties shot in double digits, led by junior guard Myles Barnette who totaled 16 points on 8-for-11 shooting with five rebounds, a trio of assists and two steals. A total of 17 different players grabbed a rebound as the Gusties tallied 17 second chance points and 42 points in the paint. Barnette leads Gustavus in scoring with an average of 17 points per game on a 59.2 shooting percentage from the field. He also leads the team with 27 assists, 16 steals and six blocks. Junior guard Jake Schmitt is second in scoring with 14.6 points per game and 17 three-pointers. Sophomore forward Andrew Quam has a team-leading 31 rebounds (4.4 per game). Senior guard Eli Wolff and freshman wing Eli Ehrke complete the regular starters for Gustavus, who also graduated all five of its starters last spring.

LAST SEASON: Then-No. 6 SJU saw its win streak end at 16 games with a 66-62 loss at Gustavus on Feb. 15. GAC out-rebounded SJU 29-25 (8-2 on the offensive glass) and out-scored the Johnnies 38-24 in the paint. The 62 points scored were a season low for SJU and the loss was the Johnnies' first to GAC since Feb. 17, 2016 (63-62 in St. Peter).

A layup from wing Ryan Thissen '24 gave SJU its last lead of the game – 57-56 – with 3:21 to play, but SJU missed its last four field-goal attempts and went 5-for-7 at the free-throw line the rest of the way.

Evan Wieker converted on the other end for Gustavus and Spencer Swanson gave the home team a 60-57 lead with a turnaround jumper with 2:20 left. Johnson cut it to 60-59 with a pair of free throws at the 2:07 mark, which is where the score stood until Jake Schmitt drained a three-pointer to give GAC a 63-59 advantage with 36 seconds remaining.

Guard Zach Longueville '25 made both of his free throws with 28 ticks on the clock and Schmitt went 1-for-2 at the line on the other end to give the Gusties a 64-61 lead.

Thissen's driving layup rolled off the rim on the ensuing possession and the tipped rebound found its way to Wieker for an easy, fast-break dunk. Longueville, who missed the previous game against Macalester due to illness, was fouled on a three-point attempt but made only one of the three free throws for the final margin.

Thissen led SJU with 16 points on 7-for-14 shooting, while Johnson totaled 12 points and led the Johnnies with five rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench.

Longueville and guard Blake Berg '24 tallied 11 points and four rebounds apiece.

SJU shot 44 percent (11-for-25) from the field in the first half, but just 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) from behind the arc and led 31-29 at the break thanks to a disparity in made free throws. The Johnnies went a perfect 7-for-7 at the charity stripe to the Gusties' 2-for-8 showing.

Wyatt Olson led all scorers with 20 points and completed the double-double with 11 rebounds for GAC. The Gusties shot 54.5 percent (12-for-22) in the second half and finished at 47.2 percent (25-for-53) for the game, but went 13-for-25 (52 percent) at the free-throw line.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 70-60 against Gustavus since the 1964-65 season, but just 26-36 in St. Peter. The Johnnies have won 15 of the last 16 meetings overall, including seven of eight at Gus Young Court.