WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team returns home to the SMU Gym on Wednesday, as the Cardinals host eighth-ranked St. Thomas in a 7:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC | 0-5 Overall)
vs. #5 St. Thomas Tommies (3-0 MIAC | 6-0 Overall)

GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats/Video | GameDay Program

Last Action:
Michael Burfeind (Lewiston, Minn.) scored 14 points and Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) chipped in 10, but the Cardinals could not overcome Hamline's fast start, as the Pipers pulled away for an 82-58 MIAC victory Monday at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, raced out to a 22-0 lead and never looked back in cruising to a 93-64 conference win over Concordia at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
January 21, 2012: If SMU was intimidated by St. Thomas' gaudy resume — which included “defending national champion” and “nationally ranked” — they certainly didn't show it. In fact, for the first 20 minutes, the Cardinals gave the Tommies all they could handle — and more. Unfortunately, the second half wasn't as memorable for SMU, as St. Thomas outscored the Cardinals 38-24 over the game's final 20 minutes to hand Saint Mary's a 77-59 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the SMU Gym.
February 18, 2012: Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) scored 17 points, but it wasn't enough, as SMU closed out its 2011-2012 season with a 70-40 MIAC setback against St. Thomas at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

Up Next:
The Cardinals step out of conference play on Saturday, as SMU hosts Crown in a 3 p.m. nonconference game at the SMU Gym. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, also takes a conference breather, traveling to Mankato, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Bethany Lutheran on Monday.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2012-13 Roster | 2012-13 Statistics | 2012-13 Schedule
Wednesday's game against fifth-ranked St. Thomas is the first of two straight home games for the Cardinals, who have played four of their first five games this season on the road. … Michael Burfeind (Lewiston, Minn.), who missed three games due to a concussion, returned to the court Monday against Hamline, pouring in a team-high 14 points. … Burfeind has now scored in double figures 34 times in his collegiate career — including nine games of 20 or more points. … Burfeind heads into Wednesday's game against St. Thomas owning a team-leading 16.0 ppg scoring average and is just 260 points shy of becoming the 25th Cardinal to reach the 1,000 career point milestone. … Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.), coming off his first collegiate double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds against St. Olaf last Wednesday, netted 10 points against Hamline Monday. … Swiggum's double-double against St. Olaf last Wednesday was SMU's second of the season. Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.) had a 12-point, 11 rebound effort against North Central (Minn.) on Nov. 17. … Schumacher scored a career-high 19 points against St. Olaf last Wednesday. Schumacher knocked down 8 of 11 field goals — including a 3-for-3 effort from the 3-point line. … Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) and Schumacher join Burfeind to give SMU a trio of players averaging in double figures. Pederson comes into Wednesday's game vs. UST averaging 12.8 ppg, while Schumacher is scoring at an 11.2 ppg clip. … Pederson has knocked down a team-high eight 3-pointers, while also leading the team with 19 assists — including equaling his career high with seven assists vs. Dominican on Nov. 20. … Pederson played in every minute of back-to-back games against North Central (Minn.) and Dominican on Nov. 17 and Nov. 20, and is averaging 32.8 minutes-per-game. … After averaging 57.8 ppg a year ago, the Cardinals are on a 63.8 ppg clip in their first five games this season. … SMU's six highest offensive outputs over the past two seasons have all come on the road.

Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2012-13 Roster | 2012-13 Statistics | 2012-13 Schedule
St. Thomas has climbed from 11th in the d3hoops.com preseason rankings to No. 8 last week and No. 5 this week. … The Tommies return 10 of their top 11 players from a co-MIAC champion squad that lost in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs on the road to eventual national champion UW-Whitewater. … St. Thomas is 4-0 on the road as part of its 6-0 start, including a 70-65 win at nationally-ranked Whitworth (Wash.). The Tommies also scored a 93-83 exhibition road win at NCAA Division II power Winona State. … John Nance scored a game-high 15 points for Tommies in their win over Concordia. Connor Nord and Tommy Hannon also scored in double figures vs. the Cobbers Monday, with Nord netting 14 points and Hannon 10. … The Tommies have now had a different leading scorer in four straight games. … St. Thomas got 49 of its 93 points vs. Concordia from bench players. … UST, which raced out to a 22-0 lead vs. the Cobbers Monday, got scoring from 14 different players. … As a team, the Tommies are averaging 85.0 ppg. They have scored 80 or more points in four of their six games — including a season-high 104 in a season-opening 104-81 win over Whitman. … Will DeBerg enters Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's averaging a team-best 12.8 ppg. He is the only Tommie averaging in double figures. … DeBerg also leads the team with 12 3-pointers, while Hannon is the team's rebounding leader with 35 (5.8 rpg). … Noah Kaiser owns the team lead with 20 assists and Nance has collected a team-best 15 steals. … The Tommies have the best record in NCAA Division III over the last five seasons at 111-15, highlighted by a national championship in 2010-11. Seven Tommies who played in the national title win over Wooster are still on the team.