| Saint Mary's made its first MIAC Tournament appearance since 1985 a year ago, collecting the program's first postseason victory with its 72-59 quarterfinal win over Bethel on Feb. 25. … Saint Mary's closed out the year with a 14-13 overall record. The 14 wins are the most overall wins since going 15-10 during the 1984-85 campaign. … Saint Mary's closed out conference play with a 10-10 mark, the most conference wins since going 11-9 during the 1999-2000 season. … The Cardinals had two players land MIAC post-season honors a year ago. Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) was a First-Team All-MIAC selection, while Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) was named to the MIAC All-First-Year Team. … The Cardinals closed out 2019-20 having a player score 20 or more points in each of their last five games and 19 times overall. … Cave netted 20 or more points in a game 13 times last season, while Anthony (3 times), Sawyer Rosner (twice) and Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill. / once) accounted for the other six. … With his 19th point against Augsburg on Feb. 5, 2020, Cave became the 29th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point mark. Cave enters his senior year with 1,130 career points. … Cave — owner of 23 career 20-plus point games — scored a season-high 32 points against Augsburg on Jan. 6. The 32-point effort was just four points shy of his career-high — a 36-point showing against Macalester on Feb. 9, 2019 — and marked the third time in his Saint Mary's career that he has eclipsed the 30-point barrier. … Cave scored 10 or more points in all 27 games last season, and has tallied 10 or more points in 52 of a possible 53 games over the past two seasons. … Anthony scored a career-high 29 points against Augsburg on Feb. 5, while Cave chipped in 25. It was the third time the Cardinals had two players score 20 or more points in the same game. Cave scored 27 points and Anthony-Bello chipped in 20 in the Cardinals' 78-62 win over Concordia on Feb. 1, while Cave (27) and Anthony (26) achieved the feat against Luther on Nov. 30. … Cave recorded his lone double-double of the season and seventh of his collegiate career with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against St. Thomas in their first meeting on Jan. 18. … Anthony — who, along with his 26 points posted a career-best 11 rebounds in recording his first collegiate double-double against Luther on Nov. 30 — owned two of the Cardinals' four double-doubles a year ago. … The Cardinals boasted four players who scored single-game career-highs of 10 of more points last season — Anthony (29 v. Augsburg on Feb. 5), Rosner (25 vs. St. Thomas on Feb. 22), Shawn Pickford (Minneapolis, Minn. / 17 points vs. Gustavus on Jan. 8), and Greg Martin (Oklahoma City, Okla. / 14 points v. St. Olaf on Jan. 25 and v. U. of Dubuque on Dec. 31). … Cave closed out the 2019-20 season leading the team in scoring, averaging 19.1 ppg, followed by Anthony (11.8 ppg), Anthony-Bello (9.4 ppg), and Rosner (9.3 ppg). … The Cardinals finished the year with four players with 100 or more rebounds — Cave (147, 5.4 rpg), Anthony (139, 6.3 rpg), Anthony-Bello (138, 5.1 rpg), and Rosner (114, 4.2 rpg). … Cave also led the team in assists with 81 and blocked shots with 23, while sharing the team lead in steals (40) with Anthony-Bello. … Saint Mary's — which finished with 10 or more 3-pointers in a game nine times last season — equaled the program's single-game school record with 14 3-pointers against Hamline on Jan. 11. … Saint Mary's netted 207 3-pointers a year ago, led by Rosner with 45 and Cave with 41. … Saint Mary's went 25-for-30 from the free throw line against Martin Luther on Dec. 19 — both season highs. On the flip side, the Cardinals attempted just five free throws — making all five — against Carleton on Feb. 12. … The Cardinals' 103-point effort in beating Luther 103-97 on Nov. 30 was their highest single-game offensive output since pouring in 106 points in a 111-106 overtime loss to Augsburg on Jan. 11, 2017. … The Cardinals put five players in double figures in a game three times last season. … Saint Mary's two-point win over Carleton on Jan. 20 was its first overtime game of the season — and first since falling to St. Olaf 90-85 on Jan. 31, 2019. … The Cardinals have played just four overtime games in the last seven seasons. … With their postseason win at Bethel in the MIAC quarterfinals on Feb. 25, the Cardinals snapped a 25-game losing streak at BU's Robertson Center, dating back to an 82-68 win on Feb. 9, 1997. It was the Cardinals' second streak-snapping win against the Royals last season. Saint Mary's 72-59 win over BU in the team's second meeting on Feb. 8 snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Royals, dating back to Jan. 12, 2013. … With its 80-74 win over St. Olaf in the teams' first meeting on Nov. 23, Saint Mary's snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Oles. It was the Cardinals' first win over St. Olaf since Jan. 16, 2013, when Saint Mary's posted a 66-57 victory. … Saint Mary's got scoring from 15 different players in its 93-61 win over Martin Luther on Dec. 19. … The Cardinals' 6-1 start to the season was their best start since 2010-11, when they opened the year 8-1. … Thanks to its 68-52 win over Crown on Nov. 15, Saint Mary's is now 6-0 in its last six season-openers. |
The Johnnies are coming into Friday's season-opener against Saint Mary's on the heels of a stellar season in 2019-20 — reaching the third round of the NCAA Division III national tournament, before the pandemic shut everything down. … SJU compiled a near-perfect 27-2 records a year ago, including a 19-1 showing in conference play. … After opening the season with a 78-56 loss to Nebraska Wesleyan, SJU rattled off 22 straight wins, before falling to St. Thomas 71-56 on Feb. 15, 2020. … SJU heads into Friday's matchup vs. Saint Mary's riding a five-game winning streak. … SJU closed out the season boasting four players averaging in double figures in scoring — Jubie Alade (18.7 ppg), Zach Hanson (13.3 ppg), Lucas Walford (11.3 ppg), and Colton Codute (10.3 ppg). … The Johnnies had a player score more than 35 points in a game five times, with Alade owning four of those top five, single-game performances. … Alade poured in a season-high 32 points against UM-Morris on Nov. 13, 2019. … Walford also led the Johnnies in rebounding with 261 boards (9.7 rpg). Hanson (175, 6.0 rpg) and Alade (112, 4.1 rpg) also closed out the year with more than 100 rebounds. … Codute dished out a team-best 89 assists and Alade owns a team-leading 37 steals. … As a team, the Johnnies shot 50.7 percent from the field (650-for-1593), while hitting on 74.7 percent of their free throws (398-for-533). … SJU knocked down 218 3-pointers last season, led by Oakley Baker (65), Codute (58), and Alade (39). … SJU scored 80 or more points nine times a year ago — including a season-high 91-point effort in beating St. Olaf 91-75 on Jan. 6, 2020.
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