SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2023-24: 0-2 Overall

CROWN STORM

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2023-24: 1-0 Overall

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SMU-CROWN * LAST MEETING:

Nov. 8, 2022 * St. Bonifacius, MN

W, 81-69 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Nov. 10, 2023 * Platteville, WI

UW-Platteville * L, 91-71

Nov. 11, 2023 * Whitewater, WI

UW-Whitewater * L, 71-53

CROWN * LAST ACTION:

Nov. 11, 2023 * St. Bonifacius, MN

Trinity Bible * W, 91-79

SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:

Nov. 18, 2023 * Winona, MN

UW-River Falls * 3 p.m.

CROWN * UP NEXT: 

Nov. 17, 2023 * St. Bonifacius, MN

Augustana (IL) * 5 p.m.

SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals, who closed out their 2022-23 season with a 16-10 overall, head into Wednesday’s home-opener against Crown sitting at 0-2 overall, having dropped back-to-back games to UW-Platteville and UW-Whitewater to open the season last weekend.

• LAST TIME OUT: Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-high 13 points and Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) chipped in 11 in the Cardinals’ 71-53 loss to No. 2 UW-Whitewater last Saturday. Mallory had delivered a team-best 20 points in SMU’s season-opening 91-71 loss to UW-Platteville the night before.

• HOME SWEET HOME: After back-to-back road games to open the season, Wednesday’s game against Crown is the first of three straight home games for the Cardinals. … Saint Mary’s closed out last season 10-3 on their home court, while going 6-7 in 13 road contests.

• FACING THE NATION’S BEST: Saint Mary’s has already faced two teams that received recognition in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll. UW-Platteville received votes in the opening poll, while UW-Whitewater — an NCAA Division III Final Four participant last season — was ranked No. 2. … SMU’s six-point win over No. 7 UW-La Crosse a year ago marked the first time in program history the Cardinals had beaten a team ranked in the Top 10 in the country. The win also snapped a six-game losing streak against the Eagles — dating back to a 65-50 triumph on Nov. 24, 1986.

• CARRYING THE OFFENSIVE LOAD: Mallory heads into Wednesday’s home-opener against Crown averaging a team-best 15.0 ppg — having scored in double figures in both of SMU’s games last weekend. … Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Sawyer are also averaging in double figures through the season’s first two games, sitting at 12.5 ppg and 10.0 ppg, respectively. … Mallory netted a career-high 20 points against UW-Platteville last Friday.. … Buysman and Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) finished the 2022-23 season averaging in double figures at 12.7 ppg and 12.5 ppg, respectively.

• GREATER THAN 20: With Mallory’s 20-point effort against UW-Platteville last Friday, Saint Mary’s has now had a player score 20 or more points in 21 of its last 27 games.

• CAREER SCORING NIGHTS: Mallory’s 20-point showing against UW-Platteville last Friday was a career high. … Saint Mary’s boasted six players who recorded single-game career-highs of 10 or more points last season.

• HITTING DOUBLE DIGITS: The Cardinals put three players — Mallory (20), Buysman (17), and Khai Branham (10) in double figures in last Friday’s 91-71 loss to UW-Platteville. … Saint Mary’s put at least three players in double figures in 19 of its 26 games a year ago – including four double-figure scorers in the same game eight times.

• ON THE GLASS: Buysman is the team’s rebounding leader through the first two games of the season, hauling in 11 boards — including nine on the defensive end. Sawyer is second on the team with eight rebounds, with Branham and Mallory tied for third with six. … Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) finished second on the team with 115 rebounds (4.6 rpg) a year ago, and posted a career-high 11 rebounds against St. Scholastica on Feb. 4, 2023.

• GOING DEEP: Saint Mary’s, which knocked down 242 3-pointers and led the nation in 3-point FG percentage (46.2 %), has made 9 of 34 3-point attempts this season (26.5 %). … SMU equaled the program’s single-game record with 14 3-pointers against Finlandia on Jan. 2, 2023. … Ziegler went 3-for-5 from behind the 3-point line against Augsburg on Feb. 8, 2023 to break the single-season record of 71, held by Donald Jordan during the 1994-95 season. … Ziegler — who led the team with a program-record 86 treys last season — netted a single-game school record eight 3-pointers for the second straight game against Carleton on Dec. 3, going 8-for-14 from beyond the arc. He was 8-for-13 in first setting the school record against St. Olaf on Nov. 30.

• LENDING A HAND: Ziegler owns a team-leading nine of the Cardinals’ 27 assists through two games, while Sawyer is second with five and Mallory and Buysman each have three. … The Cardinals recorded a season-high 19 assists in their first meeting against Gustavus last season. SMU’s 19-assist effort was the most in a game since the Cardinals dished out 20 helpers against Augsburg on Feb. 2, 2021

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: The Cardinals are shooting 46.0 percent from the field (52-for-113), but are just 9 of 34 (26.5 %) from behind the 3-point line. … The Cardinals are 11-for-15 (73.3 %) from the free throw line. … SMU is averaging 62.0 ppg, with its opponents scoring at an 81.0 ppg clip. … Saint Mary’s scored 80 or more points in a game 10 times last season, including a season-high 102 against Finlandia on Jan. 2.

CROWN SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: Crown, coming off a 20-11 season a year ago, enters Wednesday’s nonconference road game against Saint Mary’s on the heels of a 91-79, season-opening victory over Trinity Bible College last Saturday in St. Bonifacius, Minn.

• LAST TIME OUT: The Polars scored 40+ points in each half, and got double-figure scoring from four different players, as Crown kicked off the 2023-24 campaign with a 91-79 home win over Trinity Bible College last Saturday.

• HOME SWEET HOME: The Storm open the 2023-24 season playing three of their first four games on their home court, the lone exception — Wednesday’s nonconference game at Saint Mary’s. … Crown finished the year last season going 9-5 on their home court, while finishing 11-6 on the road.

• POST-SEASON RUN: Crown reached the semifinals of the NCCAA D2 National Tournament, beating Great Lakes Christian 92-63 in the third-place game. The Polars posted three straight wins — including a 61-60 victory over North Central (MN) in the title game — to win the NCCAA Regional, and opened national tournament play with a 78-73 victory over Ozark Christian, before falling to Manhattan Christian 69-62 in the semifinals.

• WIN NO. 20: Storm’s 92-63 win over Great Lakes Christian in the NCCAA D2 National Tournament was its 20th win of the season, the most by any Storm men’s basketball team in program history.

• CARRYING THE OFFENSIVE LOAD: Tyrus Buckner scored a team- and game-high 23 points in Crown’s season-opening 91-79 win over Trinity Bible College last Saturday, while Cade Carroll chipped in 17 points, and Jacob Van Dam and Carter Behne each chipped in 10. … Carroll closed out 2022-23 leading the team with a 17.5 ppg scoring average. He was one of three Polars who ended the year scoring in double figures, being joined by Seth Royston (16.0 ppg) and Van Dam (12.2 ppg).

• CLEANING THE GLASS: Along with his 17 points, Carroll also hauled in 13 rebounds — including 10 on the defensive end — en route to his first double-double of the season. … Buckner and Jacob Masek each chipped in six rebounds against Trinity Bible, with Van Dam adding four. … Crown owned a 38-24 edge in rebounds against Trinity Bible. … Masek and Carroll both finished with more than 100 rebounds a year ago, with Masek hauling in 206 boards and Carroll adding 142. 

• FROM BEYOND THE ARC: The Polars 5-for-25 (20 %) from behind the 3-point line in their season-opening win last Saturday, with Carroll and Van Dam each pouring in two treys, and Levi Royston adding the other

• LENDING A HAND: Ladd amassed a game-high 10 assists against Trinity Bible, with Masek adding seven helpers. The duo accounted for 17 of Crown’s 22 assists last Saturday.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS:As a team, Crown shot 51.5 percent (34-for-66) against Trinity Bible last Saturday, including a 5-for-25 (20.0 %) showing from behind the arc, and adding an 18 of 27 effort (66.7 %) from the free throw line. … The Polars scored 80 or more points 12 times last season, and their 91-point effort against Trinity Bible last Saturday marks the ninth time in the last 32 games that the Polars eclipsed the 90-point mark. Crown scored a season-high 105 points in a 110-105, double-overtime loss to Bethany Lutheran last season.