THIS WEEK
After a brief stop at home last weekend, the University of Mary men's basketball team tips off a four-game road trip with a pair of games against the University of Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 15-16, at Romano Gym in Duluth, MN. Game time is 6 pm on Friday and 4 pm on Saturday.
 
UNIVERSITY OF MARY HOME GAME ATTENDANCE POLICY
University of Mary home games are currently closed to the general public and no tickets will be sold. A limited number of family passes will be distributed to both the home and away teams and to faculty & staff and students.
 
TICKETS FOR AWAY GAMES
Each campus is making pandemic-related policies regarding fan attendance. Please check with opposing schools/venues for ticket availability for fans.
 
WATCH ALL MARAUDERS GAMES LIVE ONLINE AT GOUMARY.COM
All UMary basketball games – home and away - are streamed live online. Visit www.GoUMary.com/coverage and www.NSICNetwork.com to watch.
 
MARAUDERS HOME BASKETBALL GAMES AIRING LIVE ON FOX SPORTS 710
All home University of Mary men's and women's basketball games will air live on Fox Sports 710 AM. Voice of the Marauders Jesse Rostvedt will call all the action this season from the McDowell Activity Center.
 
NSIC, UMARY BASKETBALL COVID-19 PANDEMIC CHANGES
In order to compete safely this season during the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Mary, the NCAA and the Northern Sun have created several new policies. Here are just a few changes implemented for the 2020-21 men's and women's basketball season….

• The 2020-21 season for Northern Sun members begins on Jan. 2
• NSIC teams will play 16 games, all against conference competition (teams normally play 26 regular season games that includes a 22-game NSIC schedule)
• All teams will play two games against a single conference opponent each weekend (usually play two different teams each weekend)
• All NSIC schools host home games for eight straight weeks as either the men's or women's team will play at home with the other team on the road (no men's and women's doubleheaders)
• The NSIC will only declare North and South Division champions and not an overall champion for 2021
• Eight teams will advance to the NSIC tournament (all teams previously made the tournament with first-round games at home sites)
• Marauders home games are currently closed to the general public
• Only home Marauders basketball games will air on Fox Sports 710 (follow road Marauders basketball games live video streams at www.GoUMary.com/coverage)
• Game programs are only available online and will not be printed
• Winter scholar-athletes will maintain their year of eligibility independent of whether they compete or not

 
HOW TO FOLLOW YOUR MARAUDERS LIVE
Links to live streaming video, game stats and radio streams are available at www.GoUMary.com/coverage
 
Live video streamed at www.NSICNetwork.com/goumary
 
Fox Sports 710 AM radio broadcasts available online at https://foxsports710.iheart.com/
 
RECORDS
The University of Mary is 1-3 overall this season and 1-1 in the NSIC North Division standings… UMD is 1-0 and 0-0.  
 
OPPO RESEARCH – UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
After finishing second in the NSIC North last season, UMD tied for fourth in the preseason coaches' poll. The Bulldogs started a trio of freshmen in their season opener, an 81-59 home win over Winona State. The Bulldogs next three games were cancelled as COVID-19 protocols intervened. Drew Blair, a sophomore from Stevens Point, WI, is the Bulldogs player to watch this season. As a freshman last season, Blair averaged 15.9 ppg, 31.2 minutes per game, and shot 49 percent from the field in 30 games, starting in all of those contests. Blair was named to the All-NSIC Second Team in 2019-20, the only freshman to receive first or second-team honors.
 
 HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. BULLDOGS
UMary trails Minnesota Duluth 9-14 in the all-time series… The Marauders first victory over the Bulldogs was an 80-77 overtime win on 1.16.09… The last three seasons have resulted in sweeps, with UMD winning both games in 2017-18 and 2019-20 and UMary claiming the sweep in 2018-19 in a pair of memorable games. UMary defeated UMD 73-70 at home in overtime on Dec. 8, 2018, when Dennis Austin III hit a 3-pointer with .7 seconds left in the extra session. UMary rallied from an 8-point deficit with six minutes left in regulation. Jaylan White hit five treys and scored a career-high 29 points. Matthew Kreklow made all ten of his free throws and scored 18 points. Austin finished with ten points. Sean Burns had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Brandon Myer had 15 and 17… In another wild ballgame at UMD on Jan. 11, 2019, the Marauders closed the season series with a triple overtime 100-98 road victory on a Jaylan White basket with under two seconds remaining on the clock. White scored 12 of his 25 points in the overtime sessions. Connor Hellebust added 21 and Tom Kubank 18. Brandon Myer had 31 points and 11 rebounds for UMD… LAST MEETING UMD claimed a 78-54 win at UMary on Jan. 10, 2020. Four Bulldogs scored in double figures. Matthew Kreklow led UMary with 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
LAST WEEKEND
The Marauders just missed a weekend split in their first home appearance of the year… Visiting St. cloud State rallied for an 83-76 win in the opener. The Marauders jumped out to a 17-2 lead to start the game as Trever Kaiser hit all five of is trey attempts in the first half. Kaiser finished with a career-high 23 points, making 6-of-9 trey attempts while grabbing six rebounds and making four assists. Josh Sipes added 14 points, Treyton Mattern had 12 points, Wyatt Carr 11 and Matthew Kreklow paired 10 points and nine rebounds. Caleb Donaldson had 33 for SCSU… UMary earned a split on the weekend by overcoming a double-digit deficit to earn an 85-79 win. The Marauders used second half runs of 20-8 and 12-4 to push past the Huskies. Kaiser and Kreklow both scored 23 points. Kaiser helped hold off the Huskies ate in the game by hitting back to back treys. He finished with three 3s on the night and added four rebounds and four assists. Kreklow added seven rebounds and three assists. Anthony Roberts led SCSU with 29 points.
 
DEBUTS
Five Marauders have made their Blue & Orange debuts this season… Freshman Deven Franks made his first Marauders appearance against SCSU last weekend. He totaled eight points – his first UMary points – in Saturday's win over the Huskies. Redshirt freshmen guards Treyton Mattern and Matthew Johnson and junior transfers Kam Warrens and Davids Atelbauers all made their first appearances for UMary in the opening series against Sioux Falls.
 
NSIC CITES KAISER FOR EFFORT AGAINST SCSU
Trever Kaiser scored a career-best 23 points in both weekend games against St. Cloud State to lead the Marauders in scoring each night. The junior guard hit six treys on Friday, including five straight to start the game, and three on Saturday to finish 9-of-15 from behind the arc for the weekend. He hit back-to-back treys after SCSU pulled within a point and under five minutes to play in UMary's 85-79 win on Saturday. Overall Kaiser averaged 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the weekend while making 14-of-29 shots.
 
INSIDE OUT
Matthew Kreklow and Trever Kaiser have packed an impressive scoring punch for the Marauders this season, combining to lead UMary in scoring each game. Matthew Kreklow handles the scoring inside with Kaiser delivering from outside. Both Kreklow and Kaiser are averaging 19.5 points/game and are tied for fourth in scoring in the NSIC. Combined the duo averages 39 ppg, tied for the top mark in the league. SCSU's combo of Anthony Roberts (20) and Caleb Donaldson (19) also are combining for 39 ppg.
 
ALL HANDS ON DECK
With the NCAA allowing all players to compete this season without losing a year of eligibility, all eligible scholar-athletes are available to play this season with no need to redshirt.
 
SENIOR CITIZEN BRIGADE
The Marauders have a veteran team this season as half the roster are upper classmen with three seniors and five juniors. Additionally, UMary has one player in his fifth season with the Marauders, three in their fourth year and three in their third.
 
BORDER PATROL
The Marauders feature six North Dakotans on the 2020-21 team, including four from Bismarck. Kade Amundson, Lucas Mayer, Treyton Mattern and Josh Sipes are Bismarck Century graduates. Wyatt Carr is a native of Hazen and Justin Engg is from Minot.
 
NUMBERS TO KNOW
 
1,054 | Matthew Kreklow ranks 17^th all-time in scoring at UMary. He became the 20^th Marauders player to crack 1,000 career points in the season opener and passed Rich Lorenz (993), Craig Steffan (1,004), Tracy Porter (1,006) and Chuck Welch (1,031) on the all-time list. He next looks to pass former teammate Jaylan White (1,064) and NCAA All-American Anthony Moody (1,126).
 
540 | Matthew Kreklow sits 8^th all-time in career rebounds with 540. Next on the list is Dave Hanson, who snared 553 boards in two seasons (1975-77), and Eric Erdmann (603)
 
140 | Matthew Kreklow is the Marauders all-time career blocked shot leader with 137
 
108 | Wyatt Carr is 15^th at UMary in career 3-pointers. This season the senior has passed Craig Steffan (104) and Joel Welstad (106) while pulling even with Leon Washington (108). Next up is Anthony Moody (118) and Eric Erdmann (127).  
 
70.7 | UMary allowed just 70.7 points/game last season to rank 4^th in the NSIC and 64^th nationally. The Marauders held opponents to 70.9 ppg in 2018-19, 3^rd best in the NSIC. UMary allowed 67.5 ppg in the opening weekend against USF. For the season UMary is giving up 74.3 ppg, currently 9^th in the league.
 
9 | the Marauders return nine of their top 11 scorers from last year
 
3.63 | The UMary men's basketball team posted a team GPA of 3.63 for the 2020 fall semester. Last season the Marauders combined for a 3.59 GPA over the course of the Spring 2020 semester and earned the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award for a second straight year.
 
104 | Marauders head coach Joe Kittell earned his 100th career win as a collegiate head coach last season and owns 104 victories. Kittell earned 42 wins at Lake Region State College from 2013-15. He has won 62 games at UMary since taking over the Marauders program in 2015-16. Kittell is fourth all-time in coaching wins at UMary.  Legendary Hall of Famer Al Bortke tops the list with 335, followed by Jim Feeney (144), Rod Jonas (69), Kittell (62) and Juno Pintar (55).
 
12 | Redshirt freshman guard Treyton Mattern scored a career-high 12 points against SCSU on Friday
 
23 | 23 points was the magic number for the Marauders last weekend. Trever Kaiser scored 23 points in both games against the Huskies and Matthew Kreklow posted 23 against SCSU on Saturday.
 
FREEBIES
Once again the Marauders are finding their way to the free throw line. UMary has shot 98 free throws after four games, a total only exceeded by Upper Iowa (100) in the NSIC… UMary's opponents have shot just 79 free throws… The Marauders are shooting 73.5% at the line (72-of-98) to 70.9% by the opposition (56-of-79)… Last year the Marauders converted 75 percent of their free throw attempts in 2019-20 to rank 5^th in the NSIC and 67^th in the country… Additionally the Marauders went to the line 116 times more than their opponents and made 115 more free throws.
 
REJECTION LETTERS
2019-20 All-Northern Sun second team selection Matthew Kreklow is the Marauders all-time career leader in blocked shots with 140. He surpassed UMary Hall of Famer and All-American forward Marc Hawley (108 rejections in 1995-97) last season. With 55 blocks last season, Kreklow also owns the school's NCAA era single-season record for blocked shots, surpassing fellow All-NSIC selection Damon Smith's total of 54 (2011-12)… Kreklow is off to another tremendous start on both ends of the court, averaging 19.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game while making 56.1% of his shots (including a 4-of-5 effort on treys) and 80% at the line (28-of-34) after four games… Last season Kreklow led the Marauders in scoring (14.4 ppg), rebounding (8.1 rpg), blocks (2.0 bpg), and field goal percentage (56.1). He was second in steals (24) and third in free throw percentage (80.6) while pacing the team in makes (100) and takes (124)… The senior from Maple Plain, MN, was 3^rd in the NSIC in blocks, 4^th in field goal percentage, 7^th in rebounding, 10^th in free throw percentage and 17^th in scoring… Kreklow is just the 3rd UMary player to win NSIC Player of the Week multiple times (Eric Erdmann and All-American Anthony Moody were both honored three times). Kreklow first won the honor in January 2019 after leading the Marauders to a weekend sweep of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. He closed 2019 by winning the honor in December after scoring 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting with 12 rebounds and three blocks in a win over the University of Maine, followed by 25 points, ten rebounds and five blocks in an overtime win over Minot State.
 
DOUBLE DOWN
Matthew Kreklow posted seven double doubles last season on his way to All-NSIC honors. For his career Kreklow has ten double doubles. Here's the list:
2/22/20 at MSU Moorhead | 26 points and 10 rebounds
1/24/20 at Minnesota Crookston | 23 points and 12 rebounds
12/21/19 vs. Minot State | 25 points and 10 rebounds
12/17/19 vs. Maine-Fort Kent | 16 points and 12 rebounds
12/14/19 vs. Northern State | 18 points and 13 rebounds
12/13/19 vs. MSU Moorhead | 25 points and 10 rebounds
11/30/19 at Minot State | 12 points and 10 rebounds
1/25/19 vs. Minnesota Crookston | 14 points and 10 rebounds
11/20/18 vs. South Dakota Mines | 14 points and 10 rebounds
11.28.17 vs. Yellowstone Christian | 11 points and 10 rebounds
 
KAISER ON A ROLL
Trever Kaiser started showing his scoring abilities in the last half of last season. This year he has taken another leap forward. The junior guard is averaging 19.5 ppg to tie Matthew Kreklow for the team lead while ranking fourth in the NSIC. Kaiser delivered 23 points in both games against SCSU last weekend to establish a new career-high. He also had 17 and 15 points in back-to-back games at USF to start the season, one of the nation's top defensive teams. At home last week, Kaiser drained 9-of-15 trey attempts on the weekend.
 
DOWNTOWN
Wyatt Carr was a lethal weapon for the Marauders behind the arc last year. The now-senior forward connected on 51% of his trey attempts, hitting 43-of-85 of his 3-point attempts. An efficient scorer, Carr converted 52% of this field goal attempts during the season and averaged 8.1 ppg… Josh Sipes provided another strong hand behind the arc, making 38.9% of his trey attempts (42-of-108) to finish second behind Carr in 3s made… Trever Kaiser is another consistent outside force for the Marauders. The junior made 39% (30-of-77) of his 3-point attempts last season. An offensive force of the bench, Kaiser averaged over 11 points/game in the final 11 games of last season.
 
ROSTER RUNDOWN
The Marauders return nine of their top 11 scorers from last season, providing the UMary squad both depth and experience entering the season. Here's a quick look at the Marauders position groups.
 
FRONT COURT
All-Northern Sun performer Matthew Kreklow is one of the top players in the conference with his ability to dominate a game on both ends of the court. The 6-foot-9 post UMary's single-season and career blocked shot leader and is climbing the all-time chart in rebounding (8^th) and is 24 points from becoming the 20^th Marauders to score 1,000. The senior averaged 14.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.0 bocks/game while shooting 56.1 percent from the floor and 80.6 percent at the free throw line in 2019-20… Senior Wyatt Carr moved into the stating rotation fulltime last season and is one of the top outside shooters in the NSIC. The Hazen, ND, native hit on 50.6% (43-of-85) of his trey attempts last year and is a career 43.3% shooter from behind the arc. Carr averaged 8.1 ppg and 3.8 rpg his junior season while shooting 51.6% overall. He has made 76.8% of his career free throw attempts… Junior Kade Amundson made a pair of starts and averaged 4.0 ppg and 2.0 rpg while playing in 24 games… Justin Engg provided energy off the bench as a key reserve across all 29 games, averaging 2.2 ppg and 2.6 rpg while making 10 steals, 5^th on the team… Limited to seven games in each of the last two seasons after playing in all 29 games as a freshman in 2017-18, junior Lucas Mayer returns to health and provides a defensive presence on the front court… Regan Tollefson played in 16 games last season as a freshman, showing his potential while averaging 3.1 ppg in limited action. He knocked down 14 of 15 free throws… Kam Warrens joins the Marauders this season after playing the last two years at Yuba Community College. The junior averaged 7.5 ppg and shot 67.7% to help Yuba win a conference title and advance to the California Community College tournament Sweet 16… Redshirt freshman Logan Nagorski and freshman Cooper Olson – both Minnesota natives – will also be in the mix for time on the court.
 
BACK COURT
The Marauders have a big hole to fill in the backcourt following the graduations of both All-NSIC guard Jaylen White and Connor Hellebust. The duo were multi-year starters for the Marauders. Hellebust graduated early due to a chronic back injury. UMary returns plenty of experience, however… Glenn Jordan started the Marauders final 16 games of last season. The senior averaged 5.3 ppg and was third on the squad in steals with 19… sophomore Josh Sipes proved to be a dangerous outside threat for the Marauders. Sipes, who started 16 games and played all 29 as a redshirt freshman, was second on the team with 42 treys, hitting 38.9% of his 3-point attempts. He averaged 6.6 ppg and 3.1 rpg… Trever Kaiser provided an offensive jolt off the bench for the Marauders, averaging 7.2 ppg and 3.2 rpg. In the last ten games of the regular season he chipped in over 11 ppg… Davids Atelbauers joins the Marauders this season after playing the last two years at NCAA Division I University of North Dakota and earning a handful of starts for the Fighting Hawks. Atelbauers was a member of the 2019 Latvia National U20/21 team at the FIBA European championships… Matthew Johnson and Treyton Mattern, both are coming off redshirt seasons, and incoming freshman Deven Franks will all battle for court time. 
 
DEFENSE
The Marauders look to feature another rugged defense in 2020-21 after allowing jst 67.5 PPG in the opening weekend against nationally-ranked Sioux Falls. UMary allowed just 70.9 points per game in 2018-19 to rank third in the NSIC in points allowed. Opponents only scored 70.7 ppg against UMary last season, the 4^th best mark in the conference and 64^th in the nation out of 303 teams.
 
HANDS OFF APPROACH
The Marauders committed an average of only 14.4 personal fouls/game last season, the fewest in the NSIC and 15th fewest in NCAA Division II.
 
THE BORTKE COURT MAC ATTACK
The Marauders once again found success on Bortke Court in the McDowell Activity Center. The playing floor was christened Bortke Court in honor of long-time Mary men's basketball coach and athletic director Al Bortke in July 2009. Here is the Marauders NCAA Division II home record:
2006-07:   5-  7
2007-08:   4-  7
2008-09:   7-  5
2009-10: 11-  2
2010-11: 12-  1
2011-12:   3-10
2012-13:   3-  9
2013-14:   6-  7
2014-15:   4-  8
2015-16:   8-  7
2016-17:   8-  6
2017-18:   2-11
2018-19:   9-  5
2019-20:   8-7
2020-21:   1-1
 
The Marauders once won 27 straight home games for Coach Bortke at the MAC (February 19, 1976 thru November 11, 1978).
 
HOME
All Marauders home games will start at 6 pm on Fridays and 4 pm on Saturdays. UMary opens its home schedule with a visit from St. Cloud State University on January 8-9 and is scheduled to play a total of eight home games at the McDowell Activity Center.
 
NEXT WEEK
The Marauders wrap up four straight road games with a pair of games at Bemidji State University on Jan. 22-23.   
 
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