UPCOMING SCHEDULE
After playing five games on the road in a span of nine days, the University of Mary men's basketball team makes their home debut against the University of Jamestown on Thursday, November 14. Tip off between the Marauders and the Jimmies is 8 pm.
 
The Marauders then host Valley City State University in another non-conference contest at 7 pm on Tuesday, November 19.
 
All Marauders home games are played on Bortke Court in the McDowell Activity Center.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Links to live video and stats are available at www.GoUMary.com/coverage.
 
THE RECORDS
The Marauders are 1-4 after playing five non-conference games… The Jimmies are 1-2… The VCSU Vikings are currently 5-0 but have three more games before facing the Marauders.
 
AFTER THE ACTION
Marauders fans should make plans to stop Buffalo Wild Wings following all home men's basketball contests. With two convenient Bismarck locations and great food and drink specials, it's easy to see why Buffalo Wild Winds is the preferred post-game hangout of Marauders Basketball! 
 
LAST WEEKEND
The Marauders played a pair of games at the Central Region Classic, hosted by Central Oklahoma in Edmond. OK. Facing a 4^th straight opponent that won 20+ games last season, Jeremiah jones scored 19 points for UMary in a 90-74 loss at Central Oklahoma. Jones hit 5-of-7 treys on  night 11 marauders got into the scoring column. UMary tied the game at 63-63 but the Bronchos raced away down the stretch… Jones was 8-for-12 the following night in an 86-71 loss to Northeastern State in a neutral site game. Ty Rogers scored 14 points and Kevin McGaskey added 10.    
 
RUGGED SCHEDULE
The Marauders faced a rugged early schedule as the Marauders squared off against four straight teams that won 20+ games last season (MSU Billings, St. Edward's, Alaska-Anchorage, Central Oklahoma), three that received votes in the NABC preseason top 25 poll (MSUB, St. Edwards, UAA), and two teams that made the NCAA tournament (MSUB, UAA).
 
HISTORY LESSON
Separated by just 100 miles, the Marauders and the University of Jamestown, which is joining the Northern Sun next season, have played just once in the last ten years. The Jimmies earned an 86-76 road win November 11, 2017… UMary has also played Valley City State once in last ten years also, defeating the visiting Vikings last season 81-74 on December 18, 2023. Brock Heffner scored 36  points for UMary and Zyon Smith added 16.
 
SHARING THE LOAD
Four Marauders are averaging at least 8.4 points through five games:

• Jeremiah Jones leads UMary in scoring at 14.8 ppg. He is shooting 51.7 from the field overall and 46.2% on treys (12-of-26). The sophomore guard, who missed last season due to injury, also leads the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg) and steals (12) and is 3^rd in assists (11). Jones has reached double figures in four games with a season-high 19 at Central Oklahoma.
•  Kevin McGaskey, in his first season at UMary as a graduate transfer from Prairie View A&M, is scoring 9.8 ppg and teals the squad in assists (14). McGaskey is making 43.5% of his treys (10-of-23).
• Junior forward Ty Rogers averages 10.8 ppg. He is making 57.9% of his shots and is pulling down 3.6 rpg.
• Cayden Redfield, a transfer from United Tribes Community and Technical College, averages 8.4 ppg while coming off the bench in his first season at UMary. Through five games he is third on the team in treys with seven. He scored a season-best 16 points against St. Edward's.  

 
DEBUTS
Seven Marauders made their UMary debuts at the Tipoff Classic. Keving McGaskey started three games at the point, Cayden Redfield, Ty Johnson and Tammerein Henderson also played three games. Daniel Hong and Wylee Delorme appeared twice and Matija Otasevic once.   
 
BLOCK PARTY
Rich Ashu led the Marauders in blocks last season with 1.0 per game and is off to a strong start this year with five rejections in five games (1.0/game).
 
HIGH EFFICIENCY
Ty Rogers is converting an impressive amount of his shots. The junior forward is connecting on 57.9% of his field goal attempts through five games and has reached double figures in scoring four times. He scored a season-high 14 points against Northeastern State.
 
SHARING THE LOAD
11 Marauders scored points against Central Oklahoma while ten did so against Northeastern State.  
 
MCGASKEY NSIC PLAYER TO WATCH
 New arrival Kevin McGaskey is the preseason UMary Northern Sun Player to Watch for the Marauders in the 2024-25 season. A graduate transfer from NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M, McGaskey joins the Marauders after competing for two seasons for the Panthers. He played in 24 games in 2023-24, including 13 starts, for SWAC member PVAM. The 6-0 point guard averaged 4.0 points, 3.0 assists and 2.2 rebounds while making 35 steals and hitting 71.0% of his free throw attempts in 25.5 minutes of play per game. The native of Missouri City, Texas, and graduate of Hightower High School posted season highs of 12 points and six rebounds against Alcorn State.    McGaskey played with former Marauders guard Zyon Smith at Highland Community College in Highland, KS, from 2020-22. 
 
BACK IN THE BLUE & ORANGE
The Marauders have a strong returning. Ten players return from last season, including five who started ten or more games in 2023-24 and a 6^th player returning from injury:  

• Junior forward Xavier Lewis - the Marauders leading returning scorer (6.7 ppg) and rebounder (5.5 rpg) – started 16 out of 27 games
• Sophomore guard Alex Mattes, who started 13 games last season as a true freshman, chipped in 6.2 points per game
• Junior forward Ty Rogers averaged 5.7 ppg and 3.8 rpg while starting 10 games
• Junior guard Gunner Swanson hit 29 treys last season, tops among returners, while starting 18 games
• Senior forward Rich Ashu started 11 games for UMary and led the team in blocks (25 in 26 games)
• Junior guard Marquel Saleek played over 14 minutes per game and averaged 4.3 ppg and delivered 30 assists while starting one out of 27games
• Sophomore guard Nick Harrell averaged over 11 minutes per game in 19 outings while senior forward Liam Dougherty was limited to eight games by injury
• Guard Jeremiah Jones was a key reserve as a freshman in 2022-23 before missing all of last season due to injury. Jones averaged 6.7 ppg and 5.7 rpg while playing 24.2 minutes per game, the fourth most on the team. He led the team in steals (29) and was second in assists (64).
• Redshirt freshman guard Alex Dvorak looks to make his UMary debut this season.

 
FRESH FACES
The Marauders have added eight new faces for the 2024-25 season:

• Graduate transfer guard Kevin McGaskey joins the Marauders from NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M
• Other transfers include junior guard Daniel Hong (North Dakota), junior guard Ty Johnson (Highland (IL) CC), and junior guard/forward Cayden Redfield (United Tribes)
• Incoming freshmen are guard Wylee Delorme (Devils Lake, ND), Tamarrein Henderson (West Salem, WI), guard Ryan Larson (Jamestown, ND) and forward Matija Otasevic (Herceg Novi, Montanegro).

 
JONES NAMED TO TIPOFF CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Seeing his first action since February 2023 after missing all of the 2023-24 season due to injury, Jeremiah Jones returned to the court for the Marauders in impressive fashion. After averaging 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while adding eight assists and sight steals in three games, Jones was named to the 2024 D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the Trailhead all-tournament team. Jones opened with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting – including a 2-for-3 effort on treys – while grabbing four rebounds and making three steals against host team MSU Billings. Jones hit three treys and scored 11 points against St. Edwards, adding seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. The sophomore guard finished the weekend with eight points, ten rebounds and three steals in a 73-72 win over Alaska Anchorage. He grabbed a key offensive rebound and was fouled trying to shoot with 1.7 seconds left in a tie game. After sinking the winning free throw, he protected the victory by knocking away a long inbound pass from the Seawolves.  
 
STAFF ADDITIONS
Marauders head coach Jack Nelson has several new faces on the bench alongside him this season. Bryan Forbes joins UMary as the lead assistant men's coach after serving as the head assistant coach at Briar Cliff the last five seasons following two years as the graduate assist at East Tennessee State University. Also joining the staff this season are DJ Sanchez, Nate Symens and former UMary player Zyon Smith.
 
YEAR FOUR
Head coach Jack Nelson enters year four with the Marauders. In his first season in 2020-21, the native of Dillon, CO, led UMary to its best conference record in four years. Nelson directed the Marauders to their first Northern Sun tournament road victory with an 82-70 win at Winona State to send UMary to the quarterfinals and a trip to the Sanford Pentagon. During the regular season the Marauders defeated #6 University of Minnesota Duluth 75-71, the highest ranked NCAA team UMary has beaten at home. Nelson recruited and coached Kai Huntsberry, the 2021-22 NSIC Newcomer of the Year and a 1st team all-conference selection who broke the NSIC tournament record for 3s in a game with eight. Prior to joining the Marauders Nelson was an assistant coach at the University of Sioux Falls (2018-21) and Minot State University (2012-16) in the Northern Sun and the head coach at Central Wyoming College (2016-18) for two seasons in between… In his first three seasons at UMary, Nelson has had scholar-athletes earn NSIC Newcomer of the Year honors (1), NSIC Player of the Week accolades (1), All-NSIC 1^st team recognition (1) and NSIC All-Academic Team honors (13).  
 
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