THIS WEEK
After spending last weekend in Montana, the University of Mary men's basketball team heads to Edmond, OK, for the 2-day Central Region Challenge. The Marauders open the weekend against tournament host University of Central Oklahoma with a 7:30 pm tipoff against the Bronchos on Friday, November 8. Game two is a neutral site game against Northeastern State University featuring a 2:30 pm start on Saturday, November 9, between the Marauders and the Riverhawks.
 
Both games are played in the Hamilton Field House on the UCO campus.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Links to live video and stats are available at www.GoUMary.com/coverage. NOTE: the UCO and NSU games will be streamed on The MIAA Network and are pay per view.

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! 
 
THE RECORDS
The Marauders are 1-2 after playing three games last weekend at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the Trailhead in Billings, MT. All three opponents won 20+ games last year and were getting votes in the preseason Top 25 NBCA poll. UMary finished the 2023-24 season 7-21 overall and 2-21 in the Northern Sun.
 
This is the season opener for both OCU and NSU… Central Oklahoma was 20-11 overall and 12-10 in the MIAA last year… Northeastern State was 11-17 overall and 6-16 in the MIAA in 2023-24.
 
LAST WEEKEND
The Marauders opened the 2024-25 season with a trio of games at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the Trailhead against three teams coming off 20 win seasons and receiving votes in the NABC preseason Top 25 poll. Two of the teams played in the NCAA tournament last spring… After missing last season with an injury Jermiah Jones scored 18 points in an opening game 79-61 loss to host MSU Billings. UMary closed within 47-42 in the second half before the Yellowjackets pulled away. Ty Rogers added 12 points for UMary… Cayden Redfield came off the bench to score 16 points in an 86-64 loss to St. Edward's in game two. UMary closed within 53-52 in the second half before St. Edward's took control. Kevin McGaskey added 12 points and Rogers and Jones had 11 each… UMary broke into the win column in game three as Jones hit a free throw with 1.7 seconds left in the game before deflecting a long pass attempt by the Seawolves to preserve the 73-72 Marauders win. McGaskey and Rogers led UMary with 13 points. Jomes had eight points and 10 rebounds. Six Marauders scored at least eight points.
 
HISTORY LESSON
The Marauders are 1-2 all-time against Central Oklahoma. UMary won the first meeting 64-56 in 2019 in Alva, OK, as Jaylen White scored 18 points and Connor Hellebust added 12 points and 10 rebounds… The Bronchos won the last two meetings, 80-71 in 2021 in Edmond, OK, and 55-49 last November in Tahlequah, OK… UMary is also 1-2 against Northeastern State, dropping an 89-54 decision in Alva, OK, in 2019 and an 80-70 loss in 2021 in Edmond, OK. The Marauders defeated the Riverhawks 63-61 last November 2023 when Gerald Gittens scored as time expired. Gittens scored 13 for UMary, Zyon Smith scored 18 and Xavier Lewis added 15 points ad 12 rebounds.
 
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.  
 
SHARING THE LOAD
Four Marauders are averaging double digits in points after opening weekend. Jeremiah Jones leads the way at 12.3 ppg, followed by Ty Rogers at 12.0. Rogers is making 57.1% of his shots… Kevin McGaskey, in his first season at UMary as a graduate transfer from Prairie View A&M, is scoring 10.7 ppg and is tied with Jones with eight assists… Cayden Redfield, a transfer from United Tribes Community and Technical College, posted 16 points in game two and is averaging 10.0 ppg. He is tied with Jones for the second-most treys with six. McGaskey has hit seven.
 
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 clocks last season with 1.0 per game and is off to a strong start this year with four rejections in three games (1.3/game).
 
HIGH EFFICIENCY
Ty Rogers had an impressive weekend shooting the ball. The junior forward made 57.1% of his shots on the weekend while reaching double figures in points in all three games. After posting 12 points in game one, he made 5-of-8 shots against St. Edward's for 11 points and followed with a 6-for-9 effort for 13 points in the win over Alaska-Anchorage.
 
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).

 
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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