THIS WEEK
The University of Mary men's basketball team hosts a second straight nationally-ranked foe when the Marauders take on visiting #13 Minot State University on Wednesday, December 11. The midweek matchup between the two Highway 83 rivals tips off at 7:30 pm on Bortke Court in the McDowell Activity Center.
 
UMary then heads to the Red River Valley to face the University of Minnesota Crookston on Saturday, December 14. Tipoff between the Marauders and the Golden Eagles is set for 4 pm in Crookston, MN.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Links to live video and stats are available at www.GoUMary.com/coverage.
 
THE RECORDS
The Marauders are 3-7 overall and 1-0 in the Northern Sun… MSUM is 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC.
 
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! 
 
ONE AND DONE
The Marauders-Beavers game on Wednesday is the only scheduled meeting of the season between the two Northern Sun competitors located 118 miles apart on Highway 83.  
 
LAST WEEK
In the Marauders lone game of the week, a gritty UMary effort kept upset hopes alive much of the night in a 74-58 home loss to #7 MSU Moorhead. UMary outrebounded MSUM 37-36 and held a 32-26 edge In paint scoring. UMary gained a 34-33 lead early in the second half and pulled within 10 points several times. Kevin McGaskey scored a game-high 21 points with 15 coming in the first half.
 
TRIAL BY FIRE
Including UMary's upcoming game against #13 Minot State, the Marauders have faced an incredibly challenging schedule in the Marauders first 12 games that includes:

• Five teams in national polls (#RV MSU Billings, #RV St. Edward's, #RV Alaska-Anchorage, #7 MSU Moorhead, #13 Minot State)
• Six teams who won at least 20 games last season (#RV MSU Billings, #RV St. Edward's, #RV Alaska-Anchorage, Central Oklahoma, #7 MSU Moorhead, #13 Minot State)
• Three teams who made the 2024 NCAA tournament (MSU Billings, Alaska-Anchorage, MSU Moorhead)

 
HIGHWAY 83 HISTORY LESSON – MARAUDERS VS. BEAVERS
In a series that stretches back to the 1972-73 season – just the third year of Marauders basketball – the University of Mary and Minot State University have played 83 times with the Beavers holding a slight 43-40 series lead… over the last 18 games, both teams own nine wins… In NSIC games the Marauders are 9-14 against the Beavers… a former assistant for the Beavers, UMary head coach Jack Nelson is 3-3 against the Beavers since taking over the Marauders program in 2021. | LAST MEETING Gerald Gittens scored a team-high 17 points for UMary in an 87-53 home loss to #19 Minot State on February 3, 2024. Ben Bohl led MSU with 19 points.
 
HISTORY LESSON – MARAUDERS VS. GOLDEN EAGLES
Since joining the Northern Sun for the 2006-07 season, the Marauders are 25-10 against the Golden Eagles… UMary is 16-3 at home and 9-7 away versus UMC… The Marauders are 17-7 in the last 22 outings against the Golden Eagles… UMary has won five of the last six games. LAST MEETING Xavier Lewis has 12 points and 13 rebounds and Brock Heffner added 17 points and nine rebounds in a 70-65 home win for UMary over Minnesota Crookston. The Marauders trailed by 18 points in the first half before using a 20-3 run. Blaize Sanga led UMC with 31 points and 10 rebounds.
 
SECOND CHANCES
The Marauders are third in the NSIC in offensive rebounds, averaging 11.3 per game.
 
STAT STUFFER
Jeremiah Jones ranks among the Northern Sun's top-25 in multiple categories:

• 1^st steals/game (2.5)
• 11^th field goal percentage (.468)
• 16^th points/game (13.3)
• 20^th rebounds/game (6.0)
• 23^rd assists (2.5)
• 25^th 3-pointers/game (1.5)
• 25^th blocked shots/game (0.6)

 
STOP THIEF
Jeremiah Jones ranks 10^th in total steals (28) and 26^th in NCAA D2 in steals/game with 2.55 per game… UMary is 5^th in the NSIC with 7.5 steals/game.
 
SHARING THE LOAD
Three Marauders are averaging over 10.0 points/game this season:

• Jeremiah Jones leads UMary in scoring at 13.3 ppg. He is shooting 46.8% from the field overall. The sophomore guard, who missed last season due to injury, also leads the team in rebounding (6.0 rpg), steals (28) and is 2^nd in blocks (7) and assists (27). Jones has reached double figures in seven games with a season-high 23 against Valley City State. 
•  Kevin McGaskey, in his first season at UMary as a graduate transfer from Prairie View A&M, is scoring 11.8 ppg and leads the squad in assists (34). Seven times he has scored ten or more points with a season-best 21points against MSU Moorhead.
• Junior forward Ty Rogers averages 11.4 ppg. He is making 55.1% of his shots and is pulling down 4.0 rpg.

 
DEBUTS
Seven Marauders made their UMary debuts this season. Kevin McGaskey has started all 11 games at guard. Cayden Redfield (11 games), Ty Johnson (11) and Tamerrein Henderson (10) have played key minutes off the bench. Daniel Hong (7), Wylee Delorme (5) and Matija Otasevic (4) also have seen their first action in the Blue & Orange this year.  
 
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 10 rejections in 11 games (.9/game). The senior forward has also been efficient shooting the ball, making 56% of his shots this season.
 
HIGH EFFICIENCY
Ty Rogers is converting an impressive amount of his shots. The junior forward is connecting on 55.1% of his field goal attempts through 11 games and has reached double figures in scoring seven times. He scored a career-best 22 points against Black Hills State. Rogers has been effective behind the arc, making 8-of-19 (42.1%) of his trey attempts.
 
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, Montenegro).

 
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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