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Live Video
THIS WEEK'S GAMES: Fresh off two conference road victories, the Blue Devils (8-1, 2-1 WIAC) return home this Wednesday to face UW-River Falls (3-5, 0-2 WIAC) in their final game of the fall semester. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Johnson Fieldhouse. Stout received more votes in the Dec. 10 D3hoops.com Top 25 poll than they did a week earlier, but remain unranked.
EDDIE ANDRIST INTERVIEWS: Throughout the season, Jimmie Kaska of Sports Radio 1400 AM will speak with men's basketball head coach
Eddie Andrist. Listed are each of the interviews throughout the season. |
Listen to Interviews
WEBCASTS: All of Stout's home games will be available in a Live Video stream by
Blue Devil Video, with Adam "Big Country" Lehnertz on the call. WMEQ 880 AM radio, with either Jason Kenyon, Rob Silvers, Dan Schultz, Jimmie Kaska or Jake Bostrom, will broadcast the away conference games, as well as all Saturday conference games. Check the Blue Devil webcast schedule for the streaming schedule. Links to other team's streaming options will be available.
Live Stats will be available for all Stout home games and many road games (check schedule details).
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THIS WEEK BY THE NUMBERS |
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+10 |
Stout's overall rebounding margin this season, ranking them first among WIAC teams. |
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5-1 |
Stout's record since 2004 in games against River Falls in which they entered coming off a win. |
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.538 |
Stout's FG% (21-of-39) against Platteville on Sat., their second-best percentage in the past two years. |
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130 |
Number of times Stout has lost to River Falls in school history, most of any opposing school. |
THE BLUE DEVILS (8-1, 2-1 WIAC): The Blue Devils came home from a two-game road trip with a pair of conference wins, and remain perfect on the road this season. After defeating Superior last Wednesday, Stout stepped onto Bo Ryan Court, Saturday, and handed UW-Platteville their first home loss of the season. At 8-1, they are off to their best start to a season since 2005-06, when they began 11-1. Their rebounding margin of +10 and their 34 total blocked shots are both best in the WIAC. Stout's defense is also holding their opponents to a combined .353 clip, which is the lowest rate in the conference. Much credit is due to 6-8 center
Josh Kosloske, who has made his post presence known all season. Kosloske kickstarted his season with a 16-point, 12-rebound performance in the opener, and has been mopping up down low ever since. He grabbed a game-high 10 against Whitewater and is now averaging a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game. Additionally, he is shooting an outstanding 72 percent from the field (31-of-43) and leads the team with 12 blocks.
Alex Oman is back atop the scoring leaders on Stout's roster after back-to-back 20-point performances last week. Oman now has a team-best three 20-point games and averages nearly 15 points per game, fourth best in the conference. He is first on the team in steals, and second in both blocks and rebounds, as he seemingly returns to his "team work horse" caliber from last year. After getting his first start against Superior,
Chris Hortman returned to a reserve role against Platteville as he continued his cold shooting streak. He has now made just three of his last 19 shot attempts and has been limited to an average of 15 minutes in his past three games. Despite the cold streak, Hortman is third on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg) and has already shown he can be a dangerous scoring option if he turns it back on.
Jarvis Ragland is now second on Stout's roster in scoring, offering 10.9 points per game.
Aaron Jenny, who slid back into the starting lineup on Saturday, is averaging 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and is coming off a 13-point performance against the Pioneers. Newly-crowned Stout career assist leader
Erik Olson has directed the offense from the point guard position. After seven assists on Saturday, Olson is averaging 5.9 assists per contest. |
2012-13 Statistics
A PLACE IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Erik Olson has been climbing the Stout leaderboard in assists all year, and the inevitable happened against Superior on Dec. 5, as Olson passed Jeremy Leibfried's record total of 358, making him the all-time career assists leader in the Stout record books. Olson broke the record with his third assist of the game, and currently has 369.
CRASHING THE BOARDS: As noted last week, rebounding had not come easy for Stout against last week's opponents: Superior and Platteville. Over the past two seasons, Stout had been out-rebounded by those two teams by a combined margin of 59 rebounds. However, Stout was able to reverse the trend against both teams last week. After out-rebounding Superior, 39-33, the Blue Devils stifled the Pioneers, who entered the game with the WIAC's best rebounding margin, out-rebounding them, 31-25. Overall, Stout has a league-best +10 rebounding margin this season.
STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: Aaron Jenny and
Alex Oman provided a one-two punch in the first half to give UW-Stout a lead they would not relinquish on their way to a 64-55 win at UW-Platteville on Saturday. Both Jenny and Oman tallied 11 points in the first half. Oman would go on to continue his run throughout the game, finishing with a game-high 23 points, hitting 7-of-11 from the floor, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and 5-of-8 from the line. Jenny would toss in only one more bucket in the second half, but finished shooting a very efficient 6-of-7 from the floor. The Blue Devils held a 27-25 halftime lead and only once let the Pioneers get as close as three points in the second half, holding as much as a 14 point lead when Oman banked in a three-pointer with three minutes left on the clock. Both teams got the vast majority of scoring from their starters, but Stout's bench outscored the Pioneers' bench, 12-3. The Pioneers were led by Jim Stocki with 14 points and Eric Gerber with 13 points. Platteville was limited to 44.7 percent shooting from the floor (21-47) and 26.3 percent from three-point range (5-19).
Erik Olson had another fine night finding his teammates. The Blue Devil all-time assists leader dished off seven passes and added seven points. Stout hit on 53.8 percent from the floor (21-39), 54.5 percent from three-point range (6-11) - both their best shooting percentages of the season - and 64 percent from the line (16-25). The 16 free throws made was their most of the season. |
Story and Stats
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PLAYERS TO WATCH |
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Stout |
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#14 - Alex Oman, F, 6-4, 205 |
14.9 ppg, 2 straight 20-point games (20, 23) |
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#34 - Josh Kosloske, C, 6-8, 240 |
8.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 12 blks, .721 FG pct. |
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River Falls |
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#33 - Ollie White, F, 6-7, 210 |
12.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg |
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#41 - Zach Peterson, C, 6-8, 260 |
Last 2 games: 14-for-18, 15 ppg, 7.5 rpg |
SCOUTING UW-RIVER FALLS (3-5, 0-2 WIAC): UW-River Falls won the WIAC Tournament a year ago, but looks to be heading in the opposite direction this season. Since entering conference play at 3-2, the Falcons have dropped three straight, including their first two league games of the year. Sandwiching a loss to Viterbo, River Falls has succumbed to Platteville and Oshkosh, losing the pair of games by a combined 43 points. Certainly not helping the Falcons' cause has been their propensity to turn the ball over. They are averaging over 15 turnovers a game, resulting in a league-worst turnover differential (-3.38).
Arik Smith and
Ollie White have been their first and second scoring options thus far, averaging 13.5 and 12.5 points per game, respectively. White has also contributed on the boards, leading the Falcons with an average of 6.9 rebounds per game.
UT Udo adds a 6.4-rebound average to complement White underneath the hoop. 6-8, 260-pound
Zach Peterson is making his case for more playing time, as he averages eight points and 4.6 rebounds per game in just 17 minutes per night. Peterson got the nod against Oshkosh on Saturday, and turned in a 15-point, 10-rebound performance in a season-high 30 minutes. |
2012-13 Statistics
RIVER FALLS' LAST TIME OUT: The Falcons fell to UW-Oshkosh, 69-52, Saturday at Karges Center. River Falls shot a higher percentage than the Titans, and also won the rebounding battle, but turnovers were again their achilles heel, a recurring trend this season. River Falls coughed up the ball 22 times, doubling Oshkosh's total of 11. Zach Anderson scored in double digits for the third time in four games, turning in 15 points to go along with 10 boards for his first double-double of his career. The Falcons jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and never trailed in the first half, hitting the locker rooms in a 26-all tie. The second half was the determining stanza, as Oshkosh dominated, reeling off separate runs of 19-2 and 14-2, to turn a tie game into a rout. Oshkosh's Cory Nickel led all players with 27 points while fellow Titan Jade Royston added 21. |
Story and Stats
THE SERIES: UW-River Falls leads the series, 130-96. The 130 losses from River Falls are the most from any team in school history. The Falcons have won the past four meetings and have won seven of the last 10. However, Stout has won five of their last six meetings when coming off a win, which is the case on Wednesday.
LAST TIME THEY MET (Jan. 25, 2012): In their second matchup with River Falls of the season, UW-Stout shot a season-low 26 percent from the floor as the Falcons took the conference game, 72-50, Wednesday evening at Johnson Fieldhouse. Stout grabbed the first lead of the game, which lasted for less than two minutes, before trailing for the remainder of the contest. River Falls inflated their lead in the waning minutes of the first half, using a 12-2 run which featured a trio of three-pointers. The falcons led by 19 at the break. The Blue Devil's only threatening run came six minutes into the second half when they went on a 13-0 run to cut a 23-point deficit to just 10. The comeback was aided by four points from
Jarvis Ragland and back-to-back three pointers from
Thomas Scholle-Malone and
Josh Pax. The Falcons put an end to that, however, as Colin Utke hit a pair of clutch threes to keep a double-digit point separation. Utke finished 4-for-5 on the night from beyond the arc. Shane Manor led all scorers with 18 points, and tied teammate Wade Guerin with a game-high 10 rebounds. Ragland led the Blue Devils with 14 points while Scholle-Malone collected a team-high seven boards. |
Story and Stats
THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Eddie Andrist (159-157 at Stout, 407-348 overall) is in his 13th year as the coach of the Blue Devils, and his 23rd overall in the collegiate ranks. Andrist led the Blue Devils to their first NCAA Division III appearance five seasons ago when Stout advanced to the second round. Andrist coached at Mount Senario for 11 seasons and won three national championships. Andrist spent two stints coaching international basketball, working with the country of Qatar. |
UW-River Falls: Jeff Berkhof is in his seventh season as the head coach of the Falcons. Furthermore, he is entering his 19th year with the Falcons in some capacity. Berkhof played for River Falls from 1992-1994 before serving as an assistant coach for 12 years. He entered this season with an exactly .500 coaching record (79-79), but is coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons.
CONFERENCES: Stout and
UW-River Falls are both members of the nine-team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) along with UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Platteville, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior, and UW-Whitewater.
UP NEXT: Stout will round out 2012 in Wisconsin Dells with games against Loras College and Concordia-Wisconsin, Dec. 29 and 30, and then kick off the new year with a home game against UW-Eau Claire, Wednesday, Jan. 3.
