MBB Preview: Stout travels to Oshkosh looking to rebound from loss

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (11-3, 4-2 WIAC) will play the second part of back-to-back conference road games when they travel to UW-Oshkosh (6-9, 1-5 WIAC), Saturday, Jan. 12 for a 3 p.m. matchup with the Titans.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Although they did not crack the top 25, Stout received votes in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll. The Blue Devils have been ranked as high as 23rd this season, but fell out of the rankings at the beginning of January.

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. 

NEWSLETTER: During the season, the Blue Devil coaching staff produces a newsletter offering additional insight into the programs. 
 

THIS WEEK BY THE NUMBERS
11-0	Stout's record when holding their opponents to less than 60 points. (0-3 when opponents score over 60 points.)
52.3	Stout's opponents' average score per game, which ranks third in the nation among DIII teams.
.346	Stout's opponents' combined shooting average, which ranks second in nation among DIII teams.
4-1	Oshkosh's record when Royston or Nickel scores 22+ points (2-8 in games when neither hits that mark).

THE BLUE DEVILS (11-3, 4-2 WIAC): The key to Stout's success all season has been their defense and, unfortunately, that is what they lacked against Stevens Point, who dealt the Blue Devils a 70-51 loss on Wednesday. Stout's defense, which is among the best in all of NCAA Division III, has only allowed their opponents to score over 60 points three times, accounting for all three of their losses. They have won their other 11 games, holding their opponents to an average of 49.3 points in those contests. On average, Stout's opponents are shooting .358 from the field and scoring 53.6 points per game, averages that rank them second and third, respectively, among all DIII teams...Alex Oman leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game, including a team-high four 20-point performance. He is also second on the team in steals, blocks and assists. Although he has hit a cold streak in his past two games, combining for just two points and eight rebounds, 6-8 center Josh Kosloske remains Stout's first option as the big man down low. Kosloske kickstarted his season with a 16-point, 12-rebound performance in the opener, and leads the team with 6.7 boards per game, which is the third best average in the WIAC. He is also leading the team in shooting percentage with a .627 clip from the field, which took a hit, Wednesday, after a 1-for-7 performance against Stevens Point. Chris Hortman delivered his second straight good game, Wednesday, to kick off the new year, after a December to forget. A game after he scored a game-high 18 points against Eau Claire, Hortman scored a team-high 15 against the Pointers. He also added 10 rebounds for his first double-double as a Blue Devil. Hortman has now upped his scoring average to 11 points per game and trails only Kosloske with 5.3 rebounds per game. Jarvis Ragland is second on Stout's roster in scoring, offering 11.6 points per game, shooting a .436 clip from the field. Aaron Jenny is averaging 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Erik Olson is having a very productive season directing the offense from the point guard position. His 5.9 assists per game and assist to turnover ratio of 3.42 are both first in the conference. 

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.

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: UW-Stout could never seem to quite get into the flow of the game as the Blue Devils were defeated 70-51 by 10th ranked UW-Stevens Point, Wednesday at Bennett Court. The Blue Devils shot 33 percent for the game and did not vary much from that number during either half. The first place Pointers shot 54 percent for the game and carried a 39-24 lead into halftime, a lead they held from the first bucket of the night. The Pointers jumped out to a 7-0 lead, then built the lead up to 11 points. Stout cut the lead to four on a jumper by Erik Olson, a three-pointer by Chris Hortman and a bucket by Alex Oman. Moments later, Oman got Stout to as close as three points midway through the period,  but that was as close as Stout would get the rest of the night. The Pointers got 16 points from Trevor Hass, 14 from Clayton Heuer and 10 from DeVon Jackson. The Blue Devils were led by Hortman with 15 - who also had a game-high nine rebounds - and 14 from Oman. | 
 

PLAYERS TO WATCH
UW-Stout
#14 - Alex Oman, F, 6-4, 205	14.1 ppg; 2nd on team in assists, blocks, steals
#3 - Chris Hortman, F, 6-3, 190	Last 2 games: 16.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg
UW-Oshkosh
#5 - Cory Nickel, G, 6-1, 190	13.7 ppg; WIAC-best 56 3pt field goals made
#12 - Jade Royston, G, 6-0, 175	14.5 ppg; 2 games w/ 26 pts; 5 20-pt games

SCOUTING UW-OSHKOSH (6-9, 1-5 WIAC): The Titans already have more conference victories than they had last year, but it is a small step in the right direction for a struggling Oshkosh program. The Titans' struggles have came with their scoring and their rebounding, which both rank last in the conference. They are scoring just 61.4 points per game and their rebounding margin is -7.2. To put that in perspective, Superior is eighth in the conference in rebound margin with -0.8, and Stout holds a 14.7 rebound per game advantage with their own average of +7.5. Oshkosh has somewhat lived and died by the individual performances of their two top scorers, Jade Royston and Cory Nickel. The Titans are 4-1 in games where one of those players scores at least 22 points. They are just 2-8 when neither player hits that mark. Royston delivered three of those performances, including two separate 26-point games. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game. Nickel trails with a 13.7 scoring average, and has games of 34 and 27 points, the latter of which came in the team's only conference win, a 69-52 win over River Falls. In those two games, Nickel shot 8-of-14 and 10-of-17 from beyond the arc, showing his fearlessness to pull the trigger from deep. Andre Wallace leads the team with 4.5 rebounds per game and Dylan Wurtz trails closely with 4.3. 

UW-OSHKOSH'S LAST TIME OUT: In a battle of the cellar dwellers, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire fought hard throughout the entire game, keeping it close to the end, and the Blugolds used a late 13-2 run to capture their first WIAC victory of the season. Eau Claire had a small, three-point, halftime lead before Oshkosh grabbed a lead of their own, six minutes into the second half. With seven minutes left, Andre Wallace hit a pair of free throws to put the Titans up by five, but the 13-2 Blugold run over the next four and a half minutes gave them a five-point lead they would hold for good. Neither team ever led by more than six points in the contest. Andre Wallace led all players with 15 points. 

THE SERIES: UW-Stout leads the series, 62-56. Stout swept the two-game series last year, and each team has won three of the past six meetings. Oshkosh, however, has won nine of the past 12. Oshkosh is one of two WIAC teams that Stout holds an all-time edge over, the other being UW-Superior (114-101).

LAST TIME THEY MET (Feb. 18, 2012): UW-Stout ended their 2012 season on a three game winning streak, ending with their third straight down-to-the-wire win as they defeated UW-Oshkosh, 71-68, at Kolf Sports Center. Alex Omanheld the hot hand again for the Blue Devils, matching a career-high with 28 points. But none of his points were as big as the two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to put Stout up, 69-68, never to trail again. The free throws culminated a long, deliberate comeback by the Blue Devils. Trailing by 15 points, 28-13, at 8:57 of the first half, the Blue Devils ever so slowly chipped away at the lead and trailed, 37-32, after Carter Ciolkosz layed in a bucket just before the first half buzzer. But behind the scoring of senior John Flanigan, playing in his 100th and final contest, the Titans kept the Blue Devils at bay - barely. Stout cut the lead to one point several times in the second half, and the Titans built up a five point, 64-59, lead with 5:13 remaining as Flanigan scored six points in just over a minute. An Oman free throw and a Thomas Scholle-Malone bucket pulled Stout to within 64-62 with 4:01 remaining. Greg Schrimpf gave the Titans a 66-62 lead with a pair of free throws, but Oman cut the lead to one point, on a 3-pointer and Ciolkosz gave Stout the lead, 67-66, at 1:48 with a layup. The Titans took their final lead, 68-67, of the night on a bucket by Chad Mathwig with 1:19 remaining. Oman was fouled with 15 seconds left, and he drained both for a 69-68 lead they would not relinquish. s

THE COACHES:  UW-Stout:  Eddie Andrist (162-159 at Stout, 410-350 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-Oshkosh: Pat Juckem is in his first season as the head coach of the Titans after coming to Oshkosh from Coe College, where he served as the head coach for the past seven seasons. At Coe, Juckem compiled a record of 105-79 and led the Kohawks to two conference titles. From 1999-2005, Juckem served as an assistant coach at Lawrence University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995.

CONFERENCES: Stout and Oshkosh are all members of the nine-team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) along with UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior, and UW-Whitewater.

UP NEXT: Stout returns home, Wednesday, Jan. 16, to host UW-La Crosse in a 7 p.m. matchup at Johnson Fieldhouse.