Read a Leader-Telegram Preview by Jack Goods
MENOMONIE (November 5, 2021) – The UW-Stout men's basketball team returns it's top five scorers and four starters from last year's pandemic-shortened season.
And fourth-year head coach
Jim Lake can't be more excited to get this team together, a team that certainly has a veteran feeling, as well as some talented, but unproven newcomers.
"We are eager to get these guys on the floor together and watching them grow throughout the season," Lake said. "We are a veteran team, but we also have some newcomers. We will be looking for a cohesion."
The Blue Devils return starters in guard
Armani Tinsley, last year's leading scorer, forward
TYreese Alexander, guard
Luke Geiger and post
Drew Scott.
In addition, the Blue Devils return forward
Jon Ciriacks, who missed five of the nine games last season due to injury and has been a starter the previous two years
Tinsley and Alexander were WIAC honorable mention picks last season and Ciriacks twice earned WIAC honorable mention honors.
Tinsley scored in double-digits in all nine games and was the team's leading 3-point shooter, draining 24 shots from downtown, and averaged 16.2 points per contest. Alexander finished his second season with the Blue Devils by averaging 8.8 points and matched Geiger with a team-best 4.9 rebounds.
Ciriacks, Geiger, Alexander and Tinsley have been with the program the longest and they will provide the foundation for the team this season. Ciriacks and Geiger are in their fifth year with the program while Alexander and Tinsley begin their third seasons in Menomonie.
"They are the four corners of our foundation," Lake said. "They have been with the program the longest. They all returned because there was a belief in what we are doing."
In limited action last season, Ciriacks averaged 13.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and continued to step outside to drain 8 of 16 3-pointers. Geiger averaged 10.9 points and hit 14 3-pointers. Both Ciriacks and Geiger are in the top 50 of the UW-Stout career scoring list and are within reach of breaking the 1000 career mark. Scott averaged 16 minutes on the court and pulled down 3.6 rebounds per contest in his first year as a Blue Devil.
Point guard
Lovell Williams, the 2021 WIAC newcomer of the year, will be a key cog to the Blue Devils' season in his sophomore year.
Williams averaged 12.0 points per contest, shooting 39 of 76 field goals, shooting 51.3 percent, and 18 of 33 3-point shots for a 54.5 percent success range from beyond the arc.
Forward
Brody Fox returns after seeing action in all nine games and point guard
Kyle Williams returned last season after a year off and is beginning his third season with the Blue Devils.
Carson Moe,
Preston Briggs,
Nick Jungel,
Jackson Noll and
Cory Hoglund saw limited action last season and Lake expects each to make contributions to the team this year.
Lake and his coaching staff are excited about the newcomers to the program – senior transfer
Jarnard Smith, Jr., who transferred from Kalamazoo College,
Cody Miller, a transfer from NAIA Valley City State, and true freshmen
Jacob Walczak,
Brenden Weis and
Peter Howard.
Smith is a combination guard who will bring a veteran's presence to the squad as the senior has bought into the program, said Lake.
"We are putting more shooters on the floor and spreading the floor out," Lake said, "but we will still be tempo and push. We will put the ball in the basket, but how efficient will we be?"
"We learned to more spurtable, to put lots of points up in a hurry, but can we stop other teams from their runs?" Lake asked. "How well can we recover from an opponent's run? Can we be tough enough to end it there?"
The non-conference portion of the season will challenge the Blue Devils and prepare them for WIAC action, which this year begins in early December instead of early January.
"The non-conference season will prepare us for the WIAC," Lake said, noting the team has a wide variety of non-conference opponents, starting with an exhibition game with NCAA Division I Loyola University-Chicago.
"Division I programs are good at making you pay for mistakes. The Loyola game gave us a chance to see where the chinks in the armor are," Lake said. "We will shore those areas up."
St. Olaf College, the Blue Devils' regular season opener, Friday, Nov. 5, gives a tough opponent from the talented MIAC. The Greenville University game in December represents a team with a different look, a run-and-gun style that last season averaged 116 points per game and 132 points the previous season. Albion College is making a claim to being one of the top teams in their Michigan league after advancing to the MIAA championship game last spring.
"We certainly don't want to go into the WIAC with secrets about ourselves," Lake said. "We will use the non-conference schedule to find out about ourselves. The non-conference schedule will give us an opportunity to gel together. It will allow us to be hardened by the time we get into conference play."
And Lake said the coaching staff is learning about the team early.
"These are the most competitive practices since we got here," Lake said. "I like what I see in practice. They now sacrifice a shot for a pass that has a better shot."
"We need to get better after every game," Lake said.
The Blue Devils have been picked to finish seventh, according to a WIAC preseason poll conducted by league coaches and sports information directors. UW-Platteville was picked first, followed by UW-Oshkosh, UW-La Crosse, UW-Whitewater, UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, Stout and UW-Stevens Point.
Stout opens league play when they host UW-River Falls, Wednesday, Dec. 1, followed by a trip to UW-Whitewater, Saturday, Dec. 4.
