Game of the Week: Crown at Northwestern - Men's Basketball
UMAC Game of the Week Archives
ST. PAUL -- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
This week's UMAC Game of the Week will take place on Saturday, January 25 with the University of Northwestern hosting Crown College in men's basketball action. Saturday’s matchup has the potential to be an early highlight for the UMAC men’s basketball season, featuring two teams that are currently undefeated heading into the weekend (Crown will face North Central on Friday while Northwestern squares off with Minnesota Morris). Expect a great environment and a fun basketball game when these two teams meet on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in St. Paul.
About the Storm
The Crown/Northwestern “rivalry” hadn’t lived up to that definition for a long time. It’s tough to call something so one-sided a rivalry and Crown hadn’t earned a victory in the matchup of men’s basketball teams in over a decade. That all changed last year when Crown’s Taylor Jones beat the buzzer to give Crown a 69-67 victory at Northwestern. This season, with the two teams sitting atop the UMAC standings at 3-0 heading into the weekend, the game has the potential to finally live up to the rivalry designation.
The Crown men have taken a circuitous route to their current position, dropping their first five games of the season. Featuring a roster that includes eight newcomers in the rotation, it took a few weeks for the young team to find an identity and hit their stride. Since that tough start to the season, Crown is 6-3, including a perfect 3-0 to start UMAC play. A big reason for the surge is the improved play of new faces at Crown, including transfer Bryce Williams, freshman James Brown, and senior transfer Billy Berglund. Those three compliment captains Truman Shetler and Roland Owczarek in the starting lineup.
Since the start of conference play, Crown boasts the league’s highest scoring offense at 86.7 points per game. Two big reasons are the team’s conference leading assist and three point shooting numbers. The Storm also boast the top rebounding team in conference (+13 margin) and a better than 2:1 assist to turnover ratio as a team. As strong as Crown’s early returns have been, the Eagles are poised to counter those strengths, with the UMAC’s best defense, second highest rebounding total, and an offense that ranks in the top half for every shooting category.
About the Eagles
Northwestern heads into this weekend’s doubleheader (hosting Minnesota Morris on Friday and Crown on Saturday) with a 6-8 overall record and a 3-0 mark in UMAC play. Dating back to last season, the Eagles have won eight straight league games, including both of the UNW's conference contests last Friday and Saturday at Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran. In its three conference wins, Northwestern, last year’s UMAC regular season and postseason tournament champion, has held opponents to an average of 58 points per game while scoring 72 of their own.
Senior Steven Willey has come on as of late for the Eagles and is currently sixth in the UMAC with 14.3 points per game after scoring a career best 22 last Saturday in Mankato, Minn. Willey is one of three Northwestern players in the league’s top 10 for field goal percentage Northwestern’s leading scorer, Michael Carney, has hit double figures for points in all but two of the Eagles’ 14 games this season. The sophomore enters this weekend with a 45 percent success rate on overall shooting and has made over 40 percent of his three-point attempts in 2013-2014.
Another player to watch is freshman Will Gisler, who is second on the team with a 10.6 points per game average. Gisler had a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) in last Friday’s win against Martin Luther and has had three games with 15 points or more.
Game Notes
Northwestern and Crown enter this weekend’s games tied atop the UMAC standings with both boasting 3-0 league records.
Northwestern is 64-5 all-time against Crown. Before suffering a 69-67 loss to the Storm on Feb. 1, 2013, the Eagles had won the last 19 meetings between the two teams.
Since Crown adopted its name from the prior St. Paul Bible College in 1991, Northwestern has gone 43-2 against the Storm, with both wins coming on the Eagles’ Ericksen Center court. UNW head coach Tim Grosz owns a 5-1 advantage over the Crown’s Luke Herbert.
Both Crown and UNW rank in the top half of the conference in offensive scoring, defensive scoring, FG%, 3PT%, FT%, rebounds, turnovers, steals, and 3PT% defense.
Eight of the top 17 scorers in UMAC play are from Northwestern or Crown.
The two teams combine to have eight players (four each) averaging double-digit scoring in UMAC play.
Compared to 2012-2013, Northwestern’s starting lineup for this year’s conference season thus far has featured five new starters that includes a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and a senior.
Crown Recap |
Northwestern Recap |
Final Score UNW 79, Crown 65
For information on other contests around the league this week, visit the UMAC's live scoreboard.