Wendel's Player of the Year repeat highlights 2019-20 UMAC men's basketball awards
ST. PAUL, Minn.---The 2019-20 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men's basketball regular season felt similar to the prior season as the University of Northwestern won a second-straight championship and Crown College's Tim Wendel continued to post insane numbers to conclude his impressive career. Following the conclusion of the regular season, Wendel was selected the UMAC Player of the Year for the second-straight season, while the regular-season champion Eagles earned the two other top awards as the postseason accolade list was announced Monday.
Head Coach Tim Grosz was selected the Coach of the Year by his peers for the second time in as many seasons, and first-year Solomon Bach was tabbed the Rookie of the Year for his role in helping the Eagles to their third regular season championship in the last four years.
The Storm's program leader in scoring took conference marks to the next level in his final campaign as Wendel finished his collegiate career with 2,077 points – the most by any UMAC player in the NCAA era (since 2008) that competed all four seasons in the conference. Wendel surpassed the previous mark of 1,960 held by University of Minnesota Morris' CD Douglas from 2017-18. The Storm forward eclipsed 2,000 in a 37-point performance against Bethany Lutheran College in the final week of the regular season.
Wendel ended the season with 611 total points and led the UMAC in overall scoring with 24.4 points per game (ppg) as well as conference-only scoring 26.0 ppg. He was third in conference rebounding with 9.6 rebounds per game (rpg). He also ranked in the UMAC top 10 in conference games for field goal percentage (51.2), 3-point shooting percentage (33.0), assists per game (3.3 apg), assist/turnover ratio (1.5), blocks per game (1.3 bpg) and minutes played (35.2 per game).
Other season highlights for Wendel include a career-high 38 points in a win over the University of Minnesota Morris as well as seven total games where he scored over 30 points with four coming in the UMAC slate. He also finished with 13 double-double performances and a season-high 18 rebounds in the final game of his career in the UMAC postseason quarterfinal. Wendel was four times named the UMAC Player of the Week including the final three weeks of the regular season.
Northwestern finished an impressive 19-7 and 15-1 in UMAC play to win a second-straight title behind veteran coach Grosz who completed his 20th season earning his 10th-career Coach of the Year nod. Under Grosz' direction, the Eagles were able to finish the conference season winning 13-straight UMAC games after their only loss to Bethany Lutheran in December. In conference games this season, the Eagles led the lead in scoring margin (15.2 ppg), rebounding offense (43.2 rpg), rebounding defense (32.7 rpg), rebounding margin (10.5 rpg) and fewest turnovers (9.9 per game).
Part of the Eagles' success came from first-year forward Bach who added significant depth in his first year. In conference play, Bach was the top-ranked first-year player in rebounding (7.4 rpg) – sixth-most among all UMAC players – scoring (13.8 ppg) and 3-point shooting percentage (34.5). He was second among first-years in field goal percentage (42.9). Bach finished his first year with six double-double performances and two games with more than 20 points.
Wendel is the only player on the 2019-20 awards list to have been selected to one of the three All-UMAC teams in each of his four seasons. He was a First Team honoree in his final three seasons and was the 2016-17 Rookie of the Year.
Four players finished their impressive careers with three seasons named to one of the three lists. Tanner Youngberg of Northwestern leads the list earning First Team recognition in back-to-back years, while Trenton Krueger of Bethany Lutheran has twice earned First Team honors and Collin Anderson of St. Scholastica has been back-to-back Second Team. Ian Paulsen of Martin Luther College ends his career with three-straight Honorable Mention selections.
Three other players have been selected twice in their careers including Micah Filer (North Central University), Cire Mayfield (Bethany Lutheran College) and Vid Milenkovic (University of Wisconsin-Superior). Mayfield has been First Team each of the last two seasons.
Northwestern won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches and awarded to the team that best represents sportsmanship throughout the entire season. Each team also had one representative named to the individual sportsmanship award list.
Player of the Year Award* – Tim Wendel, Sr., Crown
Freshman of the Year Award# – Solomon Bach, Fy., Northwestern
Coach of the Year Award – Tim Grosz, Northwestern
First-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Trenton Krueger |
Sr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Forward |
Eagan, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran |
| Cire Mayfield |
So. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
St. Louis Park, Minn./St. Louis Park |
| Vid Milenkovic |
Sr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Zurich, Switzerland/DSB Belgrade |
| Tim Wendel* |
Sr. |
Crown |
Forward |
Montevideo, Uruguay/Club Malvin |
| Tanner Youngberg |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area |
Second-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Noah Alm |
Jr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake |
| Allen Anderson |
Sr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Brooklyn Park, Minn./Osseo |
| Collin Anderson |
Sr. |
St. Scholastica |
Guard |
Eagan, Minn./Eagan |
| Jared Milinkovich |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
New Prague, Minn./New Prague |
| Michael Moore |
So. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg |
Honorable Mention UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Mason Ackley |
Fy. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Superior, Wis./Superior |
| Solomon Bach# |
Fy. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Watertown, S.D./Watertown |
| Nick Carlson |
So. |
St. Scholastica |
Guard |
Canyon, Minn./South Ridge |
| Micah Filer |
So. |
North Central |
Guard |
Sacramento, Calif./Capital City Christian |
| Gunnar Ledin |
Sr. |
Crown |
Guard |
Anoka, Minn./Anoka |
| Ian Paulsen |
Sr. |
Martin Luther |
Forward |
Ixonia, Wis./Luther Prep |
| Jack Silgen |
So. |
St. Scholastica |
Guard |
Crosby, Minn./Crosby-Ironton |
| Brian Smith |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park |
UMAC All-Defensive Team
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Mason Ackley |
Fy. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Superior, Wis./Superior |
| Jared Milinkovich |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
New Prague, Minn./New Prague |
| Kenneth Riley |
So. |
Minnesota Morris |
Guard |
Spring Valley, Minn./Stewartville |
| Tim Wendel |
Sr. |
Crown |
Forward |
Montevideo, Urugauy/Club Malvin |
| Tanner Youngberg |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area |
UMAC Sportsmanship Awards
Team Award – Northwestern
Bethany Lutheran – Jacob Hoffman, Sr., Mankato, Minn./Minnesota Valley Lutheran
Crown – Tim Wendel, Sr., Montevideo, Uruguay/Club Malvin
Martin Luther – Jack Heichelbech, So., Pewaukee, Wis./Luther Prep
Minnesota Morris – Tath Dak, So., Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East
North Central – Riley Loukinen, Sr., Little Falls, Minn./Little Falls
Northland – Aaron Houle, Sr., Chippewa Falls, Wis.
Northwestern – Kyle Kaemingk, So., Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy
St. Scholastica – Zach Sjoblad, So., Nisswa, Minn./Pequot Lakes
Wisconsin-Superior – Joe Kramer, Sr., Elk River, Minn./Elk River