Eagles, Vikings take top 2022 UMAC men's basketball honors
ST. PAUL, Minn.---After a remarkable 13-1 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season and postseason championship, the University of Northwestern took two of the top men's basketball accolades with Noah Alm earning the Player of the Year award and head coach Tim Grosz picking up Coach of the Year, it was announced Tuesday.
Bethany Lutheran College led all institutions with four players selected to one of the three all-conference lists and grabbed the other two major awards. Riley Ashburn was selected as the Rookie of the Year, while Jared Milinkovich earned the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year award.
Under Grosz' leadership and Alm's lights-out play, the Eagles won the program's 30th regular season conference title and 13th tournament championship with a win over Crown College Sunday. The Eagles will now make the program's ninth NCAA appearance since the conference first earned the automatic qualifier in 2010-11. Grosz saw his team slip up just once in the regular season to Crown before earning a 85-69 statement win in the championship. The Eagles averaged 80.5 points per game (ppg) against UMAC teams in the regular season and were second in scoring margin (13.9 ppg). They topped the defensive scoring category limiting opponents to 66.6 ppg and dominated all aspects of rebounding with 45.5 rebounds per game (rpg), 33.6 rpg allowed and 11.9 rpg margin which all were first in the UMAC.
The Eagles were led all season by the sharp-shooting Alm who picked up his second-consecutive Tournament MVP honor Sunday after an unforgettable championship game performance in which he scored 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field with 10 rebounds for a double-double performance to remember. The senior guard enters the NCAA tournament averaging 20.1 ppg with 15 games in which he scored 20 or more points.
In conference play, Alm ranked third in scoring with 20.2 ppg thanks to his impressive consistency beyond the arc. His 47.1 percent from 3-point range was first in UMAC play with his 3.4 made 3-pointers sitting second. Against UMAC teams this season, Alm had six games where he converted four-of-more 3-pointers and four games with five-or-more. Twice he went 7-of-8 from downtown including the final game of the regular season against Martin Luther College.
Alm is the first Northwestern player to be named the UMAC Player of the Year since Michael Carney in 2014-15. Alm was three times selected the UMAC Player of the Week this year. He also currently ranks sixth in NCAA Division III for total field goal attempts (462) and 13th for total field goals made (211). His 569 total points rank 15th.
Bethany Lutheran was among the top defensive teams in the conference which led to its tie for the runner-up spot in the standings at 9-5. Leading the defensive efforts was senior Milinkovich who was the favorite of the coaches' for the first-ever Defensive Player of the Year award. Milinkovich led a Viking defense that forced 14.1 turnovers per game against UMAC teams. The Vikings also were first in blocks per game (3.9) and defensive rebounds (33.3 rpg) and second in steals per game (7.9 spg). Milinkovich averaged 1.1 spg and 0.4 bpg in UMAC play. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds per game.
While Milinkovich provided senior leadership, Ashburn is a rising star for the Vikings. The rookie was 10th in the UMAC in rebounding (5.8 rpg) to lead all first-year players. He also added 6.8 ppg and shot 50 percent from the field. He scored in double figures on three occasions and tallied his first collegiate double double on Feb. 4 against Northland College scoring 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Alm and Milinkovich headline a short list of just five players that have been named to on of the three All-UMAC lists three times in their careers. Alm and Brian Smith of the Vikings are the only two of the four to have been selected First Team this season and in 2020-21. Micah Filer (North Central University) and Cire Mayfield (Bethany Lutheran) also join the elite group earning three honors in the last four seasons.
Five other players have been selected to one of the three All-UMAC squads in their careers including Jordan Brennan (Northland), Kyle Kaemingk (Northwestern), Hunter Nielsen (Bethany Lutheran), Seth Royston (Crown) and Eli Vogel (University of Wisconsin-Superior).
Martin Luther 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* – Noah Alm, Sr., Northwestern
Defensive Player of the Year Award% – Jared Milinkovich, Sr., Bethany Lutheran
Rookie of the Year Award# – Riley Ashburn, Fy., Bethany Lutheran
Coach of the Year Award – Tim Grosz, Northwestern
First-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Noah Alm* |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake |
| Cade Carroll |
Jr. |
Crown |
Guard |
Buena Vista, Colo./Buena Vista |
| Justin Castro |
Sr. |
North Central |
Guard |
Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway |
| Micah Filer |
Sr. |
North Central |
Guard |
Sacramento, Calif./Capital Christian |
| Brian Smith |
Sr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park |
Second-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Jordan Brennan |
Jr. |
Northland |
Guard |
Ashland, Wis./Ashland |
| Noah Kannegiesser |
Jr. |
Minnesota Morris |
Guard |
Hancock, Minn./Hancock |
| Kyle Kaemingk |
Jr. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy |
| Hunter Nielsen |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Forward |
New Prague, Minn./New Prague |
| Xavier Patterson |
So. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Superior, Wis./Superior |
Honorable Mention UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Henry Fahnbulleh |
So. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove |
| Jack Heichelbech |
Sr. |
Martin Luther |
Forward |
Pewaukee, Wis./Luther Prep |
| Cire Mayfield |
Sr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
St. Louis Park, Minn./St. Louis Park |
| Jared Milinkovich |
Sr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
New Prague, Minn./New Prague |
| Seth Royston |
Sr. |
Crown |
Forward |
Leroy, Minn. |
| Jacob Van Dam |
So. |
Crown |
Guard |
Edgerton, Minn./Southwest Minnesota Christian |
| Eli Vogel |
Jr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Appleton, Wis./Appleton West |
UMAC All-Defensive Team
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Mason Ackley |
Jr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Superior, Wis./Superior |
| Justin Castro |
Sr. |
North Central |
Guard |
Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway |
| Henry Fahnbulleh |
So. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove |
| Jared Milinkovich% |
Sr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
New Prague, Minn./New Prague |
| Seth Royston |
Sr. |
Crown |
Forward |
Leroy, Minn. |
| Harley Shear |
Sr. |
Northland |
Guard |
Iowa City, Iowa/West |
| Caleb Waldeck |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Newhall, Calif./Hart |
UMAC Sportsmanship Awards
Team Award – Martin Luther
Bethany Lutheran – Jacob Milinkovich, Sr., New Prague, Minn./New Prague
Crown – Seth Royston, Sr., Leroy, Minn.
Martin Luther – Jacob Price, Sr., Weston, Wis./Northland Lutheran
Minnesota Morris – James Pendleton, Sr., Redwood Falls, Minn./Redwood Valley
North Central – Eddie Speller, Jr., Fy., Monument, Colo./Lewis-Palmer
Northland – Kade Panich, So., Wautoma, Wis./Wautoma
Northwestern – Caleb Hoilien, So., Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy
Wisconsin-Superior – Carter Brown, Sr., Eau Claire, Wis./Regis Catholic