SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s basketball team will travel to St. Paul, Minn. on Wednesday night to take on St. Thomas in a MIAC contest starting at 7 p.m. The Gusties enter the contest 4-6 overall with a 1-4 MIAC mark while the Tommies are 8-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play.
The Series
Tonight’s contest marks the 191st all-time matchup between the two teams with the Tommies leading the series 116-74. The last time the two teams met, the Gusties defeated the Tommies 69-68 on Jan. 24, 2018 in Saint Peter.
Scouting the Gusties
In their most recent contest the Gusties defeated the University of Minnesota-Morris on December 29th by a score of 74-71 in overtime. Through 10 contests this season, the Gusties are averaging 72.9 points per contest, while allowing 75.0. Gustavus is in the top five in the MIAC in both field goal and three point percentage with marks of 47.4 and 37.5 respectively. The Gusties are also holding a rebounding edge over their opponents by a margin of 1.2. Riley Sharbono leads all Gustie scorers averaging 14.2 points per game on 45.4 percent shooting from the field while Nolan Malo is the other Gustie averaging double figures with 11.7 points to go along with a team-leading 5.6 rebounds per game.
Scouting the Tommies
After losing their first game of the season to Brooklyn, the Tommies have rattled off eight straight victories, most recently defeating No. 12 UW-Stevens Point 73-57 on Dec. 15. As a team, the Tommies are shooting 49.8 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. They are second in the conference in both assists and steals per game averaging 17.9 and 7.6 respectively. They are led offensively by Anders Nelson who is averaging 17.6 points per contest to go along with 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Connor Bair and Michael Hannon also both average double figures for the Tommies tallying 12.7 and 10.7 points per contest respectively.