SEWARD, Neb. – After three in a row away from home, the Concordia University men’s basketball team is set to make its final pre-Christmas appearance inside Walz Arena. The Bulldogs will host Hastings at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday in a matchup between two teams with eight wins apiece. Concordia swept the two regular-season meetings from the Broncos during the 2016-17 campaign. Head coach Ben Limback’s squad will also be at NCAA Division I South Dakota State University for an exhibition on Friday.
This week’s schedule
Wednesday, Dec. 6 vs. Hastings (8-3, 1-2), 8 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 8 at South Dakota State (7-3), 5:30 p.m. (exhibition)
The Bulldogs picked up their third true road win of the season last week, rallying from 15 points down for an 85-80 win at Dordt. Reserve sophomore guard Brevin Sloup emerged with the key buckets during crunch time, including a game-tying 3-pointer and a go-ahead driving layup. Sloup finished with a season high 17 points. Concordia pulled it out despite a season low four 3-point field goals. Defensively, the Bulldogs ramped things up in the second half. The Defenders’ 54.8 field goal percentage over the first 20 minutes slumped to 38.5 percent after halftime.
Sloup became the fourth different sophomore to lead Concordia in scoring in at least one game this season. The team’s top three scorers, in terms of season average, are all sophomores in Clay Reimers (17.2), Jake Hornick (16.9) and Tanner Shuck (14.3). Together, they have helped the program to its best 10-game start since the 2010-11 squad also sat at 8-2 overall. The 2008-09 squad was the most recent to win nine of its first 11 contests. The Bulldogs appeared at No. 6 in the conference ratings released last week.
Hastings has been idle since a 98-86 loss at No. 9 Briar Cliff on Nov. 29. It marked the team’s second loss in a row to a team ranked inside the top 10. The Broncos opened up conference play with a 70-65 win at Mount Marty. On paper, the most impressive win was a 93-90 overtime triumph at York College (receiving votes in national poll) on Oct. 28. Bill Gavers is in his fifth season leading Hastings, which is coming off a 14-17 overall mark in 2016-17. The Broncos average 76.3 points and surrender 74.8 points per game.
Wednesday’s action will be covered live by the Concordia Sports Network and by 104.9 Max Country radio. Access to live video of Friday’s exhibition at South Dakota State can be purchased HERE. Following Friday’s contest, Concordia will be off until a Dec. 15 trip to Northwestern.
Projected lineups
Concordia (8-2, 3-1)
G – Jake Hornick: 16.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.1 spg, .534 fg%, .438 3-pt fg%, .865 ft%
G – Cordell Gillingham: 5.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.8 apg, .400 fg%
G – Tanner Shuck: 14.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, .475 fg%, .419 3-pt fg%
F – Kyle Pierce: 9.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.4 apg, .464 fg%, .452 3-pt fg%
F – Clay Reimers: 17.2 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 2.7 apg, .631 fg%, .692 ft%
Hastings (8-3, 1-2)
G – Jake Hansen: 13.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 403 fg%, .338 3-pt fg%
G – Eli Hunter: 2.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.9 apg, .389 fg%
G – Connor Musiel: 11.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 0.9 spg, .468 fg%, .750 ft%
F – Drew Callaghan: 7.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.0 bpg, .581 fg%, .429 ft%
F – Bart Hiscock – 16.1 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.0 spg, .494 fg%, .313 3-pt fg%