SEWARD, Neb. – A stretch of three-straight road games continues this week as the Concordia University Men’s Basketball team looks ahead to matchups with Doane and Dordt. Those opponents will take their shot at ending what has grown into an eight-game winning streak for the Bulldogs. The string was kept intact last week as Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad won at home over Dordt, 89-84, and then triumphed at the Corn Palace, 95-79, over Dakota Wesleyan. Those results put Concordia at 19-5 overall (12-4 GPAC). With four games to play in the regular season, the Bulldogs are tied atop the GPAC standings along with Hastings and Northwestern.
This Week
Wednesday, Feb. 14 at Doane (7-18, 2-15 GPAC), 7:45 p.m.
--Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Haddix Center (Crete, Neb.)
Saturday, Feb. 17 at Dordt (17-7, 10-6 GPAC), 5:45 p.m.
--Max Country | Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: DeWitt Gymnasium (Sioux Center, Iowa)
By the numbers
· This time a week ago, the GPAC standings displayed a five-way tie for first place. The deadlock at the top now includes Concordia, Hastings and Northwestern, all at 12-4 in league play. Not far behind are Morningside (11-5) and Dordt (10-6). Below is a listing of remaining schedules for each of the top five squads. A home showdown with Hastings looms next week after the Bulldogs venture on the road twice this week. Limback is hoping to lead the program to a second GPAC regular season title in a three-year span. The 2021-22 edition shared the regular season championship with Briar Cliff and went on to capture the GPAC tournament title.
o Concordia: at Doane | at Dordt | vs. Hastings | vs. Midland.
o Dordt: vs. Jamestown | vs. Concordia | at DWU | at Northwestern.
o Hastings: vs. Mt Marty | vs. Briar Cliff | at Concordia | at Doane.
o Morningside: vs. DWU | at Doane | at Northwestern | at Briar Cliff.
o Northwestern: at Briar Cliff | at Midland | vs. Morningside | vs. Dordt.
· Inexplicably, Concordia did not receive votes in the official NAIA coaches’ poll released on Jan. 31. The next poll is scheduled to be released on Wednesday and is very likely to include the Bulldogs. In official analytics released last week by the NAIA, Concordia appeared at No. 3 in the North-Central region ARC rankings (behind Northwestern and Roosevelt University) and at No. 17 in the RPI. Though not officially used by the NAIA, Massey Ratings has the Bulldogs at No. 11 in the NAIA. In addition, Victory Sports Network moved Concordia all the way up to No. 8 in its NAIA rankings. No matter the metric being applied, the Bulldogs are a top 25 team. They own four wins over teams that were ranked in the top 25 at the time games were played.
· Concordia has not lost since its 79-78 nail-biting defeat at Hastings on Jan. 17. The Bulldogs have proceeded to win eight-straight games over a stretch that has included a CIT championship and notable victories over No. 12 Northwestern and No. 19 Morningside (on the road). During those eight games, Concordia has averaged 87.6 points while shooting with incredible efficiency – 52.6 percent from the floor, 42.0 percent from 3-point range and 78.2 percent from the foul line. As a comparison, opponents have averaged 77.6 points and have shot 46.4 percent from the floor over that same time. Four Bulldogs are averaging double figures during the streak: Noah Schutte (17.9), Tristan Smith (17.3), Brad Bennett (15.1) and Hayden Frank (10.3).
· Concordia managed to win at Morningside without Tristan Smith for nearly the whole second half and then won games as he sat out against Northwestern and Dordt. The depth of the Bulldogs helped pick up the slack, but they are undoubtedly better when Smith is on the floor. He stuffed the stat sheet in his first game back from the ankle injury, posting 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists at Dakota Wesleyan. On the season, Smith is averaging 17.9 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 60.4 percent from the floor. Smith has collected 10 double-doubles as part of his junior season. The Elizabeth, Colo., native was named Honorable Mention All-GPAC last season despite missing roughly half of it due to injury. He’s in line to move up the honor roll in 2024.
· Brad Bennett enjoyed a Super Bowl Sunday to remember as he poured in a career high 26 points in the win at Dakota Wesleyan. Bennett made 10-of-14 shots from the floor, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. Bennett’s previous scoring high was 25 in a win last season at Waldorf. With the outburst at the Corn Palace, Bennett pushed his season scoring average to 11.5 and his 3-point field goal percentage to 40.9 (56-for-137). The Elkhorn, Neb., native has drained the fifth most 3-point field goals among GPAC players.
· The Laurel, Neb., native Schutte recorded two double-doubles last week as went for 21 points and 11 rebounds versus Dordt and then 12 points and 10 rebounds at Dakota Wesleyan. The consistently reliable Schutte has reached the 20-point mark 14 times this season and is averaging 20.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while shooting 57.2 percent from the floor. On the program’s all-time lists, Schutte ranks eighth in scoring (1,641 points) and 10th in rebounds (658). As a prep standout at Laurel-Concord-Coleridge High School, Schutte racked up more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Concordia Projected Starting Five
G – Brad Bennett, 6-1 (11.5)
G – Jaxon Stueve, 6-4 (6.3)
F – Lukas Helms, 6-6 (6.9)
F – Noah Schutte, 6-4 (20.2)
F – Tristan Smith, 6-5 (17.9)
The opponents
Doane has scuffled to a nine-game losing streak and sits in a tie for 10th place in the GPAC standings. Locked out of the eight-team GPAC tournament, the Tigers will be playing the role of spoiler down the stretch of the regular season. Head Coach Ian McKeithen has shuffled the deck frequently with 12 different players having started at least three games this season. The Tigers lean on reliable veteran Brady Timm, who is averaging 17.1 points per game. Offensively, Doane averages 71.8 points and shoots 41.9 percent from the floor. Its opponents average 78.4 points and shoot 49.1 percent from the floor. The Tigers will be looking to snap their current skid and also end a four-game series losing streak to Concordia. This season’s first matchup went to the Bulldogs by a 106-69 score in Seward.
Doane Projected Starting Five
G – Guy Moran, 6-4 (4.5)
G – Nick Saiz, 6-2 (6.6)
G – Brady Timm, 5-10 (17.1)
G/F – Caleb Hrabik, 6-4 (6.6)
F – Cooper Shelton, 6-6 (7.5)
Dordt had the weekend off after losing to Concordia and Morningside in two competitive contests last week. Those defeats will make it difficult for the Defenders to jump back into the GPAC title race, but they remain a very likely national tournament team while ranking No. 26 in the latest RPI. Lucas Lorenzon (22.2 ppg) ranks as the GPAC’s No. 3 scorer for a squad that averages a GPAC high 90.0 points per game and shoots 51.1 percent from the floor. Head Coach Brian Van Haaften is in his sixth season at Dordt following a successful tenure at NCAA Division III Buena Vista University, where he coached Concordia Head Baseball Coach Ryan Dupic. Dordt owns a home record of 7-3. The Defenders will host Jamestown on Wednesday before welcoming the Bulldogs to DeWitt Gymnasium on Saturday. Concordia defeated Dordt, 89-84, in Seward on Feb. 5.
Dordt Projected Starting Five
G – Bryce Coppock, 5-11 (17.9)
G – Lucas Lorenzen, 6-4 (22.2)
G – Connor Millikan, 6-0 (12.2)
G – Luke Rankin, 5-10 (11.2)
F – Ben Fairclough, 6-8 (7.0)
Next Week
The Bulldogs will finish the regular season next week with two games at home: Feb. 21 versus Hastings and Feb. 24 versus Midland. In this season’s first meetings, Concordia toppled Midland, 104-86, in Fremont and got clipped at Hastings, 79-78.