St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Travels to Canyon, Texas for D2CCA Tip-Off Classic

St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Travels to Canyon, Texas for D2CCA Tip-Off Classic

10/31/2024 10:57:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Huskies to play Lubbock Christian University and Missouri Western State

St. Cloud, Minn.- St. Cloud State Men's Basketball open up their 2024-25 campaign this weekend as they travel to Canyon, TX. to participate in the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic. The Huskies play their first game on Saturday, November 2 as they play Lubbock Christian University and then Missouri Western State on Sunday, November 3. Both games are scheduled to be played at 1:30 p.m.

Follow the Huskies
Both games will be streamed live on FloSports (registration required). Live stats will be provided by West Texas A&M for both games. Links for each option can be found on the St. Cloud State Men's Basketball schedule page. The full tournament schedule can be found here.

Series History
Saturday's game against Lubbock Christian University will be the first overall meeting between the programs. Sunday's game against Missouri Western State will also be the first meeting between the two teams.

Scouting Lubbock Christian University
The Lubbock Christian University Chaps will be opening their season on Friday, November 1 as they face-off against Missouri Western prior to their matchup with the Huskies. The Chaps are coming off a 23-11 season where they reached the NCAA Regional Tournament, but were eliminated following a 86-72 loss to Fort Lewis. A season ago, LCU rostered four players that averaged double-digit points in Tiras Morton, Ethan Duncan, Najeeb Muhammad, and Aaron Gonzalez. Duncan, Muhammad, and Gonzalez will all be returning this season.

Duncan finished second on the team in scoring last year with 14.8 points per game while also averaging 3.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 stocks. He shot 44.1% from the field, 44.2% from three, and 80.4% from the free throw line. Muhammad finished third on the team in points with a 13.6 per game average while leading the team in assists with 3.7 per game. He also 3.1 rebounds, 1.1 stocks and had shooting splits of 48/39/81. Gonzalez averaged 10.4 points for the Chaps last year while shooting 53.7% from the field, 47.9% from three, and 90.9% from the free throw line. He also averaged 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists.

Head coach Todd Duncan enters his 13^th season with LCU in 2024-25. Duncan has accumulated a 221-123 overall record while guiding the Chaps to five NCAA Tournament appearances. Duncan is a two-time Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year honoree and was honored with DII National Coach of the Year in 2021.

Scouting Missouri Western State
The Missouri Western State Griffins open their season on Friday, November 1 as they play Lubbock Christian University. The Griffins are coming off a 17-13 2023-24 campaign where they held a 10-12 conference record. MWS was eliminated in the MIAA Conference Tournament by Northwest Missouri State following an 80-52 loss. Last season, the Griffins held four players that scored in double figures including JaRon Thames, Taye Fields, Julius Dixon, and Zion Swander. Dixon and Swander return to the team this season.

Swander was the third leading scorer last year after averaging 10.6 points while shooting 43.1% from the field, 40% from three, and 81.7% from the free throw line. He also averaged 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.5 stocks per game. Dixon was right behind Swander in scoring with a 10.4 per game average on shooting splits of 37.7/30.6/72.5. He also averaged 3.9 rebounds, .6 assists, and .8 stocks per game.

Head Coach Will Martin enters his fifth season with MWS in 2924-25 season. Martin has complied a 59-57 record in his tenure an guided the Griffins to three consecutive MIAA Tournament appearances.

NSIC Preseason Poll
St. Cloud State Men's Basketball was projected to finish 9th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Preseason Coaches' Poll as announced by the league office on Thursday, October 8. Sophomore guard Lucas Morgan was named the player to watch for the Huskies.

Head Coach Quincy Henderson enters his third season with Huskies ahead of the 2024-25 season. Henderson and the Huskies took a step forward following his inaugural season with the program as they finished with a 12-17 record and an 8-14 mark in conference play. St. Cloud State finished 12th in the conference and reached the NSIC Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Huskies would draw Southwest Minnesota State in the first round where they would be defeated 63-74, ending their season.

"We have a strong group of returners that logged significant minutes last year, and they are complemented by a competent group of freshmen. They have a workman's mentality and that bodes well in all aspects of life. The NSIC has proven time and again to be one of the elite conferences in the country and we are excited to tackle the nightly challenges of playing in this league," said Henderson.

Morgan enters his second season with the Huskies and looks to build off his freshman season. The Australian showed off his offensive and defensive versatility for St. Cloud State by averaging 10 points per game (the second most on the team) while shooting 44.3% from the field, 38.2% from three-point range, and 81.3% from the free throw line. Morgan also totaled 5.7 rebounds per game, 2.0 assists per game, and a team-high 1.7 stocks per game.

"Lucas had a great freshman year with the program. He was asked to do a lot on both the offensive and defensive end and statistically performed very well. He's had a great approach to improving his game throughout, and we look forward to another year of his growth," said Henderson.

By the end of the year, St. Cloud State was starting five freshmen in Jamiir Allen, Anish Ramlall, Morgan, Vance Peiffer, and Wyatt Hawks. Allen was the team's leading scorer with 10.2 points per game. Ramlall made the second most threes on the team with 46 while averaging 8.9 points. Peiffer was a versatile defensive player and averaged 5.6 points. Hawks was the team's leading rebounder with 5.8 boards per game while also averaging 6.8 point per game. Sophomore guard Nate Dahl also made some spot starts for the Huskies and made his knack on the defensive end while providing vast amounts of energy. Dahl averaged 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Other returners include redshirt-freshmen Nathan Bunkosky and Izaac Neal.

In the offseason, the Huskies brought in a talented group of freshmen including Tre Blissett, Will Brands, Amos Harvey, Lee Marks III, Hanif Muhammad, Kynan Philippe, Landon Riebel, and Luke Winkel.

Preseason Coaches' Poll Results