November 07, 2008

Men's Basketball Continues Exhibition Schedule vs. Wash U

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THE SETTING: The University of Missouri-St. Louis men’s basketball team continues its three-game exhibition slate, hosting NCAA Division III Washington University Saturday night in the Mark Twain Building.

The Tritons, under the direction of sixth year head coach Chris Pilz, wrap up the pre-season schedule next Friday (Nov. 14) before tipping off their 43rd season of intercollegiate basketball Nov. 20, hosting cross town foe Harris-Stowe.

TRITONS-BEARS HISTORY: UMSL and Washington University have meet 16 times during regular season play with the Tritons holding a 12-4 edge over the Bears. The two programs last met during the 1999-2000 season with Wash U earning an 80-68 home victory.

LAST TIME OUT: UMSL lost a 111-53 decision at Kentucky last Monday in its first tune-up of the season. Junior Jeremy Brown scored a team-high 10 points in his debut, while freshman Beaumont Beasley added seven points.

The Wildcats scored the game’s first 10 points before takinga 63-23 halftime lead. UMSL was held to 31.1 percent shooting and was out-rebounded 68-23. Senior Tim Green pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

LAST YEAR IN PRESEASON PLAY: The Tritons also played three exhibition contests last season, posting an 0-3 record against three Division I schools. UMSL lost a 71-54 decision at Saint Louis on Nov. 2 and less than 24 hours later lost a 78-51 verdict at Missouri. The Tritons closed out the preseason with a 70-37 loss at Illinois State.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Washington University is coming off its first national championship and is the preseason No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division III. Four starters return from last year’s 25-6 squad, including senior Tyler Nading, who averaged 14.7 points and 5.8 rebounds.

THE OPPOSING COACH: Mark Edwards enters his 28th season at Washington University where he has produced a 477-233 record and has led the program to 13 NCAA Tournament apperances.

HEAD COACH CHRIS PILZ: Chris Pilz enters his sixth season as head coach of the UMSL men’s basketball program where he holds a 51-85 record.

Pilz came to UMSL having built a successful program at Hazelwood Central (Mo.) High School, leading the team to a 107-55 record and never finishing with a losing season. He also spent two years at Senath-Hornersville (Mo.) High School and four years at Salem (Mo.) High School.

A former standout at UMSL, Pilz was a second team All-American during the 1990-91 season and ranks as the school’s third all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,677 points.

SIZING UP THE TRITONS: UMSL returns seven letterwinners from last year’s team, which finished 10-17 overall, including 5-14 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. However, those seven returnees, along with six newcomers are expected to make a push to return to the top of the league standings.

Headlining the list of returnees is senior forward Tim Green, the squad’s top returning scorer with 11.3 points per game last season.

Accompanying Green on the UMSL offensive attack will senior center Adam Kaatman and senior guards Jason Black and Nathan Whittaker. Kaatman earned a starting role for the final eight games of the season and averaged 10.8 points during that stretch and totaled 153 total points (6.6 ppg) on the season.

Senior forward Aaron Jackson also returns to the line-up, hoping for an injury-free season. Jackson missed most of his junior year following an ACL injury and red shirted the previous year due to injury.
Junior guard Adam Fear and junior forward Cody Kliethermes also both return for their third season with the Tritons.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: Among the list of incoming players is senior forward Alex Jackson, a transfer from St. Louis Meramec Community College, who earned NJCAA All-American honors after averaging 13 points per game during the 2006-07 season.

Junior guard Jeremy Brown returns to the basketball court following a three-year stint in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball organization. Brown played one season of basketball at Arkansas-Fort Smith before transferring to Pratt Community College to spend two years with the baseball team. He was then selected in the 10th round of the 2005 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he quickly worked his way up to the Las Vegas 51’s of Triple A.

Sophomore guard Ryan Lawrence joins the UMSL program after playing one year at Mineral Area Community College. Lawrence helped his team to a 19-12 record last season and a conference championship and averaged 5.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 points per game.

A trio of freshmen will also make their collegiate debuts for the Tritons. Guards Beaumont Beasley and Ryne Bechtel and forward Sam Buxton could all see significant playing time this season.

Beasley comes from Lincoln Prep in Kansas City, Mo., where he was a first team all-stater after averaging 19 points, five rebounds and three assists per game, while Bechtel played four years at Lebanon (Mo.) High School where he averaged 19 points, 3.5 rebounds and three assists per game as a senior. He also set a school record for 75 three-pointers made in a season. Buxton comes from Gibraltar, Europe where he averaged 24 points and 15.5 rebounds per game at Bayside High School.

GLVC PRESEASON POLL RELEASED: UMSL has been picked to finish fourth in the West Division of the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll, as determined by the league’s head coaches.

Drury and Southern Indiana tied as the preseason favorite in the West Division, earning 23 total points, including three first-place votes, and was followed by Quincy, which claimed 16 points.

UMSL received 12 points, while Rockhurst received nine and Missouri S&T tallied seven.

Kentucky Wesleyan garnered 32 total points, including three first-place votes, to earn the title as preseason favorite in the GLVC East Division poll. Northern Kentucky followed closely with 31 total points and picked up two first-place votes, while Lewis earned 30 points and received the final two remaining first-place votes.

Bellarmine (18), Saint Joseph’s (15), Wisconsin-Parkside (11) and Indianapolis (10) round out the GLVC East Division poll.

The Tritons finished 5-14 in the GLVC last season for a fifth place finish.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE: The Tritons’s 2008-09 schedule includes six teams which advanced to the 2008 NCAA Division II Tournament.

UMSL begins its 43rd season of intercollegiate play at home on Nov. 20, hosting Harris Stowe.

Following a non-conference road test at Truman State two days later on Nov. 22, the Tritons return home for three straight games, beginning with Robert Morris (Ill.) on Nov. 25. UMSL will then host the UMSL Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 28-29, hosting Central Bible College Friday, before welcoming cross-town foe Missouri Baptist Saturday.

Other non-conference home dates include Upper Iowa on Dec. 22 and Oakland City on Dec. 30.

The Tritons will compete in the Quincy/Subway Holiday Tournament Dec. 13-14 and will face Henderson State and Robert Morris (Ill.) in that tournament. UMSL also travels to Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 19 to face Christian Brothers. The Bucs are coming off a 20-10 season in which they reached their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Great Lakes Valley Conference ledger begins Dec. 4 with a trip to Quincy. The Tritons’ conference home opener is two days later on Dec. 6 against Lewis, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.

Also in GLVC play, UMSL will face Northern Kentucky, which reached the NCAA Tournament second round last season, as well as Drury, Saint Joseph’s and Kentucky Wesleyan, which all qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
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