ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday night, Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball (0-2) will play its home opener against St. Olaf (1-0), the 15th-ranked Division III team according to the D3hoops.com preseason poll.
Tip-off was originally scheduled for 7 p.m., but will be moved to 8:30 p.m. if the volleyball team defeats Minnesota State on Wednesday evening.
Concordia opened the 2015-16 season last weekend in Warrensburg, Mo. with an 82-81 neutral floor loss to East Central in the closing seconds before falling 77-52 on Central Missouri's home court. The two opponents were each picked second in their respective conference preseason polls with ECU from the GAC and UCM from the MIAA.
St. Olaf opened its season with a home victory last Friday against Bethan Lutheran (82-53) and will play on the road at UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday evening. Saturday night's game at Concordia will be an exhibition for the Oles, but will count towards the Golden Bears' regular season schedule.
The Golden Bears and Oles have met eight times in Concordia's history as a four year college basketball program dating back to 1967-68. St. Olaf leads the all-time series 6-2 but the teams have not played since Concordia has been a Division II member starting in the 1999-2000 season. St. Olaf won the last meeting 109-59 on November 28, 1995 which snapped a pair of wins in 1993 and 1994 by the Comets. Concordia is 1-2 on CSP's campus against St. Olaf.
Concordia already dispatched of St. Olaf's MIAC rival in #4 St. Thomas 77-71 at Gangelhoff Center in exhibition play on November 5.
Last year, the Tommies finished 2014-15 ranked #10 while St. Olaf ended the year ranked #16 in the final D3hoops.com Top-25 poll.
During the opening weekend, senior
Cole Olstad was the team's go-to scorer, leading the team in scoring both nights with 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the opener against East Central. On the weekend, Olstad led the team in scoring (17.5), rebounding (7.0), assists (5), three-pointers made (4) and free throws made (7). He also led the team with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the exhibition win over St. Thomas.
Junior guard
Diallo Powell averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals, ranking second on the team in scoring and assists, third in rebounding while leading the team in steals in his Division II debut.
After a big breakthrough exhibition performance against St. Thomas with 17 points on 8-12 shooting, freshman
Bryndan Matthews remained in the starting lineup for the season opening weekend and was second on the team with 6.5 rebounds per game, adding 5.5 points in his first taste of regular season college basketball.
The team will need to improve upon its 39.7 percent field goal shooting and 33.3 percent three-point shooting in the non-conference while the team defense will look to lighten opposing offenses from a 79.5 scoring average through two affairs. Inside, Concordia's team rebounding is off to a strong start wiht a +4.5 margin while averaging 42.5 per game.
St. Olaf is led by MSU Moorhead transfer Ben Figini in the post, scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds against Bethany Lutheran. Two others, Justin Pahl and Riley Aeikens also scored 17 points for the Oles in the season opening win. The 6-foot, 8-inch and 230 pound Figini spent three years with the Dragons, redshirting his first year before seeing action primarily as a reserve for two years before heading to Northfield and the MIAC. He averaged 4.9 points as a sophomore while playing in 15 games including 10 starts in his final year at MSUM. Last year in his first year St. Olaf, Figini was an All-Region Second Team performer while finishing second in the MIAC in scoring (16.9) and pulling down 5.8 rebounds per game. Pahl added 13.4 points and Aikens averaged 9.9 a year ago.
