The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team hosts the St. Scholastica Saints in their first regular-season home matchup inside Romano Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. tomorrow.
OPENING DOMINANCE: The Bulldogs opened the 2025-26 campaign on the road in the GAC/NSIC Challenge, where they earned two back-to-back wins over East Central University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University last weekend. This marks their second straight 2-0 start to the season.
SIWEK ON THE RISE: After being chosen as the NSIC's Player to Watch for the Bulldogs, it took only two matches for redshirt junior Caleb Siwek to get off to his best start in his career. With 34 points on opening day and 20 points the following day, Siwek is leading the NSIC in scoring. He tops both the overall points (54) and average points per game (27).
COACH WIECK'S 8TH SEASON: Head Coach Justin Wieck enters his eighth season at the helm of UMD men's basketball. Since taking over the program in 2018, he has led the team to three NCAA II Tournament berths, all of which happened back-to-back, with one going all the way to the Elite Eight in the 2023-24 season. Wieck has an overall record of 142-58 with 99-43 in conference play.
NSIC LEADERS: The Bulldogs as a unit while only playing in two games, are leading the scoring defense (63.5 avg/g) and scoring margin (14.0) categories. Notably, the team also leads in contesting opponent three point field goal percentage (0.19% made).
LAST TIME OUT: UMD owns a 21-1 regular season record over the Saints with their last meeting occurring in the 2018 season. More on the last matchup:
Junior guard Logan Rohrscheib finished with a game high 22 points as he was one of five players in double figures for UMD. Junior forward Brandon Myer collected 19 points and stuffed the stat sheet in just 21 minutes. Myer had five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a pair of blocks. The All-NSIC second team selection from last season had 17 of his 19 points in the first half. Senior guard Sean Burns went 6-of-7 from the field for 15 points and pulled down a game high nine boards. Senior forward Ryan Kaczynski and freshman guard Hunter Plamann each had 11 points.
UMD shot 63.2 percent from the floor and racked up 12 three pointers. The Bulldogs dominated in the paint, scoring 63 points. They also got out in transition, dropping 23 fast break points. UMD jumped out to a 61-29 lead at the half and led by as much as 50 late in the second. The Bulldogs led for all but 29 seconds.
Collin Anderson and Quinn Fischer each had 13 points for the Saints. St. Scholastica shot 38.1 percent and only 28 percent in the first 20 minutes.
Eleven of the 12 Bulldogs players who entered today's game scored. Plamann racked up a game high eight assists in his first collegiate action. The Bulldogs doubled the rebounding total (48-24) of the Saints. UMD combined for 28 assists on 11 turnovers and had six blocks and 12 steals in the contest.
NSIC REINSTITUTES NORTH/SOUTH DIVISION: With the reestablishment of a two-division system, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team has been selected as the favorites to win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) North Division.
In the NSIC's annual preseason poll, UMD has been ranked as the favorite to win the North Division, receiving 47 points, with the next closest team being Minnesota State University Moorhead with 43 points. Overall, the team finds itself in a tie for fifth with Augustana University, earning an identical 174 points. They both trail Concordia University St. Paul in fourth (176), Minnesota State University Mankato in third (189), St. Cloud State University in second (194), and Southwestern Minnesota State University as the favorites (219).
The conference spent the last two seasons with a single division structure where the Bulldogs combined for a 33-11 record in conference play. In the last five seasons of the dual division structure, UMD has had four top-three finishes in the conference, including a North Division win in the 2021-22 season.
