STORM LAKE, Iowa (Dec. 16, 2022) – The Buena Vista men's basketball team returns to the court after a week off to complete finals, and will host unbeaten Bethany Lutheran College in a non-conference match-up on Saturday afternoon inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.
THE MATCHUP
Saturday, Dec. 17 | Bethany Lutheran (10-0) at Buena Vista (5-5) | 2 p.m.
MEDIA LINKS
LIVE STATS:
https://bvuathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
WATCH:
https://team1sports.com/buenavista/
ABOUT BUENA VISTA
The Beavers have had this week off to allow the players to focus on their semester finals. They have not played since capping a 1-1 week with a home victory over Luther College on Saturday, Dec. 10. The team, which has struggled with its long distance shooting for most of the season, connected on nine treys against the Norse to mark its highest single-game total since drilling 14 during a win over Fontbonne back on Nov. 13. BVU has attempted at least 30 shots from downtown in four games this season and is shooting .273 for the year from behind the arc. Junior
Zane Neubaum continues to lead the way in scoring for the Beavers at 19.6ppg followed by junior
Ryan Mendoza at 12.1ppg. Neubaum is currently second in the American Rivers Conference in scoring and sits 16th in field goal shooting. Junior
Gunner Reed leads the team with a .515 shooting percentage and is currently ranked 10th in the A-R-C. As a team, the Beavers are right in the middle of the league, averaging 75.3ppg and rebounding (37.2rpg). They are also second with 146 assists on the year and also second in steals per contest at 8.80. The team has been held under 70 points in four straight games and have shot under 40 percent over its last two.
STAT LEADERS
Zane Neubaum 19.6 PPG
Gunner Reed 5.1 RPG
Michael Santich 3.7 APG
FULL TEAM STATS
ABOUT BETHANY LUTHERAN
The Vikings, who finished 14-12 a season ago including a strong 9-5 mark during Upper Midwest Conference play, look to keep their record unblemished here in 2022-23 when they take the floor on Saturday. They are coming off a 96-88 home road over Gustavus Adolphus on Wednesday night and have scored at least 80 points in nine of 10 games. It has surpassed the century mark twice and turned in at least 90 seven times. For the year, the team is ranked fifth in all of DIII, scoring an average of 94.5ppg while holding opponents to an average of 77.7ppg. A combination of taking care of the basketball and some very sharp shooting across the board has helped aid in the unbeaten start. The offense is shooting over 50 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from long distance and 73.5 percent from the chairty stripe. Five players are currently averaging at least 10.0ppg, led by Drew Sagedahl's 16.8ppg. He's also among the top-25 in the country by shooting better than 49 percent from long range (31-of-63). Jax Madson is right behind at 16.6ppg while Hunter Nielsen is sitting at 15.1ppg and leading the Vikings in rebounding at 7.7rpg. Nielsen has made 68-of-102 attempts from the field (66.7 percent), and in addition to his 7.7rpg, he's also averaging 2.9 blocks per contest which sits 16th in DIII. The Vikings are only turning the ball over an average of 13.5 times per game and rank fifth in DIII in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.69.
STAT LEADERS
Drew Sagedahl 16.8 PPG
Hunter Nielsen 7.7 RPG
Xavier Patterson 5.9 APG
FULL TEAM STATS
UP NEXT: The Beavers wrap up the calendar year by hosting UW-Stout on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 5:00 p.m.
