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UW-River Falls Men's Basketball Web Page The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team visits UW-River Falls Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship first round matchup.
The winner of Wednesday's game moves on to the tournament semifinals, which will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at either No. 1 seed UW-La Crosse or No. 2 seed UW-Oshkosh. The lowest remaining seed after Wednesday's first round games will travel to UW-La Crosse.
The Warhawks (16-9 overall), who are the no. 5 seed and the defending tournament champion, are making their 18th appearance in the WIAC Championship, having qualified for the tournament in each year since its inception in 1999. UW-Whitewater has appeared in each of the last four tournament championship games, winning two of its four titles during that span.
Entering the week, UW-Whitewater owns the league's No. 1 scoring offense, averaging 76.6 points per affair. The team also leads the conference in field goal percentage (47.8) and rebounding margin (plus-5.2 per game).
Seniors
Trinson White (Milwaukee, Wis./Riverside) and
Haki Stampley (Milwaukee, Wis./Hamilton) lead the Warhawks into the postseason.
White leads the team and ranks second in the WIAC with 16.9 points per game, and is the league's leader in rebounding with 9.0 per contest. The forward has eight double-doubles and 10 performances of scoring 20 or more points, and also leads the team in assists (71), steals (30) and blocks (13) heading into the postseason.
Since joining the team in late December, Stampley is averaging 15.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per affair while shooting 39.3 percent from 3-point range and 76.8 percent from the free-throw line. He has scored in double figures in 15 of his 17 games this season.
Junior forward Cole Van Schnydel has emerged as an offensive threat in the frontcourt in 2015-16, averaging 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He enters the week leading the conference and ranking 12th in the nation in field goal percentage at 62.6 percent.
Junior guard
Drew Bryson (Elkhorn, Wis./Elkhorn) and sophomore guard
Jerry Ngobi (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) have the most postseason playing experience of anyone on the team. Bryson is averaging 6.1 points per contest, while Ngobi averages 6.2 points while shooting 52.9 percent from the field.
Freshmen guards
Andre Brown (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail) and
Maurquis Turner (Milwaukee, Wis./King) are also key members of the backcourt rotation. Brown averages 8.9 points per game and ranks second on the team with 68 assists. Turner has started five of the last six games for UW-Whitewater and is averaging 5.0 points and shooting 47.5 percent (19-of-40) from 3-point range.
Other members of the rotation include senior forward
Isaac Quinn (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) and sophomore guard
Nate Hensel (Wilmot, Wis./Wilmot Union). Quinn is shooting 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the floor for the season and has eight blocks, while Hensel has earned starts in the last five games and is averaging just over three points per contest.
UW-River Falls (15-10) tied for second in the league standings during the regular season with a 9-5 WIAC mark.
The Falcons are led by Jon Christensen, who leads the conference in scoring (17.7 ppg) and blocked shots (25) and ranks second in rebounding with 8.4 per contest. Garret Pearson ranks second on the team both scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg) and is third in the WIAC in field goal percentage (50.0).
UW-River Falls won both contests during the regular season. UW-Whitewater led by double digits in the second half of each game, but was ultimately defeated by five points in each instance.
White averaged 16.5 points and 11 rebounds in the two contests.
