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The No. 17 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's basketball team opens its 19th consecutive trip to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Presented by Culver's this Tuesday by hosting UW-Stout at 7 p.m. in a first-round contest at Kachel Gymnasium.
Tickets for Tuesday's game will be available at the door and cost $8 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and $3 for all students. Tournament programs will be available for purchase at $2 per book.
The Warhawks (20-5 overall) are the tournament's No. 3 seed, while the Blue Devils enter as the sixth seed. The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the semifinals, which are scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. If UW-Whitewater wins, it will visit second-seeded UW-Oshkosh, and if UW-Stout advances, it will travel to No. 1 seed UW-River Falls.
UW-Whitewater enters postseason play after clinching its 12th 20-win season in the 16 years under head coach
Pat Miller. The team began the year with 11 consecutive victories, most in one season since the 2009-10 campaign.
After three consecutive losses to open WIAC play, the Warhawks posted eight straight wins between Jan. 14-Feb. 8, including two apiece against UW-Stout, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville and one each over UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh.
UW-Whitewater dropped consecutive games against nationally-ranked UW-River Falls (Feb. 11) and UW-Oshkosh (Feb. 15) before concluding the regular season with a 70-68 overtime victory over UW-Eau Claire, which entered last week ranked No. 4 in the NCAA Central Region rankings.
Four of the Warhawks' top five scoring leaders are newcomers to the 2016-17 team – junior guard
Chris Jones (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech), junior forward
Scotty Tyler (Grafton, Wis./Grafton), sophomore guard/forward
Derek Rongstad (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) and junior forward
Demetrius Woodley (Milwaukee, Wis./Vincent).
Jones leads the conference in scoring at 18.7 points per game. He also ranks among league leaders in assists (70 / 3.18 per game), field goal percentage (49.2), 3-point field goal percentage (49.2) and free-throw percentage (74.8).
Tyler, who scored a school-record 45 points in UW-Whitewater's 109-96 triumph over Ripon on Dec. 21, is 10th in the WIAC with 14.1 points per contest. He ranks ninth in the conference with 5.8 rebounds per game and is among the top 10 in free-throw percentage (75.0), steals (26 / 1.18 per game) and 3-pointers made (38). He leads the league with 28 blocked shots (1.27 per game).
Rongstad and Woodley are averaging 10.0 and 8.2 points per game, respectively. Rongstad has appeared in 16 games since joining the team in late December and currently leads the team in rebounding (5.9 per game) and steals (28). Woodley grabs 4.4 rebounds per game and is fourth in the WIAC in field goal percentage (54.8).
Senior guard
Drew Bryson (Elkhorn, Wis./Elkhorn) has started 23 of the 25 games he's played in. One of the team's best defenders, Bryson is also averaging 5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Other key contributors include senior forwards
Alex LeGault (Green Bay/Southwest) and
Cole Van Schyndel (Kaukauna, Wis./Wrightstown), sophomore guards
Andre Brown (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trail),
Mitchell Pfeifer (Wales, Wis./Kettle Moraine),
Maurquis Turner (Milwaukee, Wis./King) and freshman guard
Zach Knobloch (Marengo, Ill./Marengo).
LeGault and Van Schyndel help solidify the Warhawks' frontcourt. LeGault is shooting 48.4 percent in 15 games, and Van Schyndel averages 3.7 points per game and is shooting 86.7 percent (26-of-30) at the free-throw line.
Brown ranks fourth in the team in scoring with 9.8 points per game, is shooting 45.7 percent from 3-point range and ranks second on the team with 59 assists. Pfeifer averages 4.4 points per contest and is shooting 51.4 percent from the floor and 46.5 percent from 3-point range.
Turner has appeared in 19 games, while Knobloch has appeared in 21 and is shooting 52.6 percent from 3-point range.
As a team, UW-Whitewater leads the WIAC in scoring offense at 78.0 points per game and also lead the conference in turnover margin (plus-2.92 per game). The team ranks seventh in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (41.4) and 17th in fewest turnovers per game (10.7).
The Warhawks have won four WIAC Championship titles in the 19-year history of the tournament – 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2015. The team owns a 7-5 record in first-round games and is 5-1 in the tournament against UW-Stout.
The WIAC Tournament champion earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which begins March 1.
