Titans Begin Season With Exhibition Game Against Badgers

UW-Oshkosh will be tested by a perennial NCAA Division I power when it meets the University of Wisconsin for a men's basketball exhibition game on Wednesday (Nov. 7) in Madison. Tip-off from the Kohl Center is set for 7 p.m.

Wisconsin, ranked 21st in the country, faced a WIAC team in preseason play the last eight years. The Badgers won those games by an average of 31 points, including an 80-54 victory over UW-Stevens Point last season.

Qualifying for the NCAA Tournament the past 14 years, Wisconsin went 26-10 during the 2011-12 campaign. Four starters return from that squad, bringing back 71 percent of its scoring and 84 percent of its rebounding.

Forward Ryan Evans returns after averaging 10.5 points and 4.9 rebounds a year ago. Forward Jared Berggren averaged 10.5 points and 4.9 rebounds last season while leading the Big Ten with 60 blocked shots. Under head coach Bo Ryan, the Badgers own a 166-15 record at home (268-101 overall).

Guards Cory Nickel (Jr. • Waupun) and Dylan Wurtz (Jr. • Kimberly) are UW-Oshkosh's returning starters. Nickel averaged 7.7 points last year while leading the WIAC in three-pointers with 2.04 per game. Wurtz averaged 8.5 points while making 41 percent of his three-point shots.

Other returning lettermen for the Titans are guards Sam Mageland (Sr. • Appleton), Jade Royston (Jr. • Wisconsin Dells) and Sean Wise (Sr. • Wautoma) and forward Martell Hutchinson (Sr. • Milwaukee).

UW-Oshkosh's roster also features junior guards Lance Fritz (Coloma) and Tim Schwoerer (Sheboygan), sophomore forwards Alex Evans (Fennimore), Josh Hopfensperger (Neenah) and Paul Volkman (Arlington Heights, Ill.), freshman guards Savon McNeal (Milwaukee), Alex Olson (Brookfield), Michael Patt (Oshkosh) and Dan Sidesky (New Berlin) and freshman forward Andre Wallace (Sun Prairie).

The Titans begin their regular season against St. Norbert College on Nov. 15 in Kolf Sports Center.