Titans Begin New Basketball Season At Home Against Vikings
The nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team begins its quest for a sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Championship when it opens the 2021-22 season against Augustana College (Ill.) Saturday (Nov. 6) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh, ranked 17th in the preseason by D3hoops.com, finished the abbreviated 2021 season with a 5-2 record, including a 4-1 mark in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Titans, who finished a half game out of first in the WIAC East Division in 2021, played conference rivals exclusively last season due to the novel coronavirus pandemic that also forced the cancelation of last year's Division III Championship.
This season the Titans are set to play 12 of their 25 regular season games at home, including a pair of contests at Oshkosh Arena, home of the NBA G League member Wisconsin Herd.
After the season opener, UW-Oshkosh hosts nonconference games in Kolf Sports Center against Carthage College on Nov. 20, North Central College (Ill.) on Dec. 11 and St. Norbert College on Dec. 21. The Titans then welcome Calvin University (Mich.) on Dec. 29 and Ripon College on Dec. 30 to Oshkosh Arena as part of UW-Oshkosh's BSN Winter Classic.
The Titans' home schedule also features WIAC clashes in Kolf Sports Center against UW-Eau Claire on Dec. 1, UW-Whitewater on Jan. 5, UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 12, UW-River Falls on Jan. 22, fifth-ranked UW-Platteville on Feb. 2, UW-Stout on Feb. 5 and 15th-ranked UW-La Crosse on Feb. 12.
UW-Oshkosh travels for nonconference games at Concordia University Wisconsin on Nov. 8; against Saint John's University (Minn.) on Nov. 12 and a to-be-determined opponent Nov. 13 in Bloomington, Ill.; at Lawrence University on Nov. 17; and at Edgewood College on Nov. 23.
Rounding out the Titans' 2022 slate are conference road games at UW-La Crosse on Dec. 4, UW-River Falls on Jan. 8, UW-Stout on Jan. 15, UW-Platteville on Jan. 19, UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 26, UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 9 and UW-Whitewater for the regular season finale Feb. 16.
In the home opener, UW-Oshkosh faces an Augustana College program that has played in the Division III championship game on four occasions, including in 2015 and 2017, and produced a 7-5 record last year and finished fourth in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin standings. North Central College and Carthage College went 5-5 and 5-6, respectively, a year ago to place fifth and sixth in the CCIW.
Concordia University Wisconsin, Edgewood College and St. Norbert College are all members of the Northern Collegiate Athletics Conference. Edgewood College (10-7 overall record in 2021) and Concordia University Wisconsin (7-5) finished tied for fifth in the NACC last season. St. Norbert College, which did not play a game last season, joins the NACC this season after winning the Midwest Conference regular season title in 2020.
Ripon College, which won both of its games last season, and Lawrence University, which did not play in 2021, are members of the MWC. Lawrence University head coach Casey Korn was hired in September after three years as the top assistant at UW-Oshkosh.
Saint John's University (3-4) and placed sixth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last season after going 27-2 and sharing the MIAC title in 2020. Calvin University, the 1992 and 2000 Division III champion, was 8-4 overall last season and 3-0 in conference play as a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
UW-Platteville (8-2) clinched the WIAC title a year ago, winning the WIAC East Division by a half game over UW-Oshkosh and downing West Division winner UW-La Crosse (8-3), 74-47, in the league tournament championship game.
Rounding out the 2021 WIAC East Division standings were UW-Whitewater (1-7) in third at 1-4 and UW-Stevens Point (2-7) fourth at 1-5. In the West Division, UW-La Crosse was first at 5-1, UW-River Falls (5-4) second at 3-2, UW-Eau Claire (2-3) fourth at 2-3 and UW-Stout (3-6) fourth at 1-5.
WIAC divisions were used for the 2021 campaign only to limit travel in the league. The conference will revert to its standard schedule and standings format this season.
UW-Oshkosh fourth-year head coach Matt Lewis welcomes back all five starters from last year's team that led the WIAC in scoring at 80.3 points per game and paced the league in 3-point percentage (.418), and made 3-pointers (10.6) and assists (13.7) per contest.
All eight Titans who scored better than one point per game last season return for the 2022 campaign, including 2021 D3hoops.com Third Team All-American Levi Borchert, who averaged 14.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals a contest a year ago while shooting a WIAC best 66.7% from the field.
UW-Oshkosh also returns starters Eddie Muench, Hunter Plamann, Will Mahoney and Eric Peterson along with key reserves Quinn Steckbauer and Cole Booth. Muench led the team at 18.9 points per game while Plamann added 15.6 per contest, Mahoney 13.3, Peterson 8.6, Steckbauer 4.9 and Booth 2.0.
Borchert was joined on the 2021 All-WIAC First Team by Muench and Plamann. Mahoney garnered All-WIAC Honorable Mention accolades, and Peterson was selected to the WIAC All-Defensive Team.
The Titans' string of five straight appearances in the Division III Championship is the longest active streak in the WIAC and the fourth longest in league history.