Titans To Host Pioneers In Nationally Ranked Contest
UW-Oshkosh will seek to complete the regular season sweep against UW-Platteville on Wednesday (Feb. 2) during a battle of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball teams ranked among the top five in the country. The opening tip is set for 7 p.m. in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (15-3, 5-2 WIAC), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, defeated second-ranked UW-Platteville (18-1, 7-1) by an 83-67 score Jan. 19 in Platteville after committing a season-low five turnovers and shooting 10 of 24 from 3-point range. The Titans last swept the regular season series against UW-Platteville in 2019.
Wednesday's clash features two of Division III's most efficient teams as UW-Oshkosh ranks third nationally with 9.2 turnovers per game while the Pioneers list 10th at 10.4.
UW-Oshkosh, which has outrebounded all but two opponents this season, also paces the WIAC in average scoring (+14.4) and rebounding margins (+8.2), 3-point percentage defense (.273) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.25). UW-Platteville is the league leader in both free throws attempted (375) and made (276).
UW-Oshkosh has won 15 of its past 16 home games while UW-Platteville, the two-time defending WIAC regular season champion and 2021 league postseason winner, has won each of its past eight road contests.
Levi Borchert averages a team-high 19.0 points and 10.7 rebounds for a UW-Oshkosh squad that scores 79.2 points per game while allowing 64.8 per contest. Borchert, a 2021 D3hoops.com Third Team All-American, leads the WIAC in rebounding and double-doubles (9) while ranking second in the league with a .623 field goal percentage and third in scoring.
Eight Titans are averaging at least two points and 10 minutes played per game as Eddie Muench is scoring 14.7 per game, Hunter Plamann 13.6, Quinn Steckbauer 11.7, Cole Booth 8.2, Eric Peterson 7.1, Jonah Rindfleisch 4.8 and JT Petrie 2.0.
Muench ranks third in the conference with 2.44 made 3-pointers per game and Plamann's 4.0 assists per contest list fourth. Peterson and Booth are second on the team with 6.9 rebounds per game and 17 steals, respectively. Rindfleisch leads the Titans with 13 blocks.
UW-Platteville, averaging 77.5 points per game and yielding 63.3 per contest, has allowed 60 or fewer points on eight occasions this season.
Six different Pioneers are scoring more than eight points per game, including four averaging in double figures. Quentin Shields, registering 16.5 points and 3.3 assists per contest, headlines UW-Platteville, which also receives 14.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game from Kyle Tuma.
Logan Pearson is adding 12.1 points per game for the Pioneers, followed by Blake McCann at 10.6, Justin Stovall at 9.0 and Ben Probst at 8.2. Stovall leads the WIAC with 1.37 blocks per contest while Probst has made a team-high 32 3-pointers. McCann and Pearson have not played the past two games.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-Platteville have combined to win each of the past four WIAC regular season titles and the last three league postseason championships. UW-Platteville earned the most recent of its 22 regular season titles in 2018, 2020 and 2021 while also clinching tournament crowns in 2019 and 2021. UW-Oshkosh clinched its 13th WIAC regular season championship in 2019 before securing the program's fourth league postseason title in 2020.
UW-Platteville has won four Division III championships, hoisting the walnut and bronze trophy in 1991, 1995, 1998 and 1999. UW-Oshkosh, the 2018 national runner-up, secured its first national title in 2019.
Kolf Sports Center is hosting its first men's basketball matchup involving a pair of top 10 nationally ranked programs since fifth-ranked UW-Whitewater visited seventh-ranked UW-Oshkosh on Jan. 3, 2018.