STEVENS POINT, Wis. – After a historic season, a group of six veterans will lead the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team into 2014-15, as the team looks to make a run at yet another Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship.
In 2013-14, the Pointers won 20-straight games to start the season and were ranked No. 1 in the country for 11 consecutive weeks on their way to winning the 28th WIAC title in program history, the most of any school. Despite finishing 28-2 and 15-1 in the WIAC, UWSP saw its season end sooner than expected with a 76-73 overtime loss to Emory in Quandt Fieldhouse in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
"Last year was a record-setting year and one upset loss to Emory does not change the fact that it was an incredible year for us," head coach
Bob Semling commented. "We had an outstanding year, where we had significant achievements, things that had never been done here before."
In addition to the success on the court, the Pointers had a team grade-point average of 3.48, the highest mark during Semling's time at UWSP. UW-Stevens Point also finished third in the country in attendance, averaging 1,750 fans a game, a number that is highest than over 100 Division-I teams and many Division-II teams in the Midwest.
Last season's team was led by the senior trio of
Tyler Tillema (Randolph, WI/Randolph),
Trevor Hass (New London, WI/New London/Augustana (SD)) and
Clayton Heuer (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln/UW-Green Bay), who accounted for 63.2 percent of UW-Stevens Point's scoring a year ago. Tillema was named the WIAC Player of the Year and was the fourth UWSP player to be named a D3hoops.com First Team All-American after leading the conference in scoring (20.1 ppg). Tillema finished his career ninth on the program's all-time scoring list (1,456 pts). Hass was a D3hoops.com Fourth Team All-American and a First Team All-WIAC choice and set the single-game school scoring record with a 45-point performance at UW-La Crosse. Heuer was also a First Team All-WIAC selection and finished second in the conference in field-goal percentage (.555).
"Last year, our fans got a chance to witness one of the best guard combinations we've had come through here," Semling said of Tillema and Hass. "We will miss Tyler's ability to get to the rim and Trevor's ability to move off Tyler to create a kickout three. Clayton gave us a legitimate big guy who could score both inside and outside."
While the departures of Tillema, Hass and Heuer are significant, UW-Stevens Point returns 12 letterwinners from last season. Leading the group of returners are seniors
Joe Ritchay (Wisconsin Rapids, WI/Lincoln),
Alex Richard (Spring Green, WI/River Valley),
Jordan Lutz (Amherst, WI/Amherst) and
Austin Ryf (Winneconne, WI/Winneconne). Ryf and Ritchay each started all 30 games last season and Ritchay is the team's leading returner scorer (7.7 ppg). Lutz and Richard were key reserves on last year's team, as were juniors
Sean McGann (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) and
Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall).
"Our top-six guys are all veterans and were all in the rotation last year," Semling said of the returning cast. "There aren't many teams that return six of their top-nine guys. Two years ago, some of those guys (Ryf, Richard, Ritchay, Lutz) stepped up and helped lead us to a championship, so they've done it before. Those guys understand what it takes to be champions in this league, so now they are on a mission to prove to people that they can do it."
Given the turnover on the roster, this year's team will have a different look from last year's team and will have different strengths. "We are not going to score as easily as last year but we'll still be a good offensive team," Semling said. "We will have great team defense but we're trying to develop a couple stoppers. We have Ryf back but we're looking for second and third guys to emerge that can shut down their guy consistently in this league."
As usual, UW-Stevens Point will play one of the toughest schedules in the nation, as the Pointers' 2014-15 opponents had a combined winning percentage of .591 last season. UWSP plays non-conference games against three of the top teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) (Saint John's, St. Olaf, St. Thomas), as well as North Central (Ill.), Hope and Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scrupps in California.
"We'll probably have the toughest strength of schedule in our conference again, which means we'll be in the top five in the nation," Semling said. "The WIAC is also going to be a lot of fun for our fans. They should expect a tight race from the beginning to the end. It's always a battle in our league. Even the teams that didn't make the tournament were within a game of that sixth spot, so they'll all be competing hard to make the six-team tournament."
Semling's team knows well the expectations that come with being part of the UWSP program. UW-Stevens Point was picked to finish second in the WIAC and is ranked No. 7 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll. "Every guy on our roster came here to win championships, that's why they're here," he said. "They know how important it is for our program, the athletic department, the community for us to be a championship-caliber program. Our guys are embracing the challenge and looking forward to competing at the highest level of Division III."
"All we've done is we've allowed what happened at the end of last year to make us more determined," Semling said of the upcoming season. "We know we just need to stay the course and do what we do and we'll have another opportunity."
