University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Athletics

Sport Home
Releases
Schedule
Statistics
Roster
Head Coach
Honors
History
Links
Athletes of Week
Prospect Form

Issued: November 21, 2006

MEN’S BASKETBALL LOOKS FOR WIN AGAINST CARDINALS

EAU CLAIRE – The UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball team will head into Winona, MN this Saturday to face St. Mary’s (MN) for its third game of the season.

The Blugolds are 1-1 with a season-opening 69-61 win over Alma College (MI) followed by a 68-59 loss to Manchester College (IN). Both were in the Manchester Tip-Off Tournament.

The team returns 10 letterwinners for this season and has added five transfers along with six freshmen. The lone returning all-conference selection is Jared Bardon (Jr.-DeForest), who was selected as an honorable mention to the All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) team.

Bardon’s 27 points are second only to Matt Riley (Sr.-Cadott) and his 33 total. Dan Beyer (Jr.-Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) has contributed 22. Riley is averaging 16.5 points per game while Bardon and Beyer are averaging 13.5 and 11.0, respectively. Beyer also leads Eau Claire in rebounds with 15 or 7.5 per game, though Riley is right behind with 12 or 6.0 per game.

As a team, the Blugolds are shooting 43.8% in the early going. They are shooting 44.4% from behind the arc with 12 makes and 66.7% at the line. They have 22 assists and are -2.5 in turnover margin at 28.

The Cardinals have played one game thus far, an exhibition defeat to Northern Illinois University (IL) by the count of 84-to-69. They return the entire team that went 9-16 last season. The team had two All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) honorable mentions. They included Terrence Smith and Brensley Haywood. Smith led Saint Mary’s with 12.0 points per game while Haywood followed him at 11.3. The other Cardinal in double digits was Michael Batterman with 10.9. Alex Washington led St. Mary’s in the exhibition game with 13 points.

Eau Claire has beaten the Cardinals the past three times and holds the overall record at 14-5.

The Blugolds look to climb above .500 when they travel to St. Mary’s this Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Go Back