UMD Kicks Off 82nd Mens’s Hoopps Season Sunday Against UW-Parkside

Nov 10, 2012

Northland Sports Online

In action for the first time during the 2012-13 regular season, the University of Minnesota Duluth will debut against Wisconsin’s only NCAA Division II institution. The Bulldogs will play host to the University of Wisconsin Parkside Sunday afternoon at Romano Gymnasium, with the opening tip scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Sunday’s season opener will be the first behind the UMD bench for first-year head coach Matt Bowen, the reigning Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year. Bowen takes over at the helm for the Bulldogs after spending the last six seasons at league rival Bemidji State University. A year ago, Bowen led the Beavers to a 22-win season and league title behind a 16-6 league record. Bowen takes over a Bulldog team that posted an overall mark of 14-13 a year ago.

THE SERIES: The two programs have met on a semi-rare basis, having competed against one another nine times. UMD holds the upper hand in the all-time series, having come out on top in six of the nine meetings.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: The Rangers had a forgettable 2011-12 campaign, posting an 8-18 overall record. UW-Parkside came in last in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with a 1-17 mark in league play. The last time the Rangers finished a season above .500 was the 2007-08 campaign, when they rolled up an overall record of 16-11. LAST TIME OUT: UW-Parkside played a pair of exhibition games last week, both against NCAA I opponents. The Rangers were on the wrong end of a 70-42 rout at the hands of Bradley University last Saturday before coming up just short in a 68-67 nail-biter against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Bulldogs played participated in just a single tune-up game last weekend, throttling the University of Wisconsin-Superior in the esteemed “Border Battle.” Junior center Brett Ervin and sophomore forward Ben Bucholz each scored 21 points in leading the way for the Bulldogs. Bucholz, who spent the 2011-12 school year with the UMD football team, also hauled in 11 rebounds for a double-double. Freshman Calahan Skogman – another athlete who shifted to basketball after a year with the Bulldog football program – made good on all six of his shots from the floor (including 4-for-4 from 3-point range) in his first live basketball action in over a year.

“We scored the ball at a relatively efficient pace against UWS. We got to the line, we shot well from three. Disappointing things, we fouled too much, we gave up seven offensive rebounds in the second half and we turned the ball over 17 times. Some of those are obviously things we need to work on, but we learned about ourselves,” Bowen said of his club’s performance against UWS.

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