Cardinal Stritch University Wolves (0-14 overall)
at Lakeland University Muskies (7-3 overall)
Friday, Dec. 30, 2022 5 p.m.
Woltzen Gymnasium
Lakeland/Cardinal Stritch MBB Game Notes PDF
Lakeland University and Cardinal Stritch University will meet in men's basketball for the first time in nearly 20 years when the teams get together for a pre-New Year's Eve meeting Friday at 5 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.
Broadcast Information:
Live video & live statistics:
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Andy Damp is again calling the play-by-play for all Lakeland home basketball games this year.
Series history: 43rd meeting, Cardinal Stritch leads 24-18
The Muskies and Wolves are playing for the first time since New Year's Eve 2002, a 68-57 Lakeland win at the Clarke Holiday Tournament in Dubuque, Iowa. The schools were regular opponents for a nearly 20-year stretch between 1982 and 2002, though, including from 1982-97 when both were members of the Lake Michigan Conference. The series came when Lakeland was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and featured long streaks, including eight straight wins to start for the Muskies, followed by a string of 17 straight wins by Stritch from 1987-93 before Lakeland won eight straight again from 1993-96. The Wolves last defeated the Muskies 67-60 Jan. 4, 2000, on their homecourt in Glendale just north of Milwaukee, capping a string then of six straight wins over Lakeland.
Lakeland last time out: Won at MSOE 97-89 in overtime Dec. 17
The Muskies have been idle for nearly two weeks, since outlasting the Raiders in Milwaukee in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game. Lakeland played its second straight overtime game and bounced back from an OT loss to Aurora a week earlier, outscoring MSOE 19-11 in overtime.
Travis Kohlmann made consecutive three-pointers in overtime including the triple that put the Muskies ahead for good.
Kai Buliox scored 22 points to lead four Lakeland players in double figures and the Muskies shot 49.2% as a team.
Cardinal Stritch last time out: Lost to Holy Cross (Ind.) 74-58 Dec. 17
The Wolves also have not played in nearly two weeks, since dropping to 0-8 in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a loss at home. Stritch outscored the Saints 41-38 in the second half but fell into too big of a hole in the first half, trailing 36-17 at the break. Isaac Hill came off the bench to score 18 points and Allen Johnson also added 15 points off the bench, but Stritch's starting five combined for just 17 points, half the total of Holy Cross's Tommy Snyder who scored a game-high 34 points.
About the Wolves: It's been a hard year for the once-proud Cardinal Stritch program, which comes in winless in 14 games. A perennial NAIA contender that claimed seven straight CCAC titles from 2009-15 and won the NAIA Division II national championship in 2013, the Wolves have struggled in recent seasons and this year feature a new coach and an ultra-young team with just two seniors. Krayton Nash is in his first year as Stritch's coach, and is a former assistant at the school from 2009-12 and most recently coached at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Polzin moving on up: Lakeland's
Aiden Polzin has made 28 three-pointers in eight games this season, and his 3.5 triples per contest ranks tops in the NACC and 14th nationally in NCAA Division III. Polzin also is rapidly moving up the Muskies' all-time career three-point makes list. He has made 120 threes in his first 2 1/2 seasons with the team, and against MSOE passed Martins Bondars (118 from 1993-96) for 13th on the all-time list. Up next in 12th is Brian Cherovsky with 127 3's from 1989-93.
