Huskies men’s basketball heading to tournament in Duluth | News, Sports, Jobs

Michigan Tech forward Pete Calcaterra looks for an open teammate during a game against Winona State last season at SDC Gym in Houghton. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University)

DULUTH, Minn. — After opening the season with two victories in the Midwest Region D2 Tipoff, the Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team came back down to earth last weekend with two losses in the road to Winona State and Concordia. -St. Paul. Both losses came against teams the Huskies have struggled against over the years, especially on the road.

With these losses, the Huskies are now 2-2 on the season. Coach Josh Buettner felt his team learned a lot from the two losses.

“I think it was definitely a learning (experience), which is what you try to do when you’re planning tough non-conference road games,” he said. “We’ve really struggled playing on the road at Northern Sun over the last 10 years. We don’t have many wins there.

“On Saturday, we weren’t competitive enough, especially on the defensive side. I thought we competed well on Sunday and our execution fell off a little bit. So it was sort of recognizing the problem, solving it, and then letting something else go.

While this may seem obvious to the fans watching the match, it is not always easy for the players on the pitch.

“You have to put on quite a game to beat good teams on the road, and I hope we learn from that,” » said Buettner. “That’s kind of what you look for in non-conference games, is to get better and if we learn from it, it’ll be worth it.”

Buettner admitted that both venues have difficult spots for the Huskies to succeed over the years.

“These are tough places to play on the road” he said. “It’s a hell of a conference. I don’t know if we’ve ever won at Winona, and I know the last time we were at Concordia we got beat there. This is one of the best offenses we’ll see this year. Concordia is undefeated.

“I don’t know how good they are, but I know offensively they’re very good. They really challenged us, and I was happy with the way we stepped in and came out and kept with them. Now we need to put both sides of the ball together.

Against the Warrior on Saturday, the Huskies saw four players score in double figures, which is normally a good thing, but Buettner felt the Huskies relied too much on their offense to help compensate for defensive miscues.

“We talked about it before the Winona game: When our offense is doing well, sometimes we just think we can outplay everyone,” he said. “When you’re on the road and the game gets to the end and you have to make stops and the other team is comfortable, it’s really hard to start making saves when you don’t have them We talked about it a lot.

“When things weren’t going well in that game, we tried to fix it on offense, rather than on defense, and, obviously, (Luke) Haertle went crazy. (He was) a newer scout , I think he shot the 3 better than we thought possible, and that changed some things Josh (Terrian) had some trouble early, (and) that was probably our best matchup against him.

Good news for the Huskies, junior forward Dawson Nordgaard continues to play well for the Huskies in his third season in the lineup. He was in double figures in all four games to start the season.

“Dawson is really coming”, » said Buettner. “It’s gotten a lot of attention and it’s interesting. I mean, he’s doing things now that he’s never had to do before, even at the early levels of basketball. I don’t know how much he was dubbed growing up. He draws double teams, and good things happen when he gets there. Our defense is at its best when Dawson is on the floor, and we ask a lot of work from him.

“We need to put him on a bit more, but we also need him to be able to play when he’s tired. We impose this line on him with that. We ask him to come out and guard the ball screens. We ask him to come out and attack, run the offense through him at the top of the key in the late spot, and we try to get him in the block and rebound and do a lot of things. He’s playing very well for us and he’s going to continue to improve.

LOOKING FOR BULLDOGS

The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs are off to a fast start with a 3-0 record. They beat Southeastern Oklahoma State and Oklahoma Baptist in the American Family Insurance Classic to open the season, then dominated Wisconsin-Parkside on Sunday, 73-43.

They are led offensively by fifth-year forward Austin Andrews, who scores 15.3 points per game. Another fifth-year forward, Charlie Katona, is also on top with 15 points per game. He is also close to a double-double every night as he averages 9 rebounds per game.

Fifth-year guard Joshus Brown (11) and sophomore guard Caleb Siwek (10.7) also average in double figures.

IN SEARCH OF DRAGONS

The Minnesota State-Moorhead Dragons are 4-0 after winning both games of their regional challenge against Henderson State and Arkansas at Monticello. Last weekend in the East-West Challenge, they dominated Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines.

Senior guard Jacob Beeninga leads the team offensively with 16 points per game. Junior forward Jacob Jennissen is averaging close to a double-double with 11.3 points and 9 rebounds per game.

Junior forward Logan Kinsey is the third Dragons player to reach double figures averaging 11.5 points per game.

GAME TIMES

The Huskies and Bulldogs will face off Friday at 7 p.m. in Duluth, Minn., in the St. Louis County Basketball Classic. On Saturday, the Huskies and Dragons are scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m.