Hawk men up to No. 2 in D3hoops.com Top 25

In-season national rankings bring additional recognition to a college’s athletic program. Ask any player or coach and they would tell you that ending the season with the Division III national championship trophy is the ultimate award. 
 

With that said, the UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team has jumped to No. 2 in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 weekly ranking. 
 

The Hawks garnered 10 first place votes and jump from No.3 to No. 2 in the national Website’s weekly national poll.  

 

The Warhawks garnered 601 votes compared to new No. 1 Virginia Wesleyan’s 611 votes along with 13 first place votes. 
 

Prevously No. 1 MIT lost one game last week and are now ranked  No. 11. 
 

UW-Stevens Point jumps up two spots to No. 7 this week. 
 

UW-La Crosse, UW-Stout and UW-Plattteville are all “receiving votes” in this week.’s poll. 
 

Whitewater travels to UW-La Crosse Wednesday night for an intriguing early conference season match-up.

 

Balanced attack has UWW men off to solid start

The Warhawk’s are off to a 5 & 0 start to the season and one of the keys has been different players “stepping up” each game. 

Through five games Whitewater has five players scoring in double figures.  Quardell Young leads the way at 14 points per game. Darnell Harris is averaging 12. Luke Knobel and Eric Bryson each are at 10.8 points and game. K.J. Evans rounds out the double digit scoring at 10.4 points per game. Cody Odegard is averaging 8 points. 

K.J. Evans and Eric Bryson led the way in UWW’s conference opening win at UW-Stout on Saturday. Evans finished with 13 points including 12 of his 13 in the final four minutes of the game.  Bryson finished with 12 points. 

All five of the double digit scorers have led the Hawks in scoring at least one game.

As a team Whitewater is hitting 50.3 percent of it’s field goal attempts. 

Next up will be a trip to La Crosse on Wednesday to take on unbeaten UW-La Crosse.  The Eagles are 6 & 0 and off to its best start since 1997-98. 

The Eagles, led by three with 20 points or more, rolled to an 84-69 win in its WIAC opener last Saturday at UWEC.

Hawk women roll to win over Stout

 

 

The UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team opened the WIAC portion of its schedule with a solid 72-53 win at UW-Stout Saturday evening.   

Courtney Kumerow led all players with 18 points on 7-13 from the floor registering a double-double with ten boards. Freshman forward Lisa Palmer  and Sam Quandt added ten a piece for Warhawks.

Whitney Rowdon led Stout with 16 points. 

Whitewater led 38-31 at halftime but came out and outscored the Blue Devils 14 to 1 the first nine minutes of the second half to take a commanding 52-32 lead. 

Whitewater shot 45% from the field (28-62) while holding Stout to 17-49 (35%) from the floor. The Warhawks held a 43-26 rebounding advantage and forced 26 turnovers in the game. 

The Warhawks will host UW-La Crosse in another WIAC match-up Wednesday, December 5. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m

Hawk men get 64-58 road win at Stout

 

There is an old, proven true adage in the WIAC. The adage simply states that any road win in the WIAC is a great win.  

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team dominated the final five minutes vs. UW-Stout to hand the unbeaten Blue Devils a 64-58 defeat - Stout’s first loss of the season. 

Trailing 45-42 with just over five minutes remaining, Luke Knobel got a steal and ensuing short shot to pull the Hawks within one with 5:02 left.  The play seemingly gave Whitewater a burst of energy. 

Hawks’ forward took the game over by scoring 12 of his game-high 13 points in the final four minutes and 6 points in the final 15 seconds. 

With Whitewater leading by a scant 58-56 margin, Evans hit a baseline jumper from the deep corner. The Beloit native ended up in the first row of the bleachers as he was fouled on the play. He hit the free throw to give Whitewater a 62-56 lead with 15 seconds left. 

A driving lay-in by Stout’s Keith Rash cut the UWW lead to four with eight seconds remaining. 

Evans was fouled on the inbounds and applied the “dagger” by hitting both free throws. 

Evans led UW-W with 13 points and Eric Bryson 12.  Darnell Harris led the Warhawks with seven rebounds and sophomore guard Quardell Young dished out a game high six assists. Stout was led by Rash and Keith Oman with 14 apiece.  Blue Devil senior guard Chris Hortman, who came into the game averaging 14.8 points, was held to three points on 1-5 shooting. 

The Hawks won the game from the free throw line hitting 20 of 25 free throws including 17 of 20 in the second half.  Stout finished the game 12 of 21 from the line. 

Whitewater handed Stout its first loss of the season. Whitewater is now 5 & 0 and will play at UW-La Crosse on Wednesday.

 

Unbeatens Stout and Whitewater to open WIAC Saturday in Menomonie

Don't expect a cakewalk for the unbeaten UW-Whitewater men's basketball team when it opens the conference season this afternoon at UW-Stout.


The Blue Devils enter the game with a 6 & 0 mark and one of four teams to enter the .
Stout closed out its pre-conference schedule with a 64-45 win over Luther College Wednesday night in Menomonie. Chris Hortman scored 19 off the bench t[o propel the Blue Devils to the win. Alex Oman chipped in with 11 points and Keith Rash added 10 for the Blue Devils.ference season unbeaten.

Hortman has been impressive so far this season as the Blue Devils' 6th man. He has two 20-point performances and another with 19 points. He enters today's game averaging 14.8 points per game.


The undefeated Blue Devils are off to their best start in 11 years. The six consecutive wins are the most since 2000-01. Stout has won half their games by at least 30 points and the average margin of victory is 22 points.


This past Tuesday the Warhawks defeated seventh-ranked Iliinois Wesleyan 71-65 in Bloomington, Illinois. 25 forced turnnovers and 32 points by freshman forward Darrell Harris keyed the win for Whitewater.  Luke Knobel added 18 and Quardell Young 10 with seven assists to lead the Hawks to a fourth consecutive victory.


Unbeaten Whitewater at unbeaten UW-Stout. Tip-off this afternoon is set for 4:05 p.m. - part of a men's-women's doublheader. The women's game will tip-off approximately  6:30 p.m.


Both games will be broadcast on KOOL 106.5.

Women's team deals with loss of former teammate

A college basketball season is filled with highs and lows. The lowest of lows took place for the UW-Whitewater women's basketball team last weekend.

Alex Scarbro, a former UW-Whitewater student and women's basketball player, passed away suddenly last Saturday. The native of Grayslake, Illinois was a member of last year's UWW women's basketball team but left school once the season was over.

"It's tough to lose anybody when they're young and have so much life left to live," Warhawk women's coach Keri Carollo said. "She was a really special kid. The short amount of time that she was with us she lived life to the fullest. She was a great friend and a really good teammate."

Carollo said the team gave Scarbro's uniform to her father Dave. She was buried wearing the uniform.

According to Carollo, the team will wear a patch with the number 32 for the remainder of the season - it was Alex's number.

To read a Royal Purple article on the tragic death of Scarbro CLICK HERE

Strong defense, balanced offense key to 4 & 0 mark

Adjacent photo courtesy of Royal Purple

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team takes a 4 & 0 record to Menomonie on Saturday and defense has been the key to the Hawks’ unbeaten record.

One statistic prominently shows the Hawks defensive effort.  Whitewater has forced 91 turnovers through four games while committing just 51.  Opponents have turned the ball over at least 20 times each game (22 vs. Beloit, 29 vs. Aurora, 15 vs. Carthage, 25 vs. Illinois Wesleyan)

Whitewater has 34 steals through four games compared to 18 for opponents.

The Hawks have also made more free throws (68) than their opponents have attempted (61).

The Warhawks lead the WIAC in field goal percentage at 53.7% and 43.1% from three-point territory

Scoring balance has also been evident. In each of the four wins Whitewater has had at least three players in double figures including six in the win over Aurora.

Quardell Young leads the way averaging 15.8 points per game. Darnell Harris ranks second at 14.3 followed by Luke Knobel 11.5 and Eric Bryson at 10.5 points per game.  KJ Evans is averaging 9.8 and Cody Odegard 8 points.

It’s early in the season but the Hawks are following the same formula as last year’s run to the NCAA Division III Championship.