The Gusties stare down the barrel of their toughest challenge yet this season: defeat the undefeated

This past Saturday, the men responsible for the collection of banners hung in Gus Young Court returned to their alma mater to cheer on their Gusties together, in celebration of the 100th season of the program. Over 50 former players stretched between the rims at halftime, each of whom had contributed to the storied history of the program during their time in uniform—a unique symbol of Gustavus excellence that extends across their generations of accomplishment. Unfortunately for the Gusties of the past, the team fell short of their billing against Hamline.

“It was really a neat event. There were a good number of guys from the past twenty years that made it and it was very enjoyable to catch up and relive some old memories,” said Head Coach Mark Hanson. “It was nice for everybody involved to see the length of tradition chronologically. Its nice to be able to celebrate these championships, teams and people.”

After a convincing road victory over Macalester three days earlier, Gustavus started the contest with the Pipers with a 7-for-11 first half performance from the free throw line, rectifying some of the 34 percent they shot from the field, but still found themselves behind at intermission. Junior Sam Paulson’s leaner in the lane was the Gusties’ first score of the second half, over four minutes into the period. Gustavus soon found itself down by fifteen at one point later in the half, but crawled within five with less than five minutes remaining. An 8-0 Hamline run after a timeout pushed the Pipers to a lead that proved to be too much for the Gusties to overcome.

Schmidtknecht and Junior Ryan McPartland finished with 12 points apiece to pace the Gusties, but for the most part, it was the team’s cold shooting that proved to be the difference. Gustavus shot 33 percent (21-63) from the field and broke a consecutive streak of 200 games with a made three-point basket after shooting 0-12 from beyond the arc.

The team had Sunday to recover from arguably their weakest performance of the season before hosting play-off bound Carleton. From the tip, it was evident that the team that played Hamline had been lost in their day of rest. McPartland sent the two teams into intermission with a three pointer in the waning seconds of the half to put the Gusties up 30-28, after a half in which the Knights hit six threes. Senior Robbie Schmidt hit two shots from behind the yellow line to start the second half, followed by three of McPartland’s own before Carleton could get on the board in the second half.
Gustavus owned the glass 39-23, and their reserves made all of the difference, outscoring the Knights’ bench 26-12 en route to an exceptional 59-53 victory.  Sophomore Phil Wirtjes came off the bench to score a game-high nine points to jump-start the Gustie offense. McPartland finished with seven rebounds and three assists to go along with eight points, a number duplicated by Schmidt, Paulson and First-year Bobby Johnson.

This past Wednesday, the Gusties looked to continue their winning ways against a struggling St. Olaf squad. Gustavus ran out to a 22-6 lead after ten minutes of play, bumping their lead to twenty-two before the Oles dampened their seven minute scoring drought. The Gusties seemingly couldn’t miss, hitting seven shots from beyond the arc while pushing out to a 47-16 lead heading into the half.

St. Olaf came out firing in the second half, scoring seven straight, while holding the Gusties off the board until five minutes had passed in the half. Coach Hansen pulled his starters with six and a half minutes remaining, leaving his young reserves to close out the game. Gustavus weathered a come-back attempt, being outscored by 12 in the second half, but managed to pull out the 74-55 victory.

The Gusties shot an impressive 58% from the land of milk and honey in the first half, but hit only one triple in the second half. Their free throw shooting woes continued as the Gusties shot 50% from the line.

Schmidt and Wirtjes led the way for the Gusties with 14 apiece, while Van Sickle and McPartland added eight each in the winning effort. Junior Myke Crowder came off the bench to pull down a game high nine rebounds to go along with his four points, while McPartland swiped five boards of his own.

With that victory, the Gusties pulled into a five-way tie for second place in the conference, making their final three games all the more important.

“We are definitely taking things one game at a time. Any time you can beat the number one team in the country, it would obviously give us a ton of momentum,” said Schmidt. “We’ve got two more regular season games after St. Thomas, and the way the MIAC has played out, they are crucial as well.”

This weekend, the Gusties host a Valentine’s Day showdown with consensus #1 team in the nation when St. Thomas, the defending conference champion, rolls up the hill. The Tommies have been ranked #1 for the last three weeks and are the first MIAC team to be rated so highly since the introduction of the poll.

St. Thomas and their notoriously discordant fans bring a spotless 21-0 record (16-0 in MIAC) to St. Peter, including a 70-49 win against the Gusties midway through January. They lead the conference in both scoring average for and against, with a twenty point difference between the two, and while the dominating Purple boast the highest field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage in the conference, while leading in assists, rebounding margin and assist to turnover margin, Gustavus follows in a close second or third in most of the categories previously mentioned. Despite all their aspects of high-level play, the Tommies are a MIAC worst 66 percent from the charity stripe, a downfall that can break the hearts of most any championship hopeful.

Including their loss earlier in the season, the Gusties are 2-5 against the Tommies for the past four seasons, their two wins coming at home the last two campaigns. Gustavus is 71-91 all-time against the Tommies, the only program in the conference against which they have a losing record.

“[To beat St. Thomas] it’s going to take what it takes to beat any good team and they are as good as any opponent we’ll face,” said Hanson. “We need to shoot well and play good defense while keeping our turnovers down. Not trying to oversimply the game, but if we play well on both ends of the floor, good things will happen.”
Tip-off on Valentine’s Day, Saturday, Feb. 14, is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. with the Gustavus Dance Team’s annual Guy-Girl Dance appearing.