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• Friday: Chadron State vs. UNO, 6 p.m.; Wayne State vs. Benedictine, 8 p.m.
• Saturday: Chadron State vs. Benedictine, 1 p.m.; UNO vs. Wayne State, 3 p.m.
Basketball fans from UNK’s sphere of influence get an opportunity this weekend to see the state’s other three Division II men’s programs play.
UNO, Chadron State and Wayne State will participate in the SUNHEAT College Basketball Classic at Grand Island’s Heartland Events Center, about 50 miles from the UNK campus.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha will play Chadron State at 6 tonight and Wayne State at 3 p.m. Saturday. Chadron and Wayne will each play Benedictine (Kan.) on the days they don’t play UNO. There is hope that the University of Nebraska at Kearney would join a four-team field of all Nebraska’s Division IIs in the future.
“This will really be a neat thing if it works out where all four Division II teams can come in and play,” Chadron State coach Brent Bargen said. “It’s a nice thing to showcase Division II basketball in the state and it gives us an opportunity to play two quality opponents. It’s difficult to schedule home-and-home with people, so a neutral court is a great fit.”
UNO, which plays UNK on Dec. 18, will play the Lopers, Chadron State and Wayne State in the same season for the first time since 1972-73.
“It’ll be an interesting event,” UNO coach Derrin Hansen said. “It’s a first-time thing. We’ve played Wayne State (most recently in 2004-05) but it just hasn’t worked out for a few years, and we’ve played Chadron (in 2006-07), but haven’t played much because of the distance between us.”
UNO is off to a 3-0 start, while Chadron State is 2-1 and Wayne State 0-2. Benedictine, an NAIA team, is 4-1 — including a six-point win over a Division II Rockhurst team that UNO beat by eight. The Benedictine game was an exhibition for Rockhurst, but a regular-season meeting for Benedictine.
“I’m real excited about being in this tournament,” Wayne State coach Paul Combs said. “But not excited about the two teams we’re going to be playing. They both are going to be very challenging for us.”
A year ago Combs was coaching a top-ranked team in Division III power Wisconsin-Platteville, but his first Wildcat team is trying to bounce back after losing second-half leads against Division III Buena Vista and NAIA York.
“I’ve got to give credit to both teams,” Combs said. “Both of them hit some big shots. We’re still a work in progress. It’s going to take some time to get everybody on the same page. We’re still trying to identify roles.”
Brad Starken, a 6-foot-5 junior college transfer from Michigan whom Combs had been recruiting before taking the Wayne State job, has scored 15 in each of the Wildcats’ first two games. Brian Metz, a 6-8 senior who ranked fifth in Division II in field goal percentage (67.5) last season, has scored just 10 points total.
The Wildcats have allowed both opponents to shoot better than 50 percent from the field. York drilled 11 of 23 3-pointers and took advantage of 22 Wayne State turnovers, offsetting the Wildcats’ 40-18 rebounding advantage.
Chadron State, still 5½ hours away from Grand Island, looks forward to the chance to showcase its program.
“We’ve had better luck recruiting out of state than in-state,” said Bargen, a Nebraskan who has tapped into California connections from his time as a Long Beach State assistant. “That’s why this tournament is important to us, to get closer to the central and eastern parts of the state so people can see us and get a feel for the kind of program we have.”
The Eagles, who opened the season with a win over Black Hills State (S.D.), ranked No. 2 in NAIA Division II, have seven Californians on their roster, and also get contributions from players from Maryland and Missouri, as well as neighboring South Dakota and Colorado.
“Chadron is talented,” said Hansen, who — as is his custom — hasn’t begun to look at the next opponent (Wayne State). “They’ve got good athleticism, decent size, they can shoot it in, and they look to attack. We’re going to have to play well.”
Hansen has several playing well at this point, led by guard Tyler Bullock. The former double-figures scorer at Division I Denver, who made a brief stopover at UNK before transferring to UNO, has made all but three of his field goal attempts (21 of 24) while averaging 18 points.
“He’s being aggressive, getting to the rim, and he’s hitting pull-ups,” Hansen said. “He’s not doing anything he can’t do. He’s a smart player, and guys are finding him in spots where he can make plays. He’s talented, and he’s playing within himself.”
Contact the writer:
444-1027, rob.white@owh.com
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