St. Thomas men’s basketball’s perfect 12-0 home record is on the line as the program hosts its final two games of the regular season tonight against North Dakota and on Saturday against Kansas City at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul.
The Tommies (20-9, 10-4 Summit League) tip-off Thursday against the Fighting Hawks (11-18, 5-9 Summit League) at 7 p.m. followed by senior night Saturday against the Roos (11-18, 3-11 Summit League).
SERIES HISTORY | NORTH DAKOTA
St. Thomas and North Dakota have played 19 times in the series history, led 10-9 by the Fighting Hawks. Before meeting regularly starting in 2022, the two programs hadn’t played since 1962. The road team has won the past three matchups in the series.
Miles Barnstable became the fifth Tommie to score 30 points in a game during the first meeting of the season Jan. 4 in Grand Forks, N.D. Barnstable went 9-of-16 overall and 8-of-10 from the free throw line while four Tommies scored in double figures, including Nolan Minessale with 13 points, along with a team and career high eight rebounds, Carter Bjerke with 12 and Ben Oosterbaan off the bench with 11, including three 3-pointers. St. Thomas finished with 14 3-pointers as a team, its second most in a game this season.
Drake Dobbs and Nolan Minessale hit late 3-pointers in the first meeting of the 2024-25 season, a 68-65 win by the Tommies in Kansas City. After leading by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Tommies relied on Minessale’s 3-pointer to overcome a two-point deficit with just over one minute to play before Dobbs’ 3-pointer iced the game with 17 seconds to play. Miles Barnstable led the Tommies with 16 points and tied Ben Oosterbaan with eight rebounds. Dobbs added 13 points while Carter Bjerke and Ryan Dufault came off the bench for 12 points each.
FOR THE SENIORS
St. Thomas will recognize four seniors/graduate students during Saturday’s game against Kansas City, the regular season finale and final game ever played in Schoenecker Arena. Seniors Ryan Dufault and Ben Nau, and graduate students Rich Byhre and Drake Dobbs have played in all 29 games this season and have a combined 317 games played, including 121 by Nau for the most by a Tommie during the Division I era, and 78 starts.
92 DAYS BETWEEN BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES
St. Thomas suffered back-to-back losses during its last road games of the season, 85-80 at South Dakota and 71-66 at Oral Roberts. It was the first consecutive losses (overall) for the team since Nov. 22, a span of 92 days for its longest such streak of the DI era.
BACK-TO-BACK 20 WINS
St. Thomas has recorded 20 wins for the second consecutive season, joining only Grand Canyon as teams since 2000 to do so in years 3 and 4 of their transition to Division I. The Tommies are the only Summit League team with back-to-back 20-win seasons since joining the league and are the only transition team with three consecutive 19+ win seasons. The Purple are one of three teams (George Mason, Lipscomb) in all of NCAA to improve or equal its win total with a minimum of 19 wins since 2022-23. Overall, St. Thomas is one of 38 programs in the country with at least 20 wins in each of the past two seasons and one of 11 teams to improve its winning percentage over the past four seasons (min. 60 wins).
LET THE HOME STREAK CONTINUE
St. Thomas secured its 16th consecutive home win with a 95-84 victory over Omaha. The streak is the second longest active streak in the nation and is the second longest for the program under Johnny Tauer, previously winning 32 games between Feb. 2012 and Feb. 2014. The Tommies have now won 36 of 40 home games over the past three seasons, the 16th highest winning percentage nationally over that span. Since 2021-22, St. Thomas has defeated its DI opponents at home by an average of 14.8 points per win.
RARE COMPANY IN THE PURPLE AND GRAY
For just the third time since St. Thomas joined the Summit League, a Tommie was featured as the Peak Performer of the Week. Miles Barnstable claimed co-honors, splitting with South Dakota State’s Oscar Cluff, after averaging 25.0 points and leading the Purple to a 2-0 road weekend to begin league play. He began the week with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting in a win at North Dakota State before dropping season highs of 30 points and five rebounds at North Dakota. The only other Tommies to earn the league’s weekly honor were Riley Miller and Parker Bjorklund, both during the 2022-23 season.
D 3-0
Miles Barnstable joined a short list of Tommies to score at least 30 points since joining the DI ranks. He became just the fifth player to score as many points in a game, joining Parker Bjorklund (32 vs NDSU ’23-24), Raheem Anthony (32 vs UND ’23-24), Anders Nelson (30 at St. Francis Brooklyn ’21-22) and Brooks Allen (30 at SDSU ’22-23). All five began their collegiate careers in the Division III ranks, Anthony at St. Mary’s (MN) and Barnstable at UW-Whitewater with the other three playing for St. Thomas before the DI merger. The performance was the fourth most points in a game in the Summit League this season.
POLL TOMS
For the first time in the Division I era, St. Thomas landed on the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, making its debut at No. 25 on Jan. 6, 2025. The Tommies reached as high as No. 19 on Jan. 20.
The Purple received 38 votes in this week’s Mid-Major Top 25 Poll after being ranked No. 20 last week. The Toms lead four Summit League schools receiving votes.
(info courtesy of St. Thomas Athletics)
