MORRIS, Minn. – Minnesota Morris will be in the friendly confines of the P.E. Center on Saturday as the 2014-15 men's basketball season gets underway. The Cougars will be looking for another successful year and another trip to the UMAC Tournament.
UMM returns several players from last year and have an experienced backcourt in 2014-15. Three ten point scorers are back this season.
Cody Emrick, who had 11.1 points per game, is back as are
Neil Helgeson and
RJ Dean, who each averaged 10 points per contest. Emrick and Helgeson got better as the year went on and are back for their second year in the program.
Emrick led the team with 48 made three pointers last year, shooting 36.9% from behind the arc.
Helgeson was also a threat from behind the arc, making 37.0% of his attempts.
Dean averaged 10.2 points last season and was third on the team in rebounding with 3.9 per contest.
After losing the top two rebounders from last season the Cougars will need a team effort on the boards this season.
John Haseman and
Joe Roggenbuck will have increased roles and will need to help the guard heavy roster in grabbing rebounds. Newcomer Tyler Ukkleberg will also help add some rebounding strength after a successful high school career.
Head Coach
Paul Grove will also look to
CD Douglas and
Dylan Erickson to have big roles throughout the year.
The season begins with back-to-back home games as they host Trinity Bible on Tuesday night. They will then have four straight road games before hosting Presentation on December 4.
