TACOMA, Washington – With wins in three of its last four games, the Puget Sound men's basketball team makes one of its toughest annual road trips to eastern Washington this weekend. The Loggers take on No. 20 Whitworth Friday, Jan. 14, and then tipoff at Whitman Saturday, Jan. 15.
Building confidence
Puget Sound shot under 45-percent from the floor in four of the first five games of the season. In the last five games combined, however, the Loggers have a 48.2 field-goal percentage. Puget Sound is also shooting 37.5-percent form 3-point range in the last five outings.
Erickson doubles up
Grant Erickson notched his first-career double-double last weekend, scoring 10 points and pulling down 12 boards in the Loggers' 72-71 win over Lewis & Clark (Jan. 8). He is averaging 9.6 points and 6.1 rebounds so far this season.
#20 goes for 20
Paul Johnson tallied his fifth game with 20+ points against the Pioneers (Jan. 8). The Loggers' Number 20 scored 21 points by shooting 9-for-19 from the floor and 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Johnson scored a career-high 32 points in the season-opener against Multnomah (Nov. 5), and he was named the NWC Student-Athlete of the Week following the Doug McArthur Classic against Claremont-M-S and Redlands (Nov. 19-20). Johnson is the Loggers' leading scorer this season with 20.1 points per game.
Calculated
Cal Hansen is averaging 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds this season. He is shooting 55.1-percent from the floor, and he has not shot worse than 50-percent for eight consecutive games. Hansen has three double-doubles this season, though he has come up just one rebound shy of a double-double in three different games.
Scouting No. 20 Whitworth (9-2, 2-1 NWC)
Ranked nationally by D3hoops.com, the Pirates had an eight-game winning snapped with a road loss at Whitman, 71-69 (Jan. 8). Whitworth's one other loss was at Wisconsin-Platteville (Nov. 12). The Pirates average just over 84 points per game, as four players average double-digits in scoring: Miguel Lopez (12.0), JT McDermott (11.9) Liam Fitzgerald (11.7), and Jordan Lester (10.1). Lester is the team's leading rebounder (7.4). Whitworth doesn't shoot particularly well from 3-point range (33.6-percent), but it is connecting on 49.9-percent of its shots from the floor.
Scouting Whitman (4-7, 2-1 NWC)
The Blues upset Whitworth in their last time out, 71-69 (Jan. 8). It was the second consecutive win for Whitman, which also be Schreiner in a close game, 78-75 (Dec. 18). Whitman had a four-game losing streak early in the season, which consisted of games against Cal Lutheran Caltech, Chapman, and UC Santa Cruz. Four Blues average double digits in scoring: Nikola Trifunovic (14.5), Xzavier Lino (13.5), Walter Lum (13.5), Weston Crump (10.7). Whitman is shooting 38.2-percent from distance, and 42.6-percent from the floor.
