Saint John's basketball plays host to Gustavus Adolphus for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 20, in Sexton Arena. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-3, 6-3 MIAC) snapped a two-game skid with a 91-68 win over Augsburg on Saturday (Jan. 16) in Collegeville. The Johnnies came out firing on all cylinders, making their first nine shots from the field, including three from behind the arc. The trend continued as the Johnnies shot 62.1 percent (18-for-29) from the field in the first half, while holding the Auggies to only 29 points. In the second half, both teams shot over 55 percent from the field, but SJU's lead stayed in double digits the rest of the afternoon. SJU's three starting seniors led the charge by scoring 60 of the team's 91 points. Senior guard Alex Schmitt (Waconia, Minn.) led all scorers with 22 points and made a career-high six three-pointers. Classmates Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lake, Minn./Centennial) and Joe Risinger (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) added 19 points apiece. 

BIG FIRST HALF: SJU recorded season bests for a first half on Saturday: 44 points, eight three-pointers (8-for-11, 72.7 percent) and a .621 overall shooting percentage. Interestingly enough, none of the 44 first-half points came at the free-throw line as the home team failed to make a trip to the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes of play.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Sophomore Tyler Weiss (Shakopee, Minn.) recorded his second consecutive double-double Saturday by scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Weiss currently has five double-doubles this year (the first double-doubles of his young career) and is one away from adding his name to the four-way tie at No. 10 on SJU's list for most double-doubles in a season. Weiss' father, Travis '94, recorded the third-most double-doubles in a season with 10 in 1993-94 and is fourth with 15 for a career.

THREE'S: The Johnnies buried a season-high 14 three-pointers against the Auggies, their most since the school-record 17 were made on Jan. 23, 2013 at Macalester. 

A DROP IN THE BUCKET: Schmitt's 22 points on Saturday were good for his eighth 20-point game of the season and 19th of his career. The 19 career games of 20 points or more ties him with Kevin Buth (1999-03) for the most by a Johnnie since Troy Bigalke (1997-01) registered 31 early in the 21st century. The 22-point game enabled him to jump four spots to 25th on SJU's all-time scoring list (1,074 career points). Schmitt leads the MIAC in field goals (97) and three-pointers (41) made, and is second in scoring, both overall (18.6 ppg.) and in league play (18.8 ppg.).

ASSIST ME: In addition to his 19 points Saturday, Kuck found a way to share the love by dishing out nine assists. With 219 career assists, Kuck is now 12 assists away from passing former teammate Kevin McKenzie '14 (230) for 10th in school history. He currently leads the MIAC with 72 assists this season, 20 more than second place (Bethel's Trevor Hall).

NATIONAL POLL: SJU fell from eight votes to three in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll released Jan. 18. St. Thomas stayed at sixth nationally, while Bethel dropped from 29 votes to five. The Johnnies and Royals have identical records, though SJU owns an 89-78 overtime win over BU back on Dec. 12.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (5-9, 2-7 MIAC) travels to Collegeville with losses in eight of its last 10 games, including a 64-53 overtime defeat at Carleton on Saturday (Jan. 16). Senior guard Gary Cooper returned for his first game since suffering an injury Dec. 2 and led the Gusties with 20 points. Cooper leads the team with an average of 11.8 points per game, though he has only appeared in five contests. Senior post Brody Ziegler is the only other Gustie averaging in double figures at 10.9, and leads the team in both rebounding (5.6 rpg.) and shooting percentage (.573). 

IN 2014-15: SJU split its regular-season series with the Gusties in 2014-15, before falling to GAC in the MIAC Playoffs. Saint John's shot a season-low 36.1 percent from the field and saw its four-game win streak come to an end with a 69-59 loss at Gustavus Adolphus in the first meeting back on Jan. 17 (2015) in St. Peter. The Johnnies entered the game as the MIAC leader with an average of 7.7 three-pointers made per game and was third at 42.2 percent (92-for-218) from behind the arc, but made only two of their 13 three-point attempts in the game. The Gusties, meanwhile, were last in the conference in both three-pointers per game (2.7) and three-point shooting percentage (.288; 32-for-111), and went 3-for-5 from three-point land in the victory. Gustavus scored the final seven points of the first half to take a 33-26 lead into the break as SJU shot 31 percent (9-for-29) from the field and 0-for-6 from three-point range. The Johnnies missed 12 layups (shots in the paint) in the game, including nine in the first half alone. The Gusties were called for their seventh foul, giving SJU a one-and-one opportunity at the free-throw line, with 10:13 remaining but only went to the line twice the rest of the way. SJU trailed by six, 57-51, with 6:30 left but went 4:14 between field goals and made only four of its final 13 shot attempts. Senior post Jacob Peterson '15 just missed his first double-double with career highs in points (14) and rebounds (9) off the bench, while Schmitt added 14 points of his own. Cooper led the Gusties with a career-high 21 points, on 7-for-9 shooting, and recorded three traditional three-point plays. SJU out-rebounded GAC 42-33, including an 18-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The Johnnies, however, only turned the 18 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.

SJU ended the regular season with a 50-47 win over Gustavus on Feb. 21 in Collegeville. The contest was an offensive struggle, as both teams shot 37.7 percent (20-for-53) from the field. SJU missed 11 layups (shots in the paint), while Gustavus went 0-for-7 from three-point range and failed to score a point on its 10 offensive rebounds.  The Johnnies failed to make a field goal in the final 6:49 of the game following a traditional three-point play from Weiss, which gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 48-41. GAC cut its deficit to one (48-47) and had the ball, but Weiss knocked an errant pass in the paint away to Schmitt (Waconia, Minn.) with four seconds remaining. Schmitt sealed the win on a pair of free throws with half a second left on the clock. Schmitt led SJU with 17 points, while Weiss added nine points, six rebounds and three blocks. Kuck chipped in eight points and three steals, and Blake Maslonkowski '15 grabbed 10 rebounds. Cooper led all scorers with 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting for the Gusties, but committed six turnovers. The rest of the team shot 30 percent (12-for-40) for the game.

The Johnnies ended their 2014-15 season with a 64-54 loss to GAC four days later in the MIAC Playoff quarterfinals. SJU led by as much as seven (41-34) with 11:14 remaining but made only three of its final 16 shot attempts (18.8 percent) to end the game. In total, the Johnnies shot 28 percent (7-for-25) in the second half to the Gusties' 65 percent (13-for-20). GAC made nine of its last 13 shot attempts, including a 2-for-3 showing from three-point range. Gustavus made its first six shots to start the game before cooling off, making five of its last 19 as SJU took a 28-23 lead into the break. The visitors out-scored SJU 14-0 in the paint, 8-3 off turnovers and 6-0 in second-chance points in the second half alone. The Johnnies finished at a season-low 35.3 percent (18-for-51) for the game, including a 4-for-16 showing (1-for-10 in the second half) from behind the arc, and missed only three free throws (14-for-17). Two of the three misses, however, were front ends of a one-and-one opportunity during the final 10:29. Schmitt led SJU with 14 points, while Kuck followed with 13. Weiss added eight points and four rebounds before fouling out with 5:18 to go. Cooper led the Gusties with 16 points. Despite a narrow 49-44 edge in points, GAC's starting five shot 55.9 percent (19-for-34) to the Johnnies' 34.9 percent (15-for-43) in the game (64.3 percent to 27.3 percent in the second half).

BREAKING THE GUSTIE FUNK: SJU's three worst shooting performances last season were against Gustavus: 36.1, 37.1 and 35.3 percent. The Johnnies shot 49.7 percent (641-for-1,291) from the floor, including 42.5 percent (172-for-405) from three-point land, in the other 23 games. 

SERIES HISTORY: SJU was 54-58 against the Gusties under former coach Jim Smith (since 1964-65). The Johnnies have done well against Gustavus recently during the regular season, posting a record of 4-2 in the last six matchups. The Johnnies have struggled, however, in the postseason as the Gusties have eliminated SJU three of the last four seasons.