DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern Oklahoma State men's basketball program heads to Duluth, Minn., to compete in the American Family Insurance Classic on Nov. 8-9.
The Savage Storm tip off their season on Friday, Nov. 8, at 5 p.m. against the hosts of this year's conference challenge, Minnesota-Duluth, before taking on Minot State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
STORM WATCH
Southeastern was picked third in the 2024-25 GAC Preseason Poll earlier this year, with Arkansas Tech (1
st) and Oklahoma Baptist (2
nd) being the only teams to receive more total votes than the Storm. SE finished last season as regular season champions for the second time in three years after compiling an 18-4 GAC record and was 23-9 overall.
SE is bringing in a new look lineup into 2024-25 with nine new faces after the departure of four starters. The Storm do bring back six players from the previous season, led by juniors
Robert Briley,
Landon Condiff and
Chandler Dickinson. Both Condiff and Dickinson saw action as starters with Condiff starting 11 contest in 31 appearances and Dickinson seeing 21 starts across 31 games.
Briley, who played in 32 games, led the team with 5.6 rebounds per game and is the Storm's highest scorer returning, having averaged 8.9 points per games. The Wright City, Okla. native was one of three players named GAC Player of the Week last year for the Storm, combining for 30 points and eight rebounds against Lubbock Christian and Texas-Permian Basin at the UTPB Classic. Condiff will look to continue to be one of SE's top knock down shooters in 2024-25, after finishing last year 12
th in the GAC in three-point shooting, averaging a 35.5 percent shooting mark from deep with 50 triples.
Friday will mark the second meeting between Southeastern and Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs won the first showdown in 2019 at the GAC/NSIC Crossover in Bethany, Okla. 95-86. In the following game on Saturday, SE will share the court with Minot State for the first meeting between the two programs.
PREVIEWING MINNESOTA-DULUTH
UMD was recently picked third in the NSIC Preseason Poll after reaching the conference tournament final and the NCAA Central Region Tournament semifinals. Last year, the Bulldogs compiled a 26-7 record and ended the year tied for second in the conference standings at 18-4.
Highlighting the returners for the Bulldogs is senior Charlie Katona, who was named NSIC Player to Watch. The forward from Shakopee, Minn., was second on the team in scoring a season ago, averaging 12.8 points per game while shooting 53.5 percent (152-284) from the field. Katona also finished second on the team in rebounding (4.9 rpg), steals (33) and was third in blocks (15) on his way to being named NSIC Defensive Player of the Year.
PREVIEWING MINOT STATE
The Beavers enters the 2024-25 season off the back of a 20-9 campaign last year and would finish fourth in the NSIC standings with a 15-7 conference record. Minot State was recently picked 10
th in the NSIC Preseason Poll, and senior guard Jaxon Gunville was voted the NSIC Player to Watch for Minot State.
Gunville became the Beavers' all-time three-point leader in the Division II era last season, having reached 205 career triples. The Minot, N.D., native knocked down a team-high 73 three-pointers in 2023-24 on a 35.8 percent shooting clip and was the team's third-highest scorer, averaging 10.1 points per game.
