Grand Rapids, MI – The Calvin University men's basketball plays in a home rivalry matchup against Hope College Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.
The Teams: Calvin and Hope. The Knights enter the game with a 3-2 overall record and most recently fell to conference opponent Trine University by a score of 83-65. It will be Hope's second game of the 2020-21 season. The Flying Dutchmen dropped a 65-64 decision to Alma Friday night.
The Coaches: Bill Sall is in his 2nd season as head coach of the Calvin men's basketball program. He led the Knights to a 15-11 overall record last year and made it to the MIAA Tournament Semifinals. Greg Mitchell is in his 6th season as the head coach of the Hope men's basketball program. He has led the Flying Dutchmen to a 111-56 record, three Michigan Intercollegiate regular-season championship and three NCAA Division III Championships tournament appearances. He is also a Hope graduate and played four seasons of basketball for the Flying Dutchmen.
The Players: The Knights have four players averaging double digits in scoring. Thad Shymankski is averaging 18.8 points while teammate Emmett Warners is averaging 14.0. Jordan Katje has been averaging 12.4 points with 9.8 rebounds a game while teammate Brandon Paul is averaging 10.0 points a game. The Dutchmen had three players averaging double digits in scoring last year: Preston Granger (20.3), Evan Thomas (13.4), Tyler George (10.6)
Tale of the Tape: Points per game – Calvin 77.6, Hope 75.7; opponents' points per game – Calvin 72.2, Hope 75.6; field goal percentage – Calvin 43.9, Hope 44.9; three-point percentage – Calvin 32.6, Hope 32.8; free throw percentage – Calvin 80.1, Hope 67.2; rebounds per game – Calvin 39.6, Hope 36.3; assist-to-turnover ratio – Calvin 1.16, Hope 1.00. (Hope Stats are from the 2019-20 season.)
Recent History: Hope leads the all-time series 103-100. Calvin won both meetings in the regular season last year. The latest game saw the Knights winning by a score of 84-59 last February in Holland.
Coverage: The game will be aired throughout West Michigan on WGVU-TV 35/52 and will be streamed through the WGVU website (www.wgvu.org) as well as through the Calvinknights.com website. Historical information can be found on The Rivalry website at: http://www.calvinhope.com
*Live Statistics: https://calvinknights.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/boxscores/20210130_6vta.xml
*Live Video: https://vimeo.com/event/603411 and http://www.wgvu.org
Social Media: Calvin athletics is represented on Facebook (Calvin Knights), Twitter (@CalvinKnights) and Instagram (@CalvinAthletics ). Follow all the happenings of Calvin University on social media by using the hashtag "#GoCalvin".
Up Next: Calvin is home against Olivet College for a 3 p.m. contest on Saturday February 6.
