Grand Rapids, MI – The Calvin University men's basketball returns to action this weekend when it competes in the St. Andrews Products Classic on the campus of Trine University in Angola, Indiana. Calvin will face Wisconsin-Platteville on Friday (December 29) at 3 p.m. and will then face Berry College (Ga.) on Saturday (December 30) at 1 p.m. in the "classic" tournament-style format. Trine will face Berry on Friday and Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday.

The Teams: Calvin, Wisconsin-Platteville and Berry. Calvin enters the weekend with an overall record of 9-0 while Wisconsin-Platteville enters the weekend 8-1 and Berry 3-6. Calvin is currently ranked 2nd in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 poll of the season. A member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WIAC), Wisconsin-Platteville is receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. Berry College is a member of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). A year ago, Berry captured the SAA regular season title and finished with a final overall record of 25-3.

The Coaches: Bill Sall is in his fifth season as head coach of the Calvin men's basketball program after previous stops at Northern Michigan and Ferris State. A Calvin University graduate, Sall has an overall record at Calvin of 76-29. He led Calvin to the Sweet 16 round of the 2022 NCAA III Tournament and to the 2023 MIAA regular season title. Jeff Gard is the coach of the Wisconsin-Platteville team Pioneers. He is in his 15^th year as head coach of the UW-Platteville men's basketball program. He has a career won-loss record of 232-137 which includes four trips to the NCAA III Tournament. Berry is led by head coach Mick Hedgepeth who is in his second year as head coach of the Berry program after previously serving as head coach of the University of the South. Hedgepeth led Berry to an SAA conference title a year ago and is 28-9 as head coach of the Berry Vikings.

The Players: Calvin is led in scoring by sophomore center Jalen Overway who averages 19.7 points to go with 8.8 rebounds a game. He is connecting on 63.8 percent of his field goal attempts. Overway was a preseason D3hoops.com (2^nd Team) All-American. He was the 2023 MIAA MVP and has been named MIAA Player of the Week once this season. Senior forward Uchenna Egekeze also averages 13.8 points and 4.2 rebounds a game. He was the 2023 MIAA Defensive Player of the Year and earlier this season was named to the Great Lakes Invitational All-Tournament Team. Sophomore forward Owen Varnado averages 9.2 points and 5.1 rebounds a game while connecting on 44.1 percent of his three-point field goal attempts. He was recently named MIAA Player of the Week for the first time in his career. UW-Platteville is led in scoring by 6-4 senior forward Logan Pearson who averages 23.6 points and 4.6 rebounds a game. Person was an All-WIAC performer a year ago. Senior guard Ben Probst averages 14.6 points a game and is shooting 51.6 percent from three-point range. Max Love averages 11.7 points and 5.0 rebounds a game. Berry College is led in scoring by senior Blake Campbell who recently returned to the Viking lineup and pumps in 24.7 points a game. Senior Chase Ellis contributes 17.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per outing while Braxton Benham averages 14.4 points a game and Jacob Morgan 12.7 points a game. Ellis was the 2022-23 SAA Player of the Year and was an All-SAA First Team pick last year. Benham was an All-SAA Second Team choice.  

Tale of the Tape: Points per game – Calvin 77.22, Wisconsin-Platteville 77.8, Berry 79.67; opponents' points per game – Calvin 60.00, Platteville 67.1, Berry 82.22; field goal percentage – Calvin 49.9, Platteville 45.0, Berry 48.0; three-point percentage – Calvin 37.9, Platteville 37.7, Berry 33.9; free throw percentage – Calvin 68.8, Platteville 75.2, Berry 74.9; rebounds per game – Calvin 41.1, Platteville 36.3, Berry 33.7; assist-to-turnover ratio – Calvin 1.2, Platteville 1.3, Berry – 1.3

Recent History: This weekend will mark the second-ever meeting between and Calvin and Wisconsin-Platteville and the first-ever meeting between Calvin and Berry. Calvin previously met (then #5) Wisconsin-Platteville in the second round of the 2022 NCAA III Tournament with the Knights defeating the Pioneers 76-64 behind 37 points from Luke Morrison.

Coverage: Live statistics and live video of the game will be available.

*Calvin/UW-Platteville Live Statistics: https://trinethunder.com/sports/mbkb/tournament/2023-24/box_scores/20231229_ik3y.xml

*Calvin/UW-Platteville Live Video: https://vimeo.com/trinebroadcasting

*Calvin / Berry Live Statistics: https://trinethunder.com/sports/mbkb/tournament/2023-24/box_scores/20231230_ou1y.xml

*Calvin/ Berry Live Video: https://vimeo.com/trinebroadcasting