The 214th edition of the Calvin-Hope men's basketball rivalry is set to tip off Wednesday night in Holland, Michigan. Tipoff for the classic rivalry is set for 7:30 p.m. inside DeVos Fieldhouse.
BROADCAST COVERAGE - Wednesday's game is being broadcast on Michigan Sports Radio (
Michigansportsradio.com) with Mercantile Bank as its lead sponsor. The game will also be live streamed through the Hope YouTube channel (
https://www.youtube.com/hopeathletics) and feature live statistics at:
https://athletics.hope.edu/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
ALL-TIME SERIES - Hope leads the all-time series 111-102 in a series that dates back to the 1920-21 season. A year ago the two rivals met three times with Calvin winning the opener 69-61 with Hope coming back to win the return match 59-42 in Holland and then topping Calvin 83-68 in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. Calvin gained a share of the final 2024 MIAA regular season title while Hope captured the 2024 MIAA Tournament title. Calvin and Hope both advanced to the 2024 NCAA III Tournament with Calvin later reaching the Elite Eight Round of the NCAAs.
CALVIN COACHES SHOW - Fans of Calvin basketball should mark their calendar for each Monday night in February. Next month, starting February 3, Big E's restaurant on East Beltline is the home for "Inside Calvin Basketball" – a 30-minute program featuring men's coach
Bill Sall plus coaches and players from the men's and women's basketball teams. The show airs live on 96.1 The Game and Michigan Sports Radio. Fans are welcome to join the live audience and enjoy the delicious menu items from Big E's.
THE CALVIN COACH-
Bill Sall is in his sixth year as head coach of the Calvin men's basketball program. This is his third straight 20-win campaign at the helm of the Knights. A 1994 Calvin graduate, Sall is in his 19
th year as a head collegiate men's basketball coach with an overall career won-loss record of 338-296 heading into tonight. He was 177-148 in 11 seasons at Ferris State and 61-102 in six seasons at Northern Michigan. He is currently 101-40 at the helm of the Calvin men's basketball program. In his first year as Calvin men's basketball head coach, he led the Knights to an overall record of 15-11 including a second-place finish in the MIAA and a trip to the MIAA Tournament semifinals. He followed with a second straight trip to the MIAA Tournament semis in 2021. In 2023, he led Calvin to an MIAA regular season championship and an overall record of 23-5. In 2022, he guided Calvin to a 22-9 record, a berth in the NCAA III Tournament and a trip to the Sweet 16 round of the national tournament. Sall is also a legendary Calvin men's basketball player. A two-time NABC Division III All-American and a two-time MIAA MVP, Sall ranks second on the Calvin career scoring list with 2,003 points. As a senior during the 1989-90 season, he led Calvin to an outright MIAA title and the school's first trip to the NCAA III Final Four.
WIN STREAKS - Calvin and Hope are both vying for the 2025 MIAA regular season title as they enter with identical overall records of 9-6 and conference marks of 4-0. Calvin carries an eight-game win streak into the contest while Hope has a four-game win streak of its own.
OFFENSE/DEFENSE – Hope averages 72.8 points a game on offense while giving up 66.47 points a game on defense. The Flying Dutchmen are shooting 45.2 percent from the floor including 32.6 percent from three-point range. Hope is allowing opponents to shoot 39.9 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent from three-point range. Calvin averages 74.00 points a game on offense and is allowing 65.93 points a game on defense. Calvin is shooting 45.0 percent from the floor while limiting opponents to 37.8 percent field goal shooting. Calvin is shooting 33.6 percent from three-point range with its opponents shooting from 31.3 percent from beyond the long line.
MORE ON CALVIN - Calvin is led in scoring by junior forward Owen Varnado who averages 15.3 points along with 7.1 rebounds a game. He was named MIAA Player of the Week shortly before Calvin's Christmas break. Graduate student Uchenna Egekeze is a starter in the Calvin backcourt for a fifth year. He averages 13.7 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. He recently moved into 11th place on the Calvin career scoring list and second place on the Calvin career steals list. Junior forward Trevin Winkle has a six-game double-figure scoring streak. He averages 10.7 points and 5.3 rebounds a game. Junior guard Luka Ressler (6.1 ppg) and junior forward Brady Ewing (5.3 ppg) fill out Calvin's starting lneup. Calvin has received strong contributions from its bench. Graduate student Ty Horky - a transfer from Kalamazoo College - has hit for double-figures in scoring in two of his last three games. Senior Daane Harvey is coming off a Saturday game where he scored a career-high 19 points on 6 of 8 three-point field goal shooting. Parker Swartz and Trip Riemersma have also played keh roles off the bench for Calvin.
Scouting the Opposition – Hope is led by head coach Greg Mitchell who is in his 11th year as head coach of the Hope men's basketball program. He is 192-90 in his tenure as Hope head men's basketball coach. He previously served as head boys basketball coach at Laingsburg High School in the Lansing, Michigan. Area. He is a 1989 Hope graduate where he was a four-year member of the men's basketball program, playing on MIAA Championship team in 1987 and 1988. He is the Hope career three-point shooting percentage (.464) leader. Hope is led by senior post Gabe Quillan who averages 15.1 points and 8.5 rebounds a game while connecting on 62.3 percent of his field goal attempts. Quillan was a 2024 2nd Team All-MIAA selection. Junior point guard Marcus Wourman have also returned from early-season injury to average 11.4 points and 2.2 rebounds a game. Sophomore forward Parker Hovey is a second-year starter. He averages 11.2 points and 6.5 boards per game. Junior guard Justice Mims has stepped into a starting role this year, averaging 10.6 points per contest in the backcourt.
1000 POINT PLATEAU – Calvin senior Uchenna Egekeze became the 28th player in Calvin men's basketball history to reach the 1,000 point plateau, doing so with a steal and a fast-break dunk in a January 17, 2024 win over rival Hope. Heading into Wednesday Egekeze sits in 11th place on the Calvin career scoring list with 1,373 career points. He needs three points to move past Mickey Phelps and into 12th place and 10 points to most past Tom NewHoff and into 11th place. Last February, Calvin junior Jalen Overway became the 29th player in Calvin history to hit the 1,000 point plateau with a 19-point performance in Calvin's overtime win over Trine. He currently ranks 23rd on the Calvin list with 1,092 career points. He is taking a medical red-shirt year due to an injury suffered in the NCAA III Tournament last March. He is just the sixth player in Calvin men's basketball history to score 1,000 points in his first two years in a Calvin uniform, joining Mark Veenstra, Steve Honderd, Jeremy Veenstra, Dan Davis and Dan Aultman to have done so.
QUICK HANDS – Calvin senior Uchenna Egekeze has 22 steals on the season and 189 in his Calvin career, ranking second on the all-time Calvin career list, only 13 behind Chris Knoester (202). He was the 2023 MIAA Defensive Player of the Year.
UP NEXT - Calvin will host Alma on Saturday at 3 p.m. and then prepare to travel to defending national champoin Trine January 29 and then return back home to face Hope on February 1 for the second rivalry matchup in 10 days.
