Grand Rapids, MI – The Calvin University men's basketball will host Kalamazoo on Saturday afternoon with tip-off scheduled for 3:09 p.m. at Calvin's Van Noord Arena. The game is presented by The DeNooyer Automotive Family and will be televised live throughout West Michigan on WXSP-NEXSTAR MEDIA.
The Teams: Calvin and Kalamazoo. The Knights enter the game with a 14-6 overall record and a 6-3 MIAA mark. The Knights are currently in fourth place in the MIAA standings, a game behind third place Trine. The Hornets enter the matchup with a 3-17 overall record and have a 0-7 MIAA mark, good for eighth place in the league standings. Calvin took its first meeting of the year with the Hornets, winning at Kalamazoo 81-47 on January 14.
The Coaches: Bill Sall is in his 7th season as head coach of the Calvin men's basketball program. Sall arrived at Calvin in time for the 2019-20 season after previously serving as head coach at Northern Michigan University (six years) and Ferris State University (11 years). Sall is a former Calvin men's basketball All-American, having scored over 2,000 points for the Knights from 1985-1990. Nick Giard is in his 7th season as the head coach of the Kalamazoo men's basketball program. Giard came to Kalamazoo College from Williams College where he was an assistant coach for two seasons. Before Williams, Giard gained experience at two NCAA Division I institutions. He was a graduate assistant at the University of South Florida from 2013-15 and director of basketball operations at Southern Illinois Edwardsville from 2015-17.
The Players: The Knights are led in scoring and rebounding by senior
Jalen Overway who averages 23.6 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. He has notched double-digits in scoring in all 20 games for the Knights this season including five games of 30 points or more. He recently bumped his career scoring total to 1,563 points which has him in 10
th place on the Calvin career scoring list. He is He is 19 points away from moving past Jordan Brink into 9
th place and 23 points away from moving past Calvin assistant coach
Derrick DeVries and into the 8
th spot. Senior guard
Trevin Winkle averages 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds a game with junior Parker Schwartz averaging 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds a game with senior
Luka Ressler close behind at 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Kalamazoo is led in scoring by senior Lucas Hanifan. Also a standout football player at Kalamazoo, Hanifan averages 12.0 points and 3.6 rebounds a game. Carter Bandemeer averages 10.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per contest. Patrick Perez is closed behind, averaging 10.1 points and 3.9 rebounds a game.
Tale of the Tape: Points per game – Calvin 77.60, Kalamazoo 67.75; opponents' points per game – Calvin 66.10, Kalamazoo 84.20; field goal percentage – Calvin 47.7, Kalamazoo 39.7; three-point percentage – Calvin 30.5, Kalamazoo 29.6; free throw percentage – Calvin 73.5, Kalamazoo 64.4; rebounds per game – Calvin 41.8, Kalamazoo 36.2; assist-to-turnover ratio – Calvin 1.33, Kalamazoo -0.74.
Tops in the MIAA: In conference games,
Jalen Overway is No. 1 in the MIAA in scoring average (25.3 ppg), rebounding average (10.6 rpg) and 2nd in the MIAA in field goal percentage (.629).
Luka Ressler is third in total assists (35) and second in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.8).
Conference Scoring Offense/Defense: In conference games only, the Knights are 2
nd in the MIAA in scoring offense at 80.2 points per game and third in scoring defense (70.1).
Oh Brother: Saturday will feature a matchup of brothers in Jackson Keefer and
Jaydon Keefer. Jackson is a 6-3 sophomore forward for Kalamazoo while Jaydon is a 6-4 freshman guard for Calvin. The brothers prepped at Ann Arbor Huron High School.
Recent History: Calvin is 135-45 against Kalamazoo all-time. Calvin has won the last 11 meetings. Kalamazoo's last win over Calvin was a 58-53 victory on February 19, 2020 at the Anderson Athletic Center.
Coverage: The game will be televised live on WXSP-NEXSTAR MEDIA outlets throughout West Michigan. Live statistics will be available at:
Calvin-Kalamazoo Men's Basketball Live Stats while live video will be at:
Calvin-Kalamazoo Live Stream.
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
