SAINT PETER, Minn. – It’s been nearly a full calendar year since the Gustavus men’s basketball team last competed in a game and the drought is finally over as the Gusties travel to Saint Mary’s tonight for the season opener.
The 2021 season looks much different than a traditional season for the obvious reason of playing through a pandemic, but the Gusties are simply excited to get back to playing games, even if that means playing a truncated schedule.
“The most exciting thing is that through all of this, the guys get to play,” said Head Coach Mark Hanson, who is in his 31st season at the helm of the program. “That is by far the biggest thing. The first day of practice is always exciting, but it wasn’t what we wanted in that we were in pods and distant and so on. When we got back in January and they got to scrimmage, there was almost a silly excitement. I can only imagine, having not played a game for almost 12 months, if they slept last night it will be surprising.”
Last season the Gusties finished eighth in the MIAC with an 8-12 league record and went 8-17 overall. Although the end result was less than desirable, the experience gained may pay dividends in 2021 as the Gusties bring back a wealth of returners. All but one of last season’s starters are back in the fold this year. Jake Guse (Jr., Waseca), who was named to the MIAC All-Defensive Team last year, is the only player not back for this season after taking the spring semester off with intentions to return in the fall.
Logan Rezac (Sr., Andover) returns as the team’s top scorer, rebounder, and distributor from last season after accumulating 299 points, 142 rebounds, and 86 assists in 25 games. Rezac shot 38 percent from the floor and made a team-high 59-of-83 free throws. He averaged 12.0 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
Along with Rezac, Nolan Malo (Jr., Owatonna) and Isaac Douglas (Sr., Montevideo) were the other two players to start in all 25 games last season. Malo averaged 9.7 points and 4.1 rebounds, while Douglas averaged 9.0 points and made a team-high 50-of-141 three-pointers. His 20 steals were the most on the team.
Kaleb Feahn (Sr., Waseca) is back after serving as the team’s sixth man last year, averaging a team-high 13.6 points in 17 games. Feahn also led the team in free throw percentage at .818, making 45-of-55 from the charity stripe.
“The benefits [of having so many returners] remain to be seen,” Hanson said. “I think there is value in coming back with guys who are enthusiastic and excited about playing with each other because they know each other. Hopefully they are able to carry over from whatever they learned last year and have it be valuable in this truncated season.”
The Gusties have nine games in this season’s schedule with seven of them being MIAC contests. The first conference game is Saturday at home against Augsburg. The team with the highest winning percentage at the end of the regular season will earn the MIAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, since there will not be a conference playoff.
Despite the challenging adversities of starting this season, Hanson has been impressed with the mentality of his team.
“What they have shown in front of us, I think has been fabulous,” Hanson said. “They have not whined or complained, they’ve certainly wanted to push the envelope so that they can get in the gym and practice, but I think they’ve understood that this isn’t something that we as coaches can control, it’s not something that administrators can really control, it’s just the nature of what’s happening and it’s happening to everybody. You do the best you can with what you got.”