Carroll 84
Wheaton 85

Soren Richardson  25 pts 5 rebs 5 stls
Carson Grier  17 pts 6 rebs
Devin Martin 15 pts  8 asst (3to)

Michael McNabb  27 pts 4 reb
Lamar Smith  22 pts 7 rebs
Jacob Naber 10 pts 9 rebs

The Thunder got off to a fast start and led by as much as 16 pts in the 1st half.  Credit the Pios in hanging in and chipping away at the lead.  Wheaton played decent defense for about 30 mins.  But Carroll got back in the game by scoring easy barely contested layups in the last 2 mins to nearly pull off the comeback.  Richardson was terrific in hitting some really key buckets late.

We finally saw (yet another) freshman Luca Carbonaro on the floor for a few brief minutes.  The coaches have been high on his potential but had to wait for football to end.  I'm not sure there are that many spare minutes available for him however. 

Wheaton  73
Univ Chicago 94

Disclaimer:  I did not see the game because I am too cheap to pay FloCollege to watch the livestream.  And there's no cheap subscribe, watch, cancel-a-day-later scenario.  Let's just hope the CCIW never goes this route.

Looks like it wasn't much of a contest with the Maroons scoring the first 14 pts of the game.  The lead never got below double digits from the 1st half 8 minute mark on.  Livestats was still free – so I had that going for me . . . thanks U of C Athletics. . . .??

94 points was Chicago's 2nd highest point total for the year.  They shot 62% on 37-59, 48 points in the paint.

Wheaton  83
Wisconsin Lutheran  56

Carson Grier  17 pts, 9 rebs
Soren Richardson 18 pts
Reid Olson 16 pts
Brady Wynja  8 pts, 10 rebs
Kyan VanderWoude 13 pts 8 rebs

Trey Luehring  11pts
Sam Hans  8 pts 7 rebs

The Thunder scored the first 8 pts of the game and were never really threatened after the first 5 mins by an under-sized Warriors team clearly in re-build mode.  WL shot a pretty dismal 26% from the field on 17-64 shooting.  A good win for Wheaton to get back into things. They will head downtown to Hyde Park on Saturday and the #6 U of C Maroons which will be all the challenge they want before league play resumes.

Wheaton 59
Carthage 77

This season, holding an opponent to 77 pts would typically spell a victory for the Thunder.  But not when the shooting is well below average, 23-58 39.7%, 4/19 21% three.  That combined with the Redman shooting lights out 30-62 48% and 10-21 47.6% three spells a loss where Wheaton wasn't really in it in the 2nd half.

Richardson led Wheaton with 19 pts. Grier w 14 and 4.  VanderWoude with 10 and 8. 

AJ Johnson led Carthage w 22 pts followed by Ryan Johnson with 17 and 11.

Elmhurst  81
Wheaton  82

Soren Richardson 22 pts, 7 rebs
Kyan VanderWoude  16 pts
Carson Grier, 14 pts, 12 rebs
Devin Martin 14 pts

Dominic Trelenberg  27 pts
Aidyn Boone  14 pts, 7 rebs

Not pretty, but still a big home win.  The BlueJays were up by as much as 13 pts early in the 2nd half, but Wheaton was able to crawl back in it and then get the lead back with 10 mins remaining.  It was great to see Noah Hedrick, who has seen less playing time this season, come in and hit some key treys to bring the Thunder back.

Defensively, it was still a struggle despite EC only scoring 81 pts, 36 in the 2nd half.  Wheaton did turn up the intensity a little.  But really, Elmhurst went ice cold on wide open shots for about 5 mins, shots they were making in the 1st, and that allowed the Thunder to come back.  Wheaton did everything they could to give the game away in the last minute, a la Hope, but they were able to hold on (Trelenberg hit two big treys too).

Wheaton 81
Augustana 84

The Thunder came out very slow and tentative going down by 18 points 10 minutes into the game.  Maybe from not having played a game in over a week. Then they seemed to somehow shake off the week's worth of rust and slowly inched their way to narrow the lead to only 8 at halftime.  Soren Richardson took it upon himself to not let it get out of hand.  In the second half,  Reid Olson went on a late tear of  three point shooting display.  Wheaton finally tied it with 5 mins left, and took the lead by 1 with one minute left.  But the Vikings made some huge plays down the stretch, made free throws and came out with the victory.  Numerous defensive lapses by Wheaton especially early in the game.  They were also a whopping -14 rebounding ( 32-18).  And 16 turnovers is way above their average.  The Thunder still had their chances to pull out the road win but it was not to be.

Richardson with 29 pts
Reid Olson  17 pts on 5-10 from behind the arc
Kyle Neibch,  14 pts

Dom Rhoden with 25 pts
Marieon Anderson  18 and 8

Wheaton  95
Manchester Univ  88

Soren Richardson  24 pts, 6 rebs
Kyan Vanderwoude  22 pts, 6 rebs
Carson Grier 19 pts, 5 rebs
Brady Wynja  14 pts, 8 rebs

Ty Lynas  30 pts, 4 rebs
Clay McCorkle 23 pts
Max Robertson 22 pts 6 rebs

This was a bit of a track meet at times, but a very close game most of the way with 14 ties and 14 lead changes.  The 0-5 Spartans made a game of it with neither team leading by more than 3 pts until Wheaton finally pulled away with about 2 mins remaining.  Manchester's 88 pts was 16 pts over their season average of 72.  They had a terrific shooting night;  52.2% from the field, 42.9% from three.  The Thunder defense wasn't exactly in shutdown mode either.  Wheaton's size was a big advantage as evidenced by 64 out of 95 pts in the paint.

5-2 going into CCIW play with a couple more non-cons to go.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 23, 2025, 03:45:39 PM(thanks in large part to senior junior Soren Richardson).

Two more years and thank goodness!

Quote from: markerickson on November 24, 2025, 09:08:15 PMHow many minutes did Richardson guard Grieger?  Did he consistently slash the zone for open jumpers? Grieger went 0-2 from trey land.

They tried everyone but Richardson on Grieger.  Devin Martin (6'3") was on Grieger (6'5") most of the 1st half but was not effective in stopping him. It might also have contributed to Martin having a very subpar performance (1-8, 2 pts, 4 asst, 5 turnovers).  For the last 10 mins of the game the taller at VanderWoude (6'5") had a little more success, but not much really.  Grieger regularly drove the lane with ease.

Wheaton  66
UW – La Crosse  70

Soren Richardson  19 pts
Kyan Vanderwoude  13 pts, 7 rebs
Reid Olson  13 pts

Sam Grieger  30 pts, 6 asst
JJ Paider 16 pts 14 rebs

This was a battle from the very beginning and a very hard fought game.  Wheaton went out to an early 8-0 lead but the Eagles quickly came back, tied it, took the lead and led the rest of the way.  The Thunder actually had a chance to tie or take the lead with a trey with 20 secs left, 68-66, but ended up turning the ball over.  Wheaton doesn't have any defender near good enough to answer Sam Grieger, by far the best player on the floor, who drove the lane with ease and was pretty much dominant.  When he wasn't floating in soft jumpers on the drive, he was dumping the ball out of the double team to Paider for whom Wheaton also had no answer.  It was pretty obvious that UWL had a pretty large physical and strength advantage.  Carson Grier is listed at 200 lbs but was no match for Paider at 6'7" 230lbs.  Brady Wynja at 220 lbs did a little better.

Despite the loss, there is a lot that this young team can take from it.  After a nice 4-1 start (and a loss they gifted away) this should be a reality check.  Hopefully, they have a better sense of what it will take to compete with teams that are bigger, stronger, and much better defenders than the teams they've played and beaten so far.  More like the teams they will face in league play twice a week starting soon.

UWL is certainly good enough to go far.  But their lack of depth is a real weakness.  They basically play 5 guys and that's it.

Wheaton    85
St Scholastica    64

Soren Richardson  20 pts, 8 rebs
Devin Martin    14 pts, 7 asst : 1 to
Carson Greir, Reid Olson  13 pts ea

Davion Butler  17 pts
Aaron Keykal  10 pts, 8 rebs

In game 2 of the Lee Pfund Classic, the Thunder jumped all over the Saints early and were never really threatened.

Tomorrow's championship game vs pre-season #7 UW-LaCrosse will be a far more difficult challenge.  The Eagles are big, skilled with multiple weapons and experienced.  This will be a terrific early season matchup to help evaluate where this young Wheaton team is and how competitive they will be in the CCIW.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 18, 2025, 09:55:34 PMDespite trailing throughout the entire first half, often by double digits, Wheaton blew the doors off of  a Benedictine team that cooled down considerably in the second half (and took terrible care of the ball throughout the game) in the latter stanza in King, outscoring the Bennies 55-32 en route to a 95-80 win. Big 28 and 8 night for Kyan Vanderwoude, while Soren Richardson and Carson Grier each scored 15 (and had four and three steals, respectively) and Kyle Neibch and Reid Olson put in a dozen points apiece, almost all of them from beyond the arc.

A nice comeback win for the Thunder after the disappointing loss on Saturday.

After 4 games, 3 different players , Richardson, VanderWoude (2x) , and Grier have led the team in scoring.  Last season, Richardson was pretty much the sole offensive threat until the last few games.

Wheaton 75
Hope  76

Carson Grier  24 pts, 12 rebs
Devin Martin  15 pts, 5 asst

Marcus Wourman  22 pts
Parker Hovey  14 pts 9 rebs
Brendan Cargill, 12 pts, 10 rebs


It's too bad.  Wheaton had a 12 pt lead with 4:48 left and, similar to Lake Forest game, controlled the whole game.  But for the second game in a row, the Thunder inexplicably blew a large lead down the stretch due to sloppy defense (plain laziness at times) and lack of offensive discipline  This time it bit them with two treys by Hope's Brendan Cargill with 42 secs left, and then by Marcus Wourman with no time on the clock after a VanderWoude ft miss.  Mike Schauer said after the Lake Forest game that he never really thought Wheaton would lose that one.  I'm sure he felt the same way this afternoon.  We'll see if this young team learns from this.  Fun team to watch but frustrating at the same time.

One huge positive is the play of freshman Grier who had a monster game in the losing cause.  At 6'8" he is pretty quick and mobile for a forward that size and skilled offensively.  Tonight might've been a real coming out for him.

Wheaton  93
Lake Forest  89

Soren Richardson  27 pts, 4 rebs, 4 asst
Carson Grier  16 pts, 6 rebs, 3 blks
Devon Martin  15 pts 11 asst/4 tos, 3 stls

Cristian Rodriquez  22pts, 6 rebs
Alex Forowycz  19 pts 5 reb


A victory for Wheaton which is all that really matters.  But almost doesn't feel that way because the Thunder almost lost a game that they totally controlled for the first 29 mins.  Wheaton led by 19, 78-59 with 11 mins left.  But a little complacency set in, some quick ill advised shots and 12 second half turnovers by Wheaton allowed the Foresters to cut the lead down to 2 with 1:45 left.  I suppose young teams sometimes have to learn some very hard lessons which a terrible loss would have taught.  Let's hope they learned the game is 40 mins and you have to play all of them.  Credit Lake Forest for fighting til the end.

Once Carson Grier can learn to play good defense without fouling, which might not happen til soph year, he will be pretty impactful.

Wheaton  99
Concordia U – Wisconsin  95

Kyan Vanderwoude 25 pts, 5 rebs
Soren Richardson, 18 & 6
Kyle Neibch, 18 pts 5/8 from three

The Thunder won't figure to win many games this season giving up 95 points.  But this was still a very nice opening win for Wheaton.

Offensively, the Thunder have lots of weapons.  Soren Richardson we all know will cause problems for the defense.  Kyan Vanderwoude is listed at 6'5" but his mobility and athleticism allows him to play more like 6'7".  The most interesting thing however, was that several freshman saw significant minutes.  Carson Grier from Tempe, AZ at 6'8" brings well needed size to the lineup.  Brad Wynja out of Colorado is a big body at 225 lbs and Skokie local Reid Olson is a really nice addition to the backcourt to spell or play alongside Devin Martin.  There's a lot to look forward to this season and the next few.

The Falcons were led by Logan Landers and Casey Verhagen, each with 27 pts.