Wildcats Men's Basketball Statistics

Home | Schedule | Roster | Coaches | Photos | Past Season
WCC East-West All Star Game
The WCC East-West All-Star game was a classic that featured some of the top talent in the State. Nick Holzmann represented UW-WC very well. Nick scored 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 blocked shot in 11 minutes of play. Nick shot 3/4 from three point range and 5/7 overall. The East beat the West 124-107. The West trailed early in the game but they made a late first-half run to take a 2 point lead into half. Both teams shot the ball really well, but it was the East's three point shooting that carried them as they shot a scorching 19/25 for the game. Overall, the East shot 55% to the West's 50%. WCC player of the year was Jon Braeger from UW-Fox Valley. Braeger was the East's MVP as he scored 19 points and hit 5/8 three pointers.
UW-Washington County: 57 UW-Waukesha County: 76
Saturday, February 16, 2013: The Wildcats season came to an end with a 76-57 loss to UW-Waukesha on Saturday.
Definitely not the fairy tale season that Coach Thull wanted in his first year, the team finished 5-18 overall, and completed the season with a 19 point loss to the Cougars. The final game also told the story of an almost four-month season. The Wildcats played a strong first half and trailed at half 31- 25. The Cougars started with two 6'7 players and a 6'4 player. "We knew defensively that we would have to help inside and make them kick it out and hit some shots. The guys did a really nice job defensively in the first half," Thull said. Offensively Coach Thull was very happy with the way the Wildcats moved the ball. The Cougars played a 1-3-1 defense, and with the height they had, it was a definite challenge offensively. Thull thought his players attacked it well, but just didn't hit the shots. The Wildcats shot 6/29 (20%) from three point arc. In the second half, the Wildcats missed a few easy buckets in the first minute, while the Cougars were hitting. Thus, a 19-2 Cougar run put the Wildcats down early in the second half, 51-27. The Wildcats fought back, as they have done all season long, as they went on a 22-10 run to pull within 12 points with 7 minutes to go. Thull had strong praise for the character of his team and players – noting that while facing a lot of adversity, they never quit. Nick Holzman led the Wildcats
with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Justin Lunde had 16 points and Eric Graf and Dan Breuer finished with 11 points and 9 points respectively.

February 13, 2013: UW-Washington County 65 Silver Lake College 83
A rough start for the Wildcats proved to be too much to overcome, despite the second half surge. The Wildcats shot 19% from the field and had 18 turnovers in the first half on Wednesday against UW- Manitowoc. That’s not a good combination if you are looking to beat Manitowoc, second ranked second in the WCC conference. Coach Thull said, "I was very disappointed at half-time because I felt we were prepared. We just didn't execute the basic fundamentals." The second half was a different story with the Wildcats scoring 48 points, shooting 46% from the field and 41% from 3 point range. Unfortunately, after being down by 31 (55-24) early in the second half, the Wildcats could only pull within 14 points with about 8 minutes left. "I was happy to see us finish the game playing hard,” Thull said. Scoring for UW-WC was Justin Lunde 24 points, Eric Graf 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Nick Holzman 11 points.
The first round of playoffs start this Saturday, February 16.. UW-Washington (ranked 6) plays at UW Waukesha (ranked 3) at 2:00 pm.

Monday, February 11: UW Washington County: 52 UW Fox Valley: 90
UW-Fox Valley, one of the best teams in the state, proved to be too much for the Wildcats to handle on Monday night. Coach Thull summed it up with, "They play well together and they have multiple guys that can hurt you.” Although the Wildcats took one on the chin, Coach Thull still believes that his players are working hard. "I can honestly say that I don't see the guys giving up, they play hard to the end, which tells me a lot about the type of players that we have," he said.
Justin Lunde and Eric Graf each scored 14 points and Dan Breuer chipped in with 9 points. UW-WC will host UW-Manitowoc for the last regular season game of the season on Wednesday, February 13 at 7:30. The first playoff game is this Saturday, February 16. The location, opponent, and time is TBD.

February 2, 2013: UW-WC 65, UW-Marshfield 69 UW Washington County hangs tough with tough UW- Marshfield. Despite shooting only 23% in the first half (6/26), UW-WC was able to hang with one of the top teams in the state. "The guys did a great job staying aggressive and attacking the basket,” said Coach Russ Thull. The Wildcats shot 12/16 from the free throw line in the 1st half. It was a different story in the second half as UW-WC shot 44% (16/36) from the field and 62% (5/8) from 3 point range. Justin Lunde played a huge role in keeping the Wildcats in the game as he led the team with 26 points on 9/18 shooting. Nick Holzman chipped in with 13 points 10 rebounds. Coach Thull stated,"Overall, this was our best game of the year in terms of playing together." Wildcats play next at UW - Waukesha on Wednesday, February 6 at 7:30. UW-Washington County: Justin Lunde 26 points, Nick Holzman 13 points 10 rebounds.
UW- Marshfield: Cain Trunkel 21 points.

UW-Washington County 70 Silver Lake College 94
UW-WC loses on the road to Silver Lake College. According to Coach Russ Thull, "We played them tough in the first half, but defensively we did not do a good enough job to keep ourselves in it." Justin Lunde and Eric Graf led the Wildcats in scoring with 20 and 19 points respectively. Wildcats will host UW-Marshfield on Saturday, February 2 at 2pm. The game against UW-Manitowoc scheduled for January 30 has been rescheduled to February 13 at 7:30pm.

Saturday, January 19: UW-Washington County falls to UW-Marathon County. After putting a good streak together of taking care of the ball, UW-WC turned the ball over 30 times vs UW-Marathon. UW-Marathon pressured UW-WC full court and plays a very aggressive in the half court. According to Coach Russ Thull, "The bottom line is that we didn't give our chance to be in the game by not taking care of the ball." UW-Washington plays next at Silver Lake College on Monday, January 28 at 7pm.
UW-Washington County: (3-6, 5-12)
20
30
50
UW-Marathon County: (6-0, 9-3)
38
44
82
UW Washington County: (Graf 16, Holzman 15)
UW Marathon (Bunders 20, Penn 10, Plautz 10)

UW Washington County 58 UW Fond du Lac 49
Wednesday, January 16, 2013: UW-Washington County ends losing streak with a solid effort vs. UW Fond du lac. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 19 point lead in the first 10 minutes. But Fond du lac went on a big run to close the lead within 5 with 30 seconds to go in the first half. But the Wildcats held the ball for the last shot and scored with about 5 seconds remaining. Wildcats forward, Austin Fechter stole the inbounds pass and scored at the buzzer to go up 9. According to Coach Thull, “That was a huge monumental shift for us and one of the biggest plays of the game. The Wildcats never trailed in the game, in great part because they shot 10/10 from the free throw line and only turned the ball over 14 times, five in the second half. At half-time I wanted us to be quicker on our rotations defensively, take care of the ball, and be more patient on offense. I think the guys adjusted well, thus we came out with the win!" Holzman: 19 points, 11 rebounds; Graf: 15 points, 10 rebounds. The Wildcats’ next game is at UW Marathon County in Wausau on Saturday at 2pm.

UW- Washington County 76 Fox Valley Tech 98

January 14, 2013: UW –Washington County ran into a hot shooting Fox Valley Tech team on Monday evening. FVT shot 58% for the game, including hitting 14 three point shots (45% 14-31). UW-WC shot a respectable 40% from the field, but it was not enough. "We had a few miscues defensively that led to leaving shooters open, but overall it came down to they hit their shots, said Coach Thull." After getting down early in the first half, UW-WC went to a full court press for the remainder of the game and was able to force 26 turnovers. Nick Holzman ended with 20 points, Justin Lunde 19 points, Eric Graf 15 points.

UWWC plays UW-Fond du lac at home on Wednesday night, January 16 at 7:30.

UW Washington County 71 UW Marinette 74

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013: UW-WC falls to 4 wins-10 losses and 2 wins -6 losses in conference after another hard fought defeat. UW-WC led throughout most of the game and held a 12 point lead early in the first half. They took a 4 point lead into halftime, despite playing without starter Justin Lunde for the majority of the first half due to foul trouble. The Wildcats came out in the second half and were able to sustain the lead and build it to as many as 8 points midway through. Marinette put together a run to reverse the 8 point lead into their favor, with under 6 minutes to play. The Wildcats responded and were able to put together a 10-1 run with 2 minutes remaining to take a 1 point lead at 66-65, but could not hold on down the stretch. According to Coach Russ Thull, “We have come a long way in one week in terms of team chemistry. We are doing a lot of really good things, so it is encouraging to see the improvements.” The Wildcats did a good job gathering 19 offensive rebounds, shot 24/30 from the free throw line, had 14 turnovers, but only shot 29% from the field which proved to be the difference. Nick Holzman led the Wildcats with 24 points and 12 rebounds, Justin Lunde
had 23 points and 9 rebounds.

UW-Washington County 65 UW-Sheboygan 69
Wednesday, January 9: A slow start hurt the Wildcats as they lost a close one on the road. UW-Sheboygan beat the wildcats due to many loose balls in the first half, earning them a 10 point lead at halftime. The second half was a different story as the Wildcats came out with much more energy. Wildcats had 15 offensive rebounds, forced 7 turnovers and were able to get 16 more shot attempts in the second half compared to 6 offensive rebounds, 3 forced turnovers and giving up 12 more shot attempts in the first half. The Wildcats tied the game at 60 with two minutes to play, but unfortunately, could not take the lead. Nick Holzman led the Wildcats with 20 points and 15 rebounds. The Wildcats had a season low of 11 turnovers. The Wildcats will play at home this Saturday, January 12 vs UW-Marinette. The game starts at 3pm.

UW-Washington County: 76 UW-Richland : 86
New look Wildcats kick off season with a loss to UW-Richland. The UW-WC Wildcats lost 3 players (2 starters) from last semester’s team, but added 3 new players to this semester’s team. Coach Thull stated, "We definitely have some kinks to work out. We are struggling a bit with our timing and spacing, but it will come together as these guys work hard! It is just a matter of time." And working hard is what the Wildcats did on Monday night playing at home against UW-Richland. After trailing by 17 points late into the first half, the Wildcats kept fighting and came as close as 5 points in the second half. Justin Lunde and Eric Graf led the Wildcats offensively with 26 and 24 points, respectively. Thull said, "We need someone to step up defensively. Giving up 86 points is not going to win you too many games. We hurt ourselves in the first half by turning the ball over 14 times (18 for the game). I am looking forward to seeing what we can become this semester." Wildcats play next at UW-Sheyboygan on Wednesday, January 9.
GAME NOTES:
UW-Washington: Justin Lunde 26 points, Eric Graf 24 points, Nick Holzman 12 points, Zach Schmidt 11 points
UW-Richland: George Johnson 27 points, Kirby Grutz 20 points 15 rebounds, Darryl Stewart 18 points, Briar Nothaus 11 points.

UW-WC 64 UW-ROCK 58 UW-WC PUTS FORTH STRONG EFFORT TO END LOSING STREAK
On a night when the UW-WC Wildcats’ Basketball team was looking for a win to break the four game losing streak, Nick Holzman stepped up to the plate to carry the team. Holzman finished with 30 points, hitting 6 three pointers (6-11). " What can I say?” Coach Thull asked, “Nick hit some big shots for us tonight. But we expect that from him, he is such a good shooter." Anthony Stulo also had a solid game with 10 points and 8 assists. " I can't say enough about what this kid can do on the court. Honestly, he is still growing into his skill set. He is so quick to the ball and has really good vision." UW-WC finished the first half of the year at 4-8 overall and 2-4 in conference."I am looking forward to what the second half of our season will bring. We played some of the top team very close, our best is still to come,” Thull said UW-WC’s next game is Saturday, January 5 vs. UW-WC Alumni in the UW-WC gym at 3pm.

The next conference game is versus UW Fox Valley at UW-Fox on Monday, January 7 at 7:30.

UW-Washington County 62 UW Marinette 73
WILDCATS PLAY WELL BUT LOSE 4th STRAIGHT. On a night when the Wildcats tied their season low of 13 turnovers, outshot their opponent 43% to 38% they still were not able to leave Marinette with a win. UW-WC led for the majority of the 1st half but the Buccaneers finished the half strong and took a 2 point lead into halftime. In the second half the game was tight throughout the game, but offensive rebounding again is the deciding factor as Marinette tallied 17 offensive rebounds. "It has hurt us all year long, we played some really good defense but could not finish the possessions." UW-Marinette shot 15 more shots than UW-Washington. "This is something we need to figure out because it has been an issue all year and it is tough to win if your not getting as many shot attempts." Nick Holzman had a strong game with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Tim Hovorka added 15 points and 8 rebounds, and Eric Graf returned from injury to score 15 points. UW-WC will finish the first semester with a home game vs UW ROCK on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 7:30pm.

UW-Washington County 44 MSOE 66
Cold shooting night results in UW-Washington County’s third straight loss. UW-WC shot 32% from the field, including 12% (2/16) from 3 point range and 37% from the free throw line. On the other hand, MSOE shot 47% from the field including 40% (8/20) from 3 point range. "They had a great combination of size inside and shooters outside,” said Coach Thull. “I thought we did a fairly good job contesting the 3 point shots but they knocked them down."
UW-WC will look to rebound at home on Wednesday night, Dec. 5 vs UW-Waukesha at 7:30pm.

UW-Washington County 43 vs UW-Fox Valley 71 – 11/30/12
UW-Washington County lost its first home game of the season to UW-Fox Valley on Friday, Nov. 30. UW-WC started out slow and could not rebound from the rough start. The halftime score was 43-17. According to Coach Russ Thull, “We knew we were going to be challenged as UW-Fox Valley is one of the top teams in the Eastern Division. In addition, the team played without Eric Graf (out due to injury). Regardless, we need to do a better job taking care of the ball." UW-WC turned the ball over 23 times and couldn't get into any rhythm on offense. Nick Holzman led the Wildcats in scoring with 13 points.
Wildcats will look to rebound on Monday night, Dec. 3 at home vs MSOE at 6pm.

UW-Washington County 50 vs UW-Manitowoc 74 - 11/28/12
UW-WC played tough for 35 minutes but UW-Manitowoc ended game on a 15-2 run. "I felt like we really battled on a night that we were not on our "A" game." UW-Manitiwoc forced UW-WC into 28 turnovers and UW-WC gave up 19 offensive rebounds. "We knew going into the game that we needed to take care of the ball and finish defensive possessions and we didn't do that", stated Coach Thull The Wildcats trailed at half-time by 8 points and pulled it within 2 points with 10 minutes to play but couldn't get over the hurdle. Thull said, "What I am impressed with is that we could have folded atcertain points in the game, but the guys played hard. They don't get down and that tells me alot about the type of team we have." Eric Graf led the Wildcats with 19 points.
Next game is at home vs UW FOX VALLEY on Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:30.

UW-Washington County 63 vs UW-Fond du Lac 58 - 11/26/12
UW-WC GETS A HARD FOUGHT ROAD WIN AT UW-FDL Its never easy to win on the road, and Monday night was no exception. UW-FDL features a lineup that starts 2 players that are 6'5 and 2 players that are 6'3. UWWC on the other hand has one player on the roster above 6'2. "UW-FDL made it really tough for us to get anything in the paint." After a low scoring 1st half which was tied at 21 at halftime, both teams found some offense in the second half. "We really wanted to pick up the tempo and player faster, I thought we did and we were able to get some easy baskets." UW-WC played zone for the first 25 minutes of the game. "I thought our zone was very effective in the 1st half but UW-FDL made some good adjustments at halftime and they were finding some holes in our zone." UW-FDL hit 9 of 15 threes for the game. UW-WC went man to man early in the second half. "I thought we did a fairly good job against their size with the man to man and more importantly we were able to contest some of their outside shots." Nick Holzman led UW-WC with 21 points. Eric Graf chipped in 12 and Anthony Stulo had 10.

UW-Washington 81 vs UW-Richland 93- 11/19/12
UW-WC LATE SURGE NOT ENOUGH TO WIN ON THE ROAD In a high scoring game vs UW-Richland, UW-WC found themselves down by 21 points with 8 minutes into the second half. UW-WC fought back and was able to pull within 8 points with 2 minutes to play. UW-Richland scored 61 points in the paint, greatly due to getting into the paint continuously on penetration, forcing 18 turnovers (14 in first half) and grabbing 20 offensive rebounds. Coach Thull stated, "We did not do a good job containing penetration! It killed us and took us out of position to rebound as well." UW-WC was able to stay in the game by shooting 46% from the field (32/70). Wildcats hit six of their first eight 3 point shots, (3/3 from Eric Graf and 3/5 from Nick Holzman) but made just two of their last 16 attempts. (8/24 overall). Thull said, "I know that we can shoot the ball, but we depended on the three point shot way to much." Eric Graf led the Wildcats in scoring with 25 points along with 9 assists. Tim Hovorka tallied a double double by scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Next Game is on Monday at UW-FDL at 7:30.

UW-Washington 54 vs UW Sheboygan 47 - 11/14/12
Records: UWWC -(2-1 overall 1-0 conference); UWSC- (1-3 overall 0-2 conference). UW-WC overcomes poor shooting night to win first conference game. UWWC shot 27.9% from the field (19-68.) "We struggled to shoot the ball tonight, but we kept playing hard. We did other things well that allowed us to hang in the game, we played solid defense and we took care of the ball on offense. We were able to get 68 shots compared to UWSC 48 shots. That is huge!!" UWWC had a season low 13 turnovers and 20 offensive rebounds. Justin Lunde had back to back solid games and led us in scoring with 14 points. Justin also had 6 steals. Eric Graf 13 points, Nick Holzman 12 points and Tim Hovorka 10 points 10 rebounds all scored in double figures. "I think good teams find ways to win when the shots are not falling. It feels good to get the conference win."

UW-Washington County 81 vs Fox Valley Tech 54 - 11/9/12
UW-Washington (0-0 conference, 1-1 overall) and Fox Valley Tech (1-3 overall). UW-Washington won their home opener against Fox Valley tech. UW Washington came out quick and scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back. "We really emphasized playing an inside out game offensively and contesting all shots defensively and finishing it with a rebound". "The guys responded well and started quick. I really want the guys to work the ball for high percentage shots and when we do that we usually get some good 3 point looks as well by collapsing the defense." Wildcats shot 10-18 from 3pt range. "I felt that Justin Lunde was a big reason for our quick start, he was really aggressive going to the basket and that got us going. Justin also did an excellent job on the boards as he finished with 9 rebounds." Nick Holzman led the team in scoring for the second straight game and scored 29 points while shooting 9-15 from the feild and 6-8 from 3pt line. This is Nicks 2nd straight game with a double double as he also grabed 11 rebounds. "Nick is a heck of a shooter and he is a lot of fun to watch. But as impressive as I felt he was shooting, I felt he was equally impressive with his hustle on the defensive end." Eric Graf had another strong game as well scoring 22 points as did Anthony Stulo. " I really think that Eric and Anthony put a lot of pressure on other teams defenses because they do such a great job attacking the basket and getting others involved.." Overall, it was a great game for UW-Washington to get their first victory of the season.

UW-Washington County vs UW- Baraboo - October 31, 2012
Final Score: 70-75 (loss)
Head coach Russell Thull’s era as the new head men’s basketball coach began on Wednesday night when the
UW-Washington County WIldcats played their first conference game at UW-Baraboo. 
Game notes:

• Wildcats  started out strong  taking  an 11 point lead  in the first half. By half-time, the lead had dwindled to just one point as UW-Baraboo performed strong . The halftime score was 36-35.
• According to Coach THull, “Nick  Holzman did a great job getting us going to start the game. Holzman scored 18 of his team-high 22 in the first half.”
• Wildcats started out quick, taking an early 8 point second- half lead, but UW-Baraboo made a strong run, taking an 11 point lead with 5:58 left (66-55).  Coach Thull stated, “As Baraboo switched their attention to Nick in the second half, Eric Graf and Tim Hovorka did a nice job picking up the scoring load.”
• UW-WC showed resilience and went on an 11-0 run to tie the game at 66-66 with 3:00 minutes to play.  Despite multiple chances to build on the run, the Wildcats missed some key free throws and a few shots in the paint. With one minute remaining and UW-WC leading 68-67, Jacob Nachtigal hit a contested 3 point shot from the corner (he finished with a game high 37 points).  Wildcats came back, however, and got to the free throw line - but could only net 1 out of 2.  The Wildcats put UW-Baraboo to the line with 12 seconds remaining, and UW-WC got a good look at the end of the game with the score 70-73, but came up empty.   
• Eric Graf and Tim Hovorka kept the offense going in the second half by scoring 11 points each. Eric ended up with 15 (including ¾ from 3 point range.), and Tim Hovorka scored 17 points.
• Final Score – UW-WC  70   UW-Baraboo 75
• Key stats:
• Turnovers – Wildcats 22
• 21 offensive rebounds for UW-Baraboo
• Despite the loss, Coach Thull was “very excited by their effort and accomplishments” and thought the “team played really well – but efforts need to be more consistent.”  It was very encouraging to see them fight back when we were down 11 with six minutes to go.”  Thull said “his team has worked extremely hard in the first week and a half. We have set the bar, now it’s time to work hard every single day and get better!”

Complete results and standings for WCC Conference.