EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - A new era for the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team starts Tuesday when the team begins its 96th season under first-year head coach Kyle Green in Duluth, Minn. at the College of St. Scholastica.
Green, who most recently served as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Northern Iowa for the last five years, takes over a program that finished in last place in the WIAC a season ago. He is just the fourth coach to lead the Blugolds in the past 84 years. View More Information about Coach Green
This season the Blugolds bring back just one of their top four starters from a season ago. But, Nick Bartlett (Jr.-Arden Hills, Minn./Mounds View), who started all 25 games two years ago, also returns. Nick Craggs (Jr.-Kimberly, Wis.) started all 25 games for the Blugolds last year.
Craggs led the Blugolds last year with 136 rebounds while he was second on the team with 27 three-point field goals, 37 assists and 24 steals. He finished third on the team in scoring with 9.2 points per game.
Bartlett was second on the team with 65 assists two years ago and led the Blugolds in free throw shooting (50-for-63, 79.4 percent). He averaged eight points per game that season. Bartlett missed last season due to an injury.
The Blugolds bring back a total of nine letterwinners from last season and one from the season before (Bartlett). Among them are Jordan Petersen (Jr.-Strum, Wis./Eleva-Strum), James Pfitzinger (Sr.-West. St. Paul, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels), John Mielke (Jr.-Appleton, Wis./East) and Dustin Kalien (Jr.-Chippewa Falls, Wis./Chi-Hi), who all saw starts a season ago.
Petersen played in only eight games at the end of last season, but started all of them. He finished fifth on the team averaging 8.1 points per game and was third on the team with 36 assists. Pfitzinger led the Blugolds with 33 blocks while Mielke started 17 games and was second on the team with 15 steals. Kalien played in 24 games, starting two.
A total of 15 players make up this year's roster. In addition to 10 returning letterwinners, the Blugolds add four freshmen and one transfer.
While the Blugolds open the season at St. Scholastica, they will play their first home game Nov. 22 against Hamline University, Coach Green's alma mater. They will be at home just three times during the first semester but will then host the 43rd annual Holiday Classic Dec. 29-30. They will be at home seven times in 2012.
-KM-
