FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 6, 2022) – It'll be a pair of Power Five opponents for the Northern Arizona University men's basketball team as it kicks off the 2022-23 season this week.
Heading out toward the Great Lakes, the Lumberjacks will face a Big Ten Conference member for just the second time in program history as they also make just their second trip to the state of Michigan for a meeting with the Michigan State Spartans on Monday at 5 p.m. After returning to Arizona, the Lumberjacks will head back down south to face the Arizona State Sun Devils at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
It'll be the first game against the Sun Devils since the 2017 season while the first-ever meeting with Michigan State is the first game against the Big Ten since facing Northwestern on a neutral court in 1987.
Bringing back all five starters from last year, the Lumberjacks built around their core from 2021-22 with 10 newcomers to the program. All 10 made their debut of sorts in Northern Arizona's exhibition against SAGU American Indian College last Tuesday, a 115-63 victory for the Lumberjacks against the Warriors. While
Jalen Cone,
Nik Mains and
Carson Towt lead the group of seven returners, transfers
Xavier Fuller,
Liam Lloyd and
Trent McLaughlin immediately factor into the rotation along with freshmen
Oakland Fort and
Jack Wistrcill.
Voted to finish seventh by the coaches and eighth by the media in the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, the Lumberjacks will look to return to the top half of the conference standings. Finishing 10-10 in the Big Sky during the 2019-20 season, the Lumberjacks tied for fifth before landing 10th in 2020-21 and tied for 10th last year.
Receiving votes in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll, the Spartans enter the 2022-23 season voted to finish fourth in an unofficial preseason poll after appearing in their 24th consecutive NCAA Tournament under Tom Izzo in 2022. Finishing 23-13 with an 11-9 record in the Big Ten last season, the Spartans are led by senior returners Malik Hall, Tyson Walker and Joey Hauser.
Hall's 8.9 points per game is the highest of the team's returners, having added 4.6 rebounds while shooting 51.5 percent in 21.8 minutes per game last year. Walker's 8.2 points ranked fifth among the Spartans last season while starting 28 of 36 games and Hauser's 7.3 points placed sixth in 29 starts. Walker and Hall topped the team in three-point shooting last season, finishing at 47.3 percent and 42.6 percent a year ago.
Meanwhile, Bobby Hurley's Arizona State Sun Devils finished the 2021-22 season 14-17 overall and 10-10 in Pac-12 play to finish eighth. Knocked out of the Pac-12 Tournament in the first round by Stanford, Arizona State enters the 2022-23 season picked to finish seventh in the preseason media poll.
The leading scorer from last season, DJ Horne, and sophomore Marcus Bagley were voted to the Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference Second Team. Horne finished the 2021-22 season with 12.5 points per game, 2.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists while starting 28 of 30 games. Bagley elected to withdraw from the NBA Draft this past summer after finishing his freshman year with 10.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in just three games last season. Through two seasons at Arizona State, Bagley has played in just 15 games after finishing the 2020-21 season with just 12 games played after averaging 10.8 points and 6.2 rebounds.
The first two games of the season can be streamed online, with Monday's opener on Big Ten Plus
here and Thursday's game at Arizona State on Pac-12 Plus
here. Live stats can be found
here for Monday and
here for Thursday. As always, both games will be available to listen to on the Lumberjack Radio Network.
To stay up to date with the NAU men's basketball team, follow the Lumberjacks on
Twitter and
Instagram.
