DULUTH — After picking up two quick fouls in his first collegiate start against St. Cloud State last weekend, Minnesota Duluth freshman point guard Kole Hanson had little opportunity to showcase his ballhandling and playmaking wizardry to full effect. Friday’s game against Bemidji State was a different story entirely.
The Prior Lake native flexed his full array of eye-popping skills in front of the home fans at Romano Gym, all while establishing new career-highs in points (12), assists (four), steals (three) and minutes (32) in a 75-59 win over the Beavers.
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“Tonight was kind of his coming-out party,” said head coach Justin Wieck. "It's kind of what us coaches expected him to do last week, but to do it here against these guys was awesome and hopefully he keeps getting better throughout the season.”
Hanson, who played two years at Edina under head coach Joe Burger before following him to Holy Family Catholic for his junior and senior seasons, will have ample opportunity to do so after UMD lost previous starting point guard Caleb Siwek to a season-ending injury in the waning minutes of UMD’s game against Minnesota State Moorhead two weekends ago.
Siwek was in the midst of a breakout redshirt sophomore campaign as the team’s second-leading scorer averaging 12.7 points per game with a team-high 32 makes from beyond the arc.
“Obviously it’s a unique opportunity. Like Caleb, he’s an amazing point guard, an amazing player,” said Hanson, who is one of a select few players in Wieck’s seven-year tenure to start as a true freshman. “It’s definitely a huge opportunity and I’m going to try to do the best I can and put the work in every day and try to put this team in an opportunity to win every game.”
While the non-redshirt freshman status has been rare under Wieck, Hanson has multiple teammates who can relate to making the jump right from high school ball to the highly competitive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference as a true freshman.
Fifth-year forward Charlie Katona is one example after playing the entirety of his first year in 2020-2021.
“Enjoy the moment, it goes fast,” he said of his advice given to Hanson. “... My first game was against an All-American, that was my matchup. Getting thrown into this league you never know what to expect, but for him he’s been doing a great job for us. We love playing with him and I mean for him just enjoy the moment and soak everything in. Learn as much as you can.”
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Hanson clearly took the advice to heart on Friday after providing an early offensive spark for the Bulldogs with seven of the team’s first 10 points in a 10-5 score.
The Bulldogs largely dominated the opening 20 minutes with a lead as big as 16 behind top scorer Jayden Johsnon, who knocked down 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc for 12 points.
The fifth-year transfer Johnson entered the contest with a team-best 45% field goal percentage from behind the 3-point line and has been an integral part of the team’s success.
“We needed some guys who could open up the floor and when our team can make eight or nine or 10 3’s we’re pretty good and that’s why he’s here,” said Wieck of the fifth-year transfer from University of Illinois-Springfield. “He can do some other things as well, but we need him to make some 3’s and he’s been doing that at a really high level.”
The Bulldogs shot lights out from beyond the arc, finishing 8-of-17 in the first half en route to a 36-24 lead at halftime. UMD ended the night shooting 10-of-22 from 3-point range overall.
Despite their best efforts to battle back over the final 20 minutes of play, the Beavers were unable to cut the deficit to less than 10 as UMD started asserting its dominance inside with back-to-back crowd-pleasing dunks by Katona and Mattie Thompson.
The efficient and at times dominant offensive showing was matched only by the team’s defense, which held its opponent under 60 points for a third-straight game.
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“I just thought like last weekend our defense was really good all night long,” he said. “We’re gonna win a lot of games if we can hold teams in the 50s. They’re dangerous from the 3-point line. I think we did a pretty good job there. John (Sutherland) is one of the best players in this league so to hold that team to 59 was awesome.”
UMD (11-5, 6-4 NSIC) returns to Romano Gym on Saturday to take on Minnesota Crookston at 3:30 p.m.
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