Midland
- Dec 5, 2019
- 6 min read
Midland Warriors (3-5, 1-2) vs. Morningside Mustangs (8-0, 3-0, ranked #2)
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 @ 8:00 PM
Fremont, NE
Wikert Event Center
THE SCHOOL
Midland University is a private Lutheran liberal arts university in Fremont, Nebraska. The school has an enrollment of 1,385 and an endowment of about $10 million. Ten years ago, Midland had just 590 students and a "seven-figure deficit," per the Omaha World-Herald. But greater investments into athletics, an MBA program, and a new four-year graduation program - all spearheaded by then-university president and current U.S. Senator Ben Sasse - turned Midland's situation around. During this time of evolution, the school also went through a name change; they were known as Midland Lutheran College until 2010.
The Warriors compete in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) in Division II of the NAIA. Midland is the first of four Nebraska-based GPAC teams I plan on seeing this year.
Morningside College is a private Methodist college in Sioux City, Iowa. The Mustangs also compete in the GPAC. As you can see at the top of this post, Morningside has a really good basketball team. They're undefeated, ranked #2 in NAIA DII, and winning by an average of 18 points per game. Plus, they are two-time defending GPAC champions. But as good as their basketball team is, their football team is way, way more dominant. Here are some facts about the Morningside Mustangs football team:
- they are ranked #1 in all of NAIA going into the semifinal round of the playoffs
- they are defending NAIA national champions
- they have an average margin of victory of 45.5 points this season
- they have won nine consecutive GPAC championships
- they haven't lost a regular season game against an NAIA team in five years
As you can see, they're quite good. They play for a chance to go to the championship game on December 7 at noon.
THE TOWN
I've had a couple requests for a map. The green marker is my apartment, the blue marker is my office, the yellow markers are games I've been to before, and the red marker is this game. Hopefully this helps you visualize where I'm going.
After work, I took Highway 36 west and turned onto Highway 275 to get to Fremont. It took about 50 minutes to get there. I got to town a little early so I had time to stop and get a burger at Mac's Cafe, a popular diner near campus. The road to Fremont did not include the endless cornfields that I have become accustomed to. There were a few little towns and clusters of houses that kept the road from getting too monotonous. Of course, there were still some cornfields. Just not as many. To get home, I crossed the Platte River and took Highway 77 straight south for an hour.
The past two games have seen me go to really small towns. That was not the case this week. Fremont's population is 26,509 according to Wikipedia and they have a cute and well-populated downtown area that's near campus. Fremont actually got into the national news back in 2010 when residents voted in favor of a controversial law barring undocumented immigrants from renting or working in town limits. However, an article in the Omaha World-Herald claims that they've never actually been able to enforce it. Fremont's largest employer is Hormel Foods and the hog plant there is - per an article in Slate - "the world's largest producer of Spam." So if anyone ever asks you "what place produces the most Spam in the world?" you can tell them. It's Fremont, Nebraska.
Midland University is cozily tucked in the center of Fremont. Its north side is bordered by an affluent neighborhood which helps the university's green space and red-brick buildings blend in. Campus is small but impressive, and both students and adults were milling around outside the gym when I got there.
Wikert Event Center is the nicest court I've been to thus far. As soon as you walk in, you enter a brightly-lit, open-floor building that looks so much bigger on the inside than the outside. To your right are concessions, a merchandise shop, and a large hallway that leads to the student rec area. To your left is the basketball court. Midland has clearly spent a lot of money on their basketball court and it looks great. They even have a big video screen that showed stats, ads, and a video introduction before the game. Wikert Event Center could easily pass for a small NCAA D-I arena.
THE GAME
I got to the gym just as the women's game was letting out. Tickets were $8 and I sat right at center court behind the PA announcer and scoreboard operator. Midland has a great basketball environment. The bleachers across from me were probably 60-70% full by the time the game started (though one whole section consisted of Morningside fans). After the game, attendance was stated as 1,234; I don't think it was really that high, but the crowd's attention and enthusiasm made the place feel packed. Also, as you can see on the left side of the above picture, they had a band there! This was the first game I've attended where a pep band showed up, and it greatly added to game's environment. In addition to the band, Midland also played more songs on the loudspeakers than most and - like Alabama football - the players come out of the locker room to "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.
Bucking a recent trend for me, most of Midland's players are Nebraska residents. Additionally, more than half on Morningside's players are from Nebraska, despite the fact that Morningside College is in a different state. Sioux City, Iowa is right on the Iowa-Nebraska border and they really aren't very far from Fremont, but it's still weird that this very good basketball team in Iowa recruits the majority of their players from various parts of Nebraska.
Once again, I sat near the parent of a player. A woman I assume was the mother of Midland's #20, Sam Mailloux, sat one row behind me. She recorded the entire first half on her camera and every time Sam made a good play, she quietly muttered, "Let's go, Sam!" It was nice.
The game started right at 8 o'clock and it started at a fast pace. The first few minutes were characterized by Midland's hot shooting from 3 and Morningside's dominant paint play. Morningside couldn't miss from inside, but Midland kept themselves in it with a few good-looking plays that ended in three-point makes. Five minutes in, the Warriors only trailed by 4, but the Mustang lead extended to 26-17 halfway through the first half. Somewhere around this point, Morningside discovered Midland's greatest weakness: closing out on corner threes. All the Mustangs had to do was station a guy in the corner and pass him the ball. Somehow, Midland never figured out how to cover this play and Morningside went on a 13-2 run to take a 20 point lead after only fifteen minutes. The combination of easy three-point shots and dominating inside presence led to Morningside shooting almost 70% in the first half. At halftime, the Mustangs led the Warriors 51-28 and Midland's hope for an upset were already all but dashed.
Halftime began with a Midland student receiving a scholarship. This student volunteered to help a family he didn't know after their home was destroyed by flooding back in the spring. The student, the woman who lost her house, and her two sons stood at mid-court while Midland awarded the student with a $250 scholarship for his selfless work. It was a nice gesture. After this, the dance team came on to the court and danced to a fast-paced, electronic version of "Last Christmas" by George Michael. It was weird. And finally, they did a shooting contest where a student had to hit a layup, free throw, three-pointer, and half court shot in thirty seconds. He hit the first three but just missed the half court shot. He won a pennant and a $10 concession voucher.
The second half was pretty uninteresting. Midland cut the lead below 20 with 8:35 remaining but Morningside immediately scored and the Warriors never got that close again. So, instead of doing a second half recap, I've decided to point out Midland players that were fun to watch.
- #3, Manny Bryson, was only 5'9", but he lived inside the paint. He slashed through the Mustang defense several times and made strong efforts at the bucket on his way to 12 points.
- #24, Laurence Merritt, was a great 3 and D player. On consecutive plays midway through the second half, he had steals that led to transition three-point attempts. He only had 8 points, but made an impact on the game beyond scoring.
- #5, Jake Rueschhoff, came off the bench but got the loudest cheers of the night. He had three different ankle-breaking crossovers that led to points in the second half. He is also just a freshman, so Midland fans will have many more opportunities to see him play.
- #22, Bo Sandquist, bore a startling resemblance to George Michael Bluth from Arrested Development.
I wanted to point out some Morningside players too but no one really stood out. They scored 92 points, but no individual had more than 14. They played strong team basketball, and that's probably why they're ranked #2.
Final: Morningside 92, Midland 66
Despite the blowout loss, this was a really fun game. Midland has a great environment and these were two entertaining teams. Also, it didn't snow.
Next up: Union College
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