Nebraska Wesleyan
- Nov 17, 2019
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 14, 2019
Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves (2-0, ranked #7) vs. McMurry Warhawks (0-2)
Saturday, November 11, 2019 5 PM
Lincoln, NE
Snyder Arena
THE SCHOOL
Nebraska Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Lincoln, NE. It has an enrollment of 2,100 students and an endowment of $35.7 million. The school has been in operation since 1888.
The Prairie Wolves compete in the American Rivers Conference (ARC) in NCAA Division III. They are the only member of the ARC not located in Iowa. Additionally, NWU is the only Division III member school in Nebraska.
McMurry University is in Abeline, TX. McMurry competes in the American Southwest Conference.
THE LOCATION
Lincoln is my current location of residence. Lincoln is located in Lancaster County in southeast Nebraska. It is the state capital and has an estimated population of 287,000. To make an Alabama comparison, Lincoln feels like a mashup of Tuscaloosa and Montgomery. It's clearly a college town (more for UNL than Nebraska Wesleyan) and has a cool but small downtown area like Tuscaloosa, but the presence of the capitol building and the older feel to the city remind me of Montgomery. So far, it's a nice place to live.
Nebraska Wesleyan is in Northeast Lincoln, surrounded by a residential area. I often drive about one block west of the university when trying to get to Highway 6. Unsurprisingly, the First United Methodist Church in Lincoln is just off-campus.
NWU is only an 8 minute drive from Allison's apartment, so getting there was easy. I simply drove north on 48th Street and ran right into the university. It's a pretty campus, though clearly quite old. Despite it being late autumn, the lawn and trees are still very green, making the red brick buildings pop against their background. Campus seems rather walkable, and some students were still milling around on a cool Saturday night.
The Prairie Wolves play in Snyder Arena. Snyder is an academic-looking building located near the football field. It seems to also hold some classrooms.
THE GAME
Arriving at NWU, I parked at the student center, which turned out to be a 30 second walk to the arena. Tickets were $6 at the door and cash-only. This is a strange thing I've found about the state of Nebraska: a bunch of places don't take cards. Even at the one Nebraska football game I attended, most concessions were still cash only, despite the year on the calendar. I've been trying to carry more cash with me for this reason, and luckily had some with me today.
Walking onto the court, it's clear that NWU is proud of their athletic achievements. Banners celebrating their conference championships over the decades surround the top of the stadium, and three special banners adorn the room's stage-right side. One acknowledges a men's golf championship, one remembers a title game appearance in basketball, and the final celebrates the 2018 D-III men's basketball national championship. NWU has been a consistent force in D-III basketball in recent years, and they're currently ranked #7 in the d3hoops.com poll. Additionally, back in the hallway, they have a list of the top ten schools in terms of academic all-Americans. Nebraska-Wesleyan ranks eighth across all divisions of the NCAA. Also of note, the University of Nebraska is first and the University of Alabama is eighth.
This was NWU's first home game of the year. You can't tell from the picture posted here, but I thought there was a good crowd. My side of the arena was probably about two-thirds full, and the opposite side filled in shortly after I took that picture. The audience seemed to be a good mix of students and presumed alumni, and everyone sitting around me seemed to know at least one person on the dance team. The dance team had about 22 dancers, which seems high for such a small school. They performed at half time, and a couple times each half during timeouts.
I sat about six rows up, as you can see in the photo above. I was in my seat for a few minutes as the players warmed up, and then it was time for the national anthem. Instead of having a pep band play or asking someone to sing, the folks at Nebraska Wesleyan played a recording over the sound system. I think that even most high schools will find someone to sing or play a trumpet, but for some reason this four-year private university did not. And it's not just that, Wesleyan has a well-respected musical theatre program - you'd think they could finf one person to sing a song. But they didn't. And it felt a little off. This is something I'll look out for in future games.
A couple minutes before 5:00, NWU's players gathered around the bench to introduce the starters. Brown and gold is a weird color combo for uniforms, and I think they only pull it off reasonably well. It was while all the players were gathered like this when I realized that every player for Wesleyan was white. Being primarily a fan of SEC basketball, this was a bit of a culture shock. I'm not really used to seeing a team full of 6'3" white guys with the same short, light brown bangs suit up, but as I'm planning on attending more games involving small Midestern colleges, I better get acclimated. (Speaking of height, Wesleyan's tallest player was 6'7"; everyone else was 6'5" or shorter, and I'm pretty certain some were lying about their height. McMurry's tallest starter was 6'4" and their point guard was 5'7".)
The game tipped off, and it got high-scoring quickly. Offensively, NWU plays a fast-paced style emphasizing quick three-point buckets. It took 7 minutes for either team to see a shot clock fall below 10 seconds. The stat sheet shows that Wesleyan shot 29 three-pointers, but it felt like more as they constantly seemed one step ahead of McMurry. Defensively, NWU ran a stifling 3-2 zone the entire game. I feel like you don't see 3-2 much in college basketball, but it was effective at shutting down McMurry's similarly high-motor offense. NWU forced 22 McMurry turnovers and, in contrast to the Warhawks D, the Prairie Wolves defense seemed to be on the same page the entire game.
Nebraska Wesleyan was in control from the beginning. They scored 29 points in the first 8:16 on a barrage of three point shots, and led 59-38 at the half. All hope for a McMurry comeback ended when Wesleyan continued their seemingly effortless play in the second half. The Prairie Wolves led 87-62 with ten minutes left and hit the 100 point mark with 5 minutes remaining. NWU could have easily scored 120, but let all their backups play and won 108-86. They led by as many as 32 with 4:02 left, but sloppy play cut the final margin to 20. NWU's #10 Nate Shimonitz couldn't be contained tonight; he scored 35 points while shooting 72%, taking 10 free throws, and dishing 10 assists. Shimonitz had 30 with just under ten minutes left and could have gone for 50, but NWU's coach staggered his minutes down the stretch and he left for good with 5 minutes on the clock. #5 Jack Hiller also had a memorable game with 21 points, 5 made threes, and 10 total rebounds. All told, Nebraska Wesleyan played 17 players, which I guess they can do since they're a D-III school with no scholarship players. Of the 17, only 7 played meaningful minutes.
The game was dominated by Nebraska Wesleyan from start to finish. McMurry is a fun team to watch and I think they're better than their 0-3 record indicates, but NWU is ranked in the D-III top ten for a reason. They're dedicated to their play style, and they play it well. While one guy did score 35, Wesleyan doesn't seem to rely on any one player. Everyone in their top seven is a threat to score at any time and they had few defensive mishaps. I'll definitely keep up with how their season turns out.
Final: Nebraska Wesleyan 108, McMurry 86
This was a fun game to start this project with. I do hope some future games are closer, though McMurry gave a good effort. So that's one down, fifteen to go. I don't really know if I'll make it to all 15, but I'll give it a shot.
Next up: Peru State College
P.S. It seems that "prairie wolf" is another word for "coyote." I'll just keep calling them coyotes.
Comments