MITCHELL – This year’s team is a different look. Better or worse than last season is to be determined, but what is sure is this team will look very different. That being said, there are some familiar faces coming back.
The DWU Tigers men’s basketball team went 13-15 last year and snuck into the GPAC tournament. The Tigers won a first round game over top-seeded Briar Cliff, before falling big to the Jamestown Jimmies in round two.
DWU changed starting units 11 times last year, including seven different lineup iterations. The unit that played the most games together last season was Sawyer Schulz (Sr. – Emery, SD); Nick Wittler (Jr. – Onida, SD); Mason Larson (Grad. – Langford, SD); Koln Oppold (Sr. – Sioux Falls, SD) and Jeffrey Schuch (Grad. – Dell Rapids, SD). The Tigers will return three of those players in Wittler, Schulz and Oppold. The 1,000-career point Tiger in Oppold opted to use his extra year of granted eligibility to return for a second senior season.
The Tigers return nine players who saw action in at least 10 varsity games. Alan Kikwaki (Sr. – Switzerland)’ Sam Aslesan (So. – Howard); Kallan Herman (So. – Norfolk, NE), Blaze Lubbers (So. – Harrisburg, SD); Drew Van Regenmorter (So. – Dell Rapids, SD); and Brady Fritz (So. – Winner) join the three returning starters.
Now for the changes. The Tigers made a big splash in transfers during the offseason, most notably picking up the 6-5 JUCO swingman D’Andre Dennis (Jr. – Charlotte, NC), the 6-6 guard/forward Dian Gatluak (Jr. – Sioux Falls, SD) and point guard Mason Hiemstra (Alliance, NE). All three could play big roles for DWU immediately.
Tigers fans might recall Hiemstra’s name. The 6-0 point guard is a junior transfer from NCAA Div. II Chadron State, but he previously played for Hastings College where he was a GPAC All-Conference Honorable Mention in 2019-20 and Second-Team All Conference in 2020-21.
Gatluak graduated from Sioux Falls Lincoln in 2018 and comes to DWU with two years of eligibility remaining after stints at North Dakota School of Science, Bay College and Triton College. Gatluak averaged 12 points and nine rebounds per game while being utilized as a 6-6 forward at Bay College.
And the 6-5 Dennis comes to DWU with two years remaining of eligibility after a stint at McCook Community College under former DWU assistant coach Jacob Brandl. Dennis averaged 7 points and 5.3 rebounds per games and shot 35% from 3 last year at the JUCO level.
The Tigers begin the regular season at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, SD, on Nov. 5 against Valley City State. The first home game of the season will be Dec. 2 against Doane.