SJU SENIOR KYLE JOHNSON IS NOW THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE
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There will be a lot of new faces in the rotation for the Saint John’s University basketball team this season.
The Johnnies return just one of their top nine scorers (14.9 percent) from a team that finished 25-4, earned a share of the MIAC regular-season title, won the conference playoff championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.
The national postseason appearance was the Johnniesʼ 22nd (13th at the Division III level) and fifth in the last seven seasons. SJU ended the season ranked No. 13 in the final D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.
The 20-win season was the Johnniesʼ 16th overall and sixth in the past nine seasons. It’s a standard a mostly new group will be shooting for again this season.
Here is a look at how that group could stack up:
The Johnnies return a pair of seniors in guards Kyle Johnson (Prior Lake, Minn./DeLaSalle) and Thomas Menk (Lewiston, Minn./Lewiston-Altura).
Johnson appeared in all 29 games, with two starts, and averaged 8.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per contest. He shot 40.1 percent (81-202) from the field and 39.1 percent (50-128) from behind the threepoint arc in 17.7 minutes per game.
Menk, meanwhile, missed the 202425 season due to injury. He played eight games in his sophomore year and averaged 5.8 minutes per contest.
Five Johnnies – three juniors and two sophomores – who played 14 games or more last season and combined for a .486 shooting percentage (35-72) also return.
Junior guard Baiden Bean (Farmington, Minn.) appeared in 18 games, while junior post Vincent Hillesheim (Minneapolis/ Hopkins) and junior guard A.J. McCleery (Mahtomedi, Minn.) saw the court in 14 games apiece. Sophomore guard Liam Farniok (Minneapolis/Southwest) played 17
games and sophomore post Charlie Theis (Cottage Grove, Minn./East Ridge) posted a .579 shooting percentage (11-19) with 25 points and 14 rebounds in 16 contests.
SJU led the MIAC in per-game attendance (1,012 avg.) for the thirdstraight season and finished sixth in NCAA Division III in 2024-25.
The Johnnies boast a 480-153 (.758) all-time record at Sexton Arena (Warner Palaestra), including an 83-12 (.874) mark over the last eight seasons.
Head coach Pat McKenzie ʼ04 begins his 11th season with a 199-57 record through 10 years at the helm of the Johnnie basketball team.
McKenzie’s .777 win percentage is the highest among active Division III coaches (minimum five seasons) and seventh in all divisions of basketball (DI, DII and DIII). He enters the season as the 14th-
winningest coach in NCAA basketball (first in DIII) and the eighth to have earned his rank with just one team.
The Johnnies and the rest of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) are in the second year of a four-year trial in which conference play features 16 games (instead of 20).
SJU will only play Bethel, Saint Maryʼs, St. Olaf and St. Scholastica once (and the other six MIAC members twice).
The Johnniesʼ nine non conference opponents combined for a 152-95 (.615) record in 2024-25 and three joined SJU in the NCAA field.
SJU opens the 2025-26 season by visiting Wisconsin-Oshkosh Nov. 8 and returns home to host three non conference opponents. A pair of programs from the American Rivers Conference (ARC), Central (Iowa) and Simpson (Iowa), come to Sexton Arena Nov. 14-15, and Whitworth (Wash.) makes the longdistance trip to Collegeville Nov. 22.
Central won the ARC and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Aside from Simpsonʼs 5-20 record last season, SJUʼs other eight non conference opponents accumulated a 147-75 (.662) mark.
The Johnnies travel to WisconsinLa Crosse for a matinee game on Thanksgiving Eve (Nov. 26) and venture to San Antonio for a pre-Christmas tournament Dec. 20-21 at Trinity (Texas).
SJU faces the host Tigers in the opener and wraps up the weekend against Hardin-Simmons (Texas) the following day. La Crosse reached the NCAA's Elite 8, while Hardin-Simmons won the American Southwest Conference and
N T H E F I E L D
I N L O G I S T I C S
advanced to the NCAAʼs Sweet 16. Non conference play ends for SJU with a Jan. 12 home game vs. Minnesota-Morris.
SJU faces Division I St. Thomas in an exhibition game Dec. 11 at the new Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul. The contest will serve as an exhibition for the Johnnies, but a regular-season game for UST.
The exhibition game will be the first matchup between the two basketball programs since 2021, when the Tommies (then still MIAC members) won both meetings during the COVID-impacted 2020-21 season. Prior to that short had won six of the previous eight meetings in the series. UST left the MIAC following the 2020-21 academic year for Division I and finished second in the Summit League last season with a 12-4 record (24-10 overall).
The defending MIAC regular-season and playoff champions begin conference play with back-to-back home games against St. Olaf (Dec. 3) and Concordia (Dec. 6) before traveling to St. Peter to face last yearʼs cochampion Gustavus Adolphus on Dec. 10.
SJU starts 2026 on the road at Augsburg on Jan. 3 before hosting Macalester (Jan. 7) and Hamline (Jan. 10) the following week. Four of SJUʼs next five games are on the road: Jan. 17 at Carleton, Jan. 21 at Bethel, Jan. 28 at Concordia and Jan. 31 at St. Scholastica.
The lone home game during that stretch is Jan. 24ʼs contest against Saint Maryʼs.
The Johnnies then host Gustavus (Feb. 4) and Carleton (Feb. 7) before back-toback trips to St. Paul at Macalester (Feb. 11) and Hamline (Feb. 14). The MIAC and regular-season schedule ends with Alumni/ Senior Day against Augsburg on Feb. 21.
The MIAC playoffs begin with the
quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 24, followed by the MIAC semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 26. The MIAC championship game, as well as the conferenceʼs automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament, will be determined on Saturday, Feb. 28. The high seed hosts in all three rounds.
NOV 8 5 P.M. AT UW-OSHKOSH OSHKOSH, WIS. NOV 14 7 P.M. CENTRAL COLLEGEVILLE
NOV 15 5 P.M. SIMPSON COLLEGEVILLE NOV 22 5 P.M. WHITWORTH COLLEGEVILLE
NOV 26 3 P.M. AT UW-LA CROSSE LA CROSSE, WIS.
DEC 3 7 P.M. ST. OLAF COLLEGEVILLE
DEC 6 3 P.M. CONCORDIA COLLEGEVILLE
DEC 10 7 P.M. AT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ST. PETER
DEC 11 7 P.M. AT ST. THOMAS (EXHIBITION) ST. PAUL
DEC 16 7:30 P.M. AT NORTHWESTERN ROSEVILLE
DEC 20 7:30 P.M. AT TRINITY (TEXAS) SAN ANTONIO, TEX.
DEC 21 1:30 P.M. HARDIN-SIMMONS SAN ANTONIO, TEX.
JAN 3 3 P.M. AT AUGSBURG MINNEAPOLIS
JAN 7 7 P.M. MACALESTER COLLEGEVILLE
JAN 10 3 P.M. HAMLINE COLLEGEVILLE
JAN 12 7 P.M. MINNESOTA-MORRIS COLLEGEVILLE
JAN 17 3 P.M. AT CARLETON NORTHFIELD
JAN 21 7 P.M. AT BETHEL ARDEN HILLS
JAN 24 3 P.M. SAINT MARY’S COLLEGEVILLE
JAN 28 7:45 P.M. AT CONCORDIA MOORHEAD
JAN 31 3 P.M. AT ST. SCHOLASTICA DULUTH
FEB 4 7 P.M. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGEVILLE
FEB 7 3 P.M. CARLETON COLLEGEVILLE
FEB 11 7 P.M. AT MACALESTER ST. PAUL
FEB 14 3 P.M. AT HAMLINE ST. PAUL
FEB 21 3 P.M. AUGSBURG COLLEGEVILLE (ALUMNI/SENIOR)
6-2 190 G
DELASALLE HIGH SCHOOL
What were the reasons you chose to come to Saint John’s?
The continuation of my Catholic education, the basketball team, the Johnnie network and the campus location. SJU was just the place that felt right for me.
What is your best memory from your time on campus – on or off the court?
A specific dinner one night with my old teammates Ryan Thissen and Brandon Adelman. I haven’t laughed harder since.
Cats or dogs and how come?
Dogs without a shadow of a doubt. They truly are a man’s best friend and I would prefer to have a pet of joy. Shoutout Jazz and Mika.
What is your favorite place on campus and why?
The Reef. I realize I am in there a lot.
If you could have any meal for dinner tonight, what would it be and why?
A 1-and-5/8th-inch thick-cut ribeye with potatoes tossed in a creamy horseradish sauce and sauteed vegetables. I cannot think of a better meal than that. A panseared, butter-basted steak, with a good crust, cooked at medium rare, is the best you’ll have.
6-4 210 G
LEWISTON-ALTURA HIGH SCHOOL
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as an athlete and how did you overcome it?
Being injured most of last year. It was tough to watch on the sidelines, but I got through it with the help of my family and teammates.
What is something about you most people may not know?
I really like history and watch a ton of documentaries. “World War ll in Color” is a great one on Netflix.
What teammate would you most want riding shotgun on a cross-country road trip and why?
Vinny (junior Vincent Hillesheim). We can have great conversations about anything. He also knows cars really well.
If you could have any meal for dinner tonight, what would it be and why?
Steak with sweet potato fries. My dad makes them the best.
What is your best memory from your time on campus – on or off the court?
Celebrating our MIAC championship last year.
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11th SEASON as head coach
Pat McKenzie enters his 11th season as the head coach of the Saint John’s University basketball team in 2025-26.
The 2004 SJU graduate became the 15th coach in the 113-year history of Johnnie basketball when he was hired to replace Jim Smith in April 2015.
Smith, the winningest coach at any level in Minnesota college basketball history, retired following the 2014-15 season after coaching the Johnnies for 51 seasons.
McKenzie was one of his players. As a point guard at SJU from 2000 to ʼ04, he recorded 305 career assists, which ranks seventh in program history. He was part of an NCAA Division III Sweet 16 team as a freshman in 2000-01 and led the MIAC in assists as a senior in 2003-04. He then went on to serve two seasons as director of basketball operations at Division I Wisconsin-
ASSISTANT
Fogarty is in his 26th season as an assistant coach at SJU in 2025-26. A 1964 graduate of St. Thomas, Fogarty played basketball for the Tommies and became a basketball assistant at Rochester Lourdes High School after earning his degree. In 1969, he became the school’s head coach and guided Lourdes to a state independent crown in 1973. He was inducted into the Lourdes Sports Hall of Fame in December 2009. Fogarty and his wife, Becki, live in Avon. They have three children.
Green Bay from 2004 to ʼ06 before returning to Collegeville, where he spent nine seasons as an assistant on Smith’s staff from 2006 to ʼ15.
In his tenure as the Johnnies’ head coach (entering the 2025-26 season), McKenzie has compiled a record of 199-57 (.777) and has led SJU to five conference championships and five appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament. He has been named MIAC coach of the year three times – in 2017-18, 2021-22 and 2023-24.
During the 2019-20 season, he led the Johnnies to a 27-2 record and two NCAA tournament wins before
Quinn is in his fourth season as an assistant coach at SJU in 2025-26. He served as an assistant basketball coach at another MIAC institution, Saint Mary’s, in 2021-22 and spent one season on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Loras (Iowa), in 2020-21. Quinn was a graduate assistant coach at La Verne (Calif.) in 2019-20. A 2017 graduate of Loras, Quinn played four seasons for the Duhawks. He was a team captain as a senior and helped the team to its first Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) championship in 10 years. In that season, he started all 26 games and averaged 8.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest.
Additional Coaching Staff
Lucas Walford ’20
Assistant Coach Walford is in his second season as an assistant at SJU in 2025-26. In three seasons as a Johnnie, Walford managed to become the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots (131) and recorded 26 double-doubles, the program’s second-most since 1983-84. The 6-foot-8 post graduated from SJU in 2020 and fell 26 points shy of 1,000 for his career, including 104 points in 31 games as a freshman (2016-17) at Division II Augustana University (S.D.). He was a two-time All-MIAC second-team selection and was named to the MIAC AllDefensive team three times.
Jubie Alade ’20
the season was halted as a result of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
His family connections to SJU basketball run deep. His father, Pat McKenzie Sr. ’79, was a point guard on four national-tournament teams at SJU from 1975 to ʼ79 before going on to become the longtime team physician of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers.
His younger brother, Kevin ʼ14, also played point guard for the Johnnies from 2010 to ʼ14.
McKenzie and his wife, Jillian, (CSB ʼ09) reside in Sartell and have two daughters, Evelyn and Margaret, and a son, Patrick.
Filzen is in his first season as an assistant coach at SJU in 2025-26. Prior to coming to SJU, he was the head coach at three different NCAA Division III schools, most recently at fellow MIAC rival Bethel from 2021 to ʼ25. As a head coach, he amassed a total of 131 victories, as well as two conference regular-season and playoff titles and two berths in the Division III tournament. He played college basketball at the University of Buffalo, where he scored 1,155 points and still holds the school record for most threepointers in a season with 110. He and his wife, Megan, live in Blaine. They have one daughter.
Assistant Coach
Alade is in his first season as an assistant at SJU in 2025-26. The Robbinsdale Armstrong High School graduate finished his SJU career with 1,418 points, which ranks seventh in school history. He was an All-MIAC pick and the conference MVP as a senior in 2019-20 when the Johnnies finished 27-2, won the MIAC playoff title and advanced through the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament before play was suspended due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SJU senior guard is the only one of the Johnnies’ top nine scorers from a year ago back this season
It’s not as if it came as a surprise to Kyle Johnson.
But the Saint John’s senior guard is still a little amazed at how quickly he went from being the guy looking up to others to being the guy everyone is looking to.
Yet that’s the role the 6-foot-2 DeLaSalle High School graduate knew he’d have to take on this season as the only one of the Johnnies’ top nine scorers a year ago who wasn’t lost to graduation.
“I’ve been preparing for it because I knew this is how it was going to be,” said Johnson, who saw action in all 29 of SJU’s games in 2024-25, starting two while ranking fifth on the team in scoring with an average of 8.3 points per game.
“But it’s definitely weird to look around and not see everyone else there. It still throws me for a bit of a loop to think of how fast my role changed. I went from being the youngest guy in the rotation last season to being the completely oldest guy now. It’s quite a change.”
Johnson said he is trying to follow the example last year’s seniors set – especially standout wing Ryan Thissen, who finished his career as the second-leading scorer in school history (1,680 points).
“He was probably the biggest mentor to me,” Johnson said. “He was always very on top of things and he made clear to everyone else how stuff was supposed to work on the court. But what I admired most about him was that he wouldn’t yell at you to do something he wouldn’t. He demanded just as much of himself as he did of others. I really respected that.”
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than anything else. When you have a team like this, that isn’t long on experience, you need a guy like him you can fall back on to provide a steady presence on the floor.”
Indeed, after Johnson, there is no returner who averaged more than five minutes per game.
Yet Johnson believes the new group is ready to step into the expanded roles they’ll be asked to play.
“We have a lot of guys who have been here for a couple years now,” he said. “So they know what this program is about and what the standards are. They just haven’t gotten the chance to show what they can do on the court. Now they have that opportunity.
“I’m excited to get out there and play with them.”
That’s something Johnson didn’t have the chance to do much of the preseason as injuries kept him on the sidelines, and he wasn’t yet ready to return to action when the season began.
“That’s been frustrating,” he said. “I’ve been watching and pointing things out I’ve seen. But I really need to be on the court with them to get a rhythm established. This isn’t the position I wanted to be in to start my senior year. But I’m trying to make the best of it and get back as soon as I can.”
Johnson – a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and Academic AllMIAC pick the past two seasons – hopes to one day pursue a career in the criminal justice field, perhaps working on criminal investigations and profiling.
“Growing up, I was a huge fan of crime shows and crime movies,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in psychology in general and studying human behavior. So why not combine the two?”
Before he does that, though, he is focused on doing everything he can to help the Johnnies surprise observers this season.
“I know a lot of people are expecting us to take a step back, but for me, the expectations are still the same,” he said. “A successful season would mean staying at the same level we’ve been at the past few seasons. If we play the right way and do the right things, I think we’ll see results on the scoreboard.
“We’re not going to write this off as a rebuilding year. We have higher goals than that.”
1 KYLE JOHNSON
Sr. G 6-2
190
2024-25: Played all 29 games, with two starts…shot 40.1 percent (81-202) from the floor and 39.1 percent (50-128) from three-point range…averaged 8.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game…College Sports Communicators
Academic All-District…Academic All-MIAC.
2023-24: Appeared in 25 games off the bench…shot 42.0 percent (63-150) from the floor and 37.5 percent (36-96) from three-point range…averaged 7.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game…College Sports Communicators
Academic All-District…Academic All-MIAC.
2022-23: Played 22 games off the bench for SJU…shot 44.4 percent (24-54) from the floor and 42.5 percent (17-40) from three-point range… averaged 3.0 points and 1.0 rebounds in 7.9 minutes per game.
Personal: A 2022 graduate of DeLaSalle High School…coached by Travis Bledsoe…psychology major…younger brother, Justin, is a sophomore on the SJU basketball team…son of Joe and Tina Johnson of Prior Lake, Minn.
11 THOMAS MENK Sr. G 6-4
2024-25: Did not compete due to injury.
2023-24: Played eight games off the bench for SJU.
Personal: A 2022 graduate of Lewiston-Altura High School…coached by Michael VanderPlas…accounting major…son of Brian and Nichole Menk of Lewiston, Minn.
0 BAIDEN BEAN Jr. G 6-1 170 FARMINGTON, MINN./FARMINGTON
2024-25: Played 18 games off the bench…averaged 3.8 minutes per contest.
2023-24: Appeared in eight games off the bench…averaged 5.6 minutes per game.
Personal: A 2023 graduate of Farmington High School…coached by Tharen Johnson…global business leadership major…son of Trenton and Heather Bean of Farmington, Minn…father played basketball at Valley City State (N.D.).
13 VINCENT HILLESHEIM Jr. P 6-6 225 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN./HOPKINS
2024-25: Appeared in 14 games off the bench…averaged 1.1 points in 3.6 minutes per game.
2023-24: Played 10 games off the bench…averaged 7.1 minutes per game and shot 44.4 percent from the floor (8-18).
Personal: A 2023 graduate of Hopkins High School…coached by Ken Novak…finance major…son of David and Renee Hillesheim of Minneapolis, Minn…father played football at North Dakota.
24 JAMISON LIEN Jr. W 6-4 195
PRIOR LAKE, MINN./PRIOR LAKE
Personal: A 2023 graduate of Prior Lake High School…coached by John Miller…played basketball and graduated from Rochester Community and Technical College…exercise and health science major…son of James Lien and Sara Swanson of Prior Lake, Minn.
30 A.J. MCCLEERY
Jr. G 6-2 195 MAHTOMEDI, MINN./MAHTOMEDI
2024-25: Played 14 games off the bench…averaged 1.0 points in 3.5 minutes per game…Academic All-MIAC.
2023-24: Appeared in five games.
Personal: A 2023 graduate of Mahtomedi High School…coached by Keith Newman… finance major…son of Andy and Heather McCleery of Mahtomedi, Minn…mother ran cross country and track at West Point.
2 JUSTIN JOHNSON
So. G 6-2 175 PRIOR LAKE, MINN./DELASALLE
2024-25: Appeared in five games…averaged 2.2 points in 3.6 minutes per contest.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of DeLaSalle High School…coached by Todd Anderson…finance major…older brother, Kyle, is a senior on the SJU basketball team…son of Joe and Tina Johnson of Prior Lake, Minn.
3 CHARLIE THEIS
So. P 6-5 220 COTTAGE GROVE, MINN./EAST RIDGE
2024-25: Appeared in 16 games…averaged 1.6 points in 3.1 minutes per contest.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of East Ridge High School…coached by Josh Peltier…global business leadership major…son of John and Renee Theis of Cottage Grove, Minn.
4 ELI HOELZ
So. G 6-1 170 BAXTER, MINN/BRAINERD
2024-25: Appeared in three games…5 minutes per contest.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of Brainerd High School…coached by Charlie Schoeck…finance major…son of Nick and Rachel Hoelz of Baxter, Minn.
12 LIAM FARNIOK
So. G 6-3 185 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN./SOUTHWEST
2024-25: Appeared in 17 games…averaged 3.8 minutes per contest.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of Minneapolis Southwest High School…coached by Keenan Shelton…finance major…son of Maren Bassett and Bill Farniok.
20 GAVIN OLSON
So. G 6-2 180 WACONIA, MINN./WACONIA
Personal: A 2024 graduate of Waconia High School…coached by Dan Rubischko…global business leadership major… son of Rick and Kim Olson of Waconia, Minn.
45 PARKER WELLMANN So. G 6-0 190 COTTAGE GROVE, MINN./EAST RIDGE
2024-25: Appeared in one game as a freshman.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of East Ridge High School…coached by Josh Peltier…finance major…son of Kellie Shuwayhat and Jason Wellmann.
5 TOMMY AUGE Fr. P 6-11 215 SHAKOPEE, MINN./SHAKOPEE
Personal: A 2025 graduate of Shakopee High School…coached by Jake Dammann…finance major…son of Tim and Julie Auge of Shakopee, Minn.
10 PEYTON PODANY Fr. G 6-3 190
ANOKA, MINN./ANOKA
Personal: A 2025 graduate of Anoka High School…coached by Jesse Jefferson…global business leadership major…son of Cory and Jill Podany of Anoka, Minn.
14 HENRY TSCHETTER Fr. G 6-4 200 STEWARTVILLE, MINN./STEWARTVILLE
2024-25: Appeared in five games…averaged 1.4 points in 2.8 minutes per game…qualified for a medical hardship waiver.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of Stewartville High School…coached by Parker Iyga…economics major…son of Kasey Morlock and Garth Tschetter of Stewartville, Minn…father played football at North Dakota State…mother played basketball at North Dakota State, where she was a three-time All-American and is the Bison’s all-time leading scorer… older brother, Will, plays basketball at Division I Michigan.
15 HUDSON HOCHSTEDLER Fr. G 6-3 180 MONTICELLO, MINN./ST. MICHAEL-ALBERTVILLE
Personal: A 2025 graduate of St. Michael-Albertville High School…coached by Jeff Oseth…finance major…son of Tim and Malissa Hochstedler of Monticello, Minn.
21 JACK GROSS Fr. W 6-5 180 OLIVIA, MINN./BOLD
Personal: A 2025 graduate of BOLD (Bird Island, Olivia and Lake Lillian) High School…coached by his father, Dan Gross…global business leadership major…son of Dan and Heidi Gross of Olivia, Minn.
22 BRAYSON SAWYER Fr. W 6-4 200 ROCHESTER, MINN./JOHN MARSHALL
Personal: A 2025 graduate of Rochester John Marshall High School…coached by Jim Daly…social science major…son of Steve and Peggi Sawyer of Rochester, Minn.
23 NOAH GEORGE Fr. G 6-2 170 ROSEVILLE, MINN./ROSEVILLE AREA
Personal: A 2025 graduate of Roseville Area High School…coached by Jamin Cook…finance and global business leadership double-major…son of Brian and Heidi George of Roseville, Minn.
SPONSOR AND CONTRACTOR FOR JOHNNIE
25 EVAN WEICHERT Fr. P 6-5 210 NEW PRAGUE, MINN./NEW PRAGUE
Personal: A 2025 graduate of New Prague High School…coached by Dan Peterka…accounting major…son of Brennen and Jennifer Weichert of New Prague, Minn.
33 CHARLIE BIRK Fr. W 6-6 180 ST. PAUL, MINN./EAGAN
2024-25: Missed the entire season due to injury…received a medical hardship waiver.
Personal: A 2024 graduate of Eagan High School…coached by Kevin McKenzie…finance major…son of Ben and Dana Birk of St. Paul, Minn.
35 MAX SPANIER Fr. G 6-3 180 RAMSEY, MINN./ELK RIVER
Personal: A 2025 graduate of Elk River High School…coached by Ryan Servaty…finance major…son of Ryan and Tina Spanier of Ramsey, Minn.
55 DEONTE MEEKS Fr. G 5-6 130 MAYWOOD, ILL./FENWICK
Personal: A 2025 graduate of Fenwick (Ill.) High School…coached by David Ferguson…accounting major…son of Danielle Barnes and Martin Taylor.
1,000-point club
1. 2,357 - Frank Wachlarowicz (1979)
**stood as the Minnesota all-divisions collegiate record until 2019
2. 1,680 - Ryan Thissen (2020-25)
3. 1,581 - Dick Matchinsky (1957)
4. 1,568 - Troy Bigalke (2001)
5. 1,492 - David Stokman (2019)
6. 1,480 - Bill Sexton (1955)
7. 1,418 - Jubie Alade (2020)
8. 1,413 - Paul Bernabei (1969)
9. 1,406 - Norb Kowalkowski (1959)
10. 1,389 - Bernie Kukar (1962)
11. 1,349 - Tyler Weiss (2018)
12. 1,344 - Craig Muyres (1964)
13. 1,314 - Mike Nester (2002)
14. 1,302 - Alex Schmitt (2016)
15. 1,274 - Mitchell Kuck (2016)
16. 1,265 - Kooper Vaughn (2021-25)
17. 1,238 - Paul Henrichs (2006)
18. 1,217 - Tom Grudnowski (1972)
19. 1,168 - Zach Hanson (2021)*
20. 1,166 - Tom Melancon (1968)
21. 1,164 - Bill Christopherson (1953)
22. 1,153 - Aaron Burtzel (2011)
23. 1,136 - Darrick Buettner (1991)
24. 1,131 - Josh Cherry (1996)
25. 1,129 - John Eisenschenk (1981)
26. 1,121 - Matt Ohme (2007)
27. 1,113 - Joe Deignan (1995)
28. 1,106 - John Wiehoff (1984)
29. 1,099 - Kevin Buth (2003)
30. 1,093 - Luke Witt (2002)
31. 1,080 - Eric Kohorst (1993)
32. 1,079 - Tim Muller (1971)
33. 1,072 - Larry Bassett (1992)
34. 1,068 - Andy Burns (2012)
35. 1,065 - Kevin Coleman (1972)
36. 1,057 - Ryan Lieser (2008)
37. 1,044 - Mark Lenss (1978)
38. 1,042 - Steve Ward (1975)
39. 1,025 - Kipp Christianson (1997)
40. 1,018 - Nate Guetter (1999)
41. 1,015 - Corey Jackson (1996)
*graduated in 2021 but played the 2021-22 season thanks to the NCAA-granted extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Most Points - Career: 2,357 - Frank Wachlarowicz (1975-79)
Most Points - Season: 640 - Frank Wachlarowicz (1978-79)
Most Points - Game: 49 - Bill Sexton (1954)
Most Rebounds - Career: 1,093 - Frank Wachlarowicz (1975-79)
Most Rebounds - Season: 375 - Mel Kohorst (1961-62)
Most Rebounds - Game: 33 - Mel Kohorst (1962)
Most 3FG - Career: 266 - David Stokman (2015-19)
Most 3FG - Season: 86 - David Stokman (2015-19)
Most 3FG - Game: 11 - Kooper Vaughn vs. St. Scholastica (2/3/24)/Larry Bassett at Macalester (2/12/92)
Most FTs - Career: 565 - Frank Wachlarowicz (1975-79)
Most FTs - Season: 162 - Frank Wachlarowicz (1977-78)
Most FTs - Game: 18 - Bill Christopherson (1950)
Best FG% - Season: 76.6 - Travis Weiss (1993-94)
** NCAA All-Divisions Record until 2008-09
Most Points - Season: 2,448 (1977-78)
Most Points - Game: 133 vs. Macalester (1/17/18)
Most Rebounds - Season: 1,341 (1961-62)
Most Rebounds - Game: 60 vs. Macalester (1995)
Most 3FG - Season: 263 (2017-18)
Most 3FG - Game: 21 vs. St. Scholastica (2/3/24)
Most FTs - Season: 561 (1977-78)
Best FG% - Season: 54.6 (1978-79)
Best FT% - Season: 77.3 (2017-18)
Best 3FG% - Season: 42.3 (2017-18)
Best Record - Season: 27-2 (2019-20)
Most Wins - Season: 27 (1978-79, 2019-20)
Best Winning %: .931 (2019-20)
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Longtime former SJU head basketball coach Jim Smith believed the Johnnie basketball experience shouldn’t be just about growth on the court.
He wanted to expand his players’ horizons off it as well. Which is why in 1976, he took his team behind the Iron Curtain to play in Poland – marking the first time several of them had ever traveled by air, and the first time most of them had been outside the U.S.
It started a tradition of international travel in the program that continues to this day – efforts bolstered by the Jerry Fogarty International Travel Endowment. Named after longtime assistant coach Jerry Fogarty – who begins his 26th season on staff in 2025-26 – the endowment is part of the Jim Smith Leadership Fund founded by a group of 20 SJU alumni and friends in 2020.
It provides scholarships to help make the international trip experience possible for players in need of assistance.
In recent years, the Johnnies have made summer trips to Germany (2016), Italy (2019) and Greece (2023). In the summer of 2026, the team is scheduled to travel to Germany and the Czech Republic, playing games against local competition and
becoming immersed in other cultures.
“International trips have been a transformative experience for many years and continue to be for the current group of SJU basketball players,” head coach Pat McKenzie said. “We want all our players and managers to be able to have this experience.”
Here is a full look at all the international trips the Johnnies have undertaken.
• 1976 – Poland
• 1979 – Germany-Austria
• 1981 – England
• 1983 – Yugoslavia
• 1985 – Austria-Germany
• 1987 – China
• 1989 – Switzerland
• 1991 – Brazil
• 1993 – France
• 1995 – Ireland
• 1998 – Italy
• 2001 – Spain-French Riviera
• 2004 – China
• 2007 – Greece
• 2010 – Italy
• 2013 – Spain
• 2016 – Germany
• 2019 – Italy
• 2023 – Greece
• 2026 (scheduled) – Germany / Czech Republic
Thomas Menk didn’t know much about Saint John’s when he was first approached by Johnnies head basketball coach Pat McKenzie during the recruiting process.
But it didn’t take the 6-foot-4 guard out of Lewiston-Altura High School long to fall in love with the place.
“I took a trip up here with my family,” he recalled. “It was during the summer and there was no one on campus. But we did the whole tour and I really liked it a lot. Then I came up in the fall for a football game and that sealed the deal for me.
“I wanted to be part of the atmosphere here. It seemed like such a great fit.”
That feeling hasn’t changed during Menk’s four years on campus – even a year ago when he missed almost all of his junior basketball season due to injuries.
“I just love the sense of community here,” he said “This is where I’ve met all of my best friends. I’m naturally an introvert, but being here has helped draw me out of my shell and become more outgoing.
“It’s hard for me to imagine a world without Saint John’s in it.”
But Menk – an accounting major who also takes part in intramurals and works in the SJU Institutional Advancement office – said his SJU experience might not have happened without the support scholarships have provided.
He is currently receiving an academic achievement and an alum referral scholarship, as well as the Class of 1965 Endowed Scholarship and the Dr. Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Endowed Scholarship.
“It says so much about this place that there’s an amazing alumni base who give back to make it possible for students like me to come here,” Menk said. “I know it inspires me to want to be in a
position to do the same someday.”
That, after all, is part of what Menk said being a Johnnie entails.
“I think it just means being a good person, taking pride in your school and having
other people’s back,” Menk said.
“That’s been my experience here. Being at Saint John’s has really helped me figure out how to be my best self.”
A core group who’d been playing together successfully long before they arrived in Collegeville, a memorable win over an archrival before a packed house to clinch a conference title and a season-ending cameo by none other than Gregg Popovich. The 1985-86 season featured all this and more for the Saint John's University basketball team.
“That was a great team,” recalled starting wing Phil Johnson ʼ87 in a 2021 interview.
Johnson averaged a team-best 18.1 points per game that season and was named the MIAC Most Valuable Player as his team finished 23-5 overall and won both the conference regular-season (16-4 MIAC record) and playoff championships. The Johnnies wrapped up the regular-season crown with a 5851 win over St. Thomas before a sold-out crowd of over 5,000 on Feb. 19, 1986.
“It was a really close-knit group,” he continued. “Everybody worked really well together.”
It didnʼt hurt that Johnson, fellow AllMIAC first-team pick Kirk Risberg ʼ86, All-MIAC honorable mention point guard Tim Bot ʼ86 and reserve post Joe Voigt ʼ86 had a long history together.
All four were teammates on the great St. Cloud Tech High School teams of the early 1980s coached by Al Andreotti, a 2005
inductee into the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Johnson, Bot and Voigt each enrolled in Collegeville in the fall of 1982 where they were joined by Risberg, who graduated from Tech a year before them, but started his collegiate career at St. Cloud State University before eventually transferring to SJU.
“That group of guys from Tech were all really good players,” longtime SJU head coach Jim Smith recalled in 2021.
“It was amazing to get four guys from a program that had been successful like that. We were lucky to have them here.”
Risberg averaged 12 points per game that year and dished off 100 assists. Bot, meanwhile, led the team in assists with 116. But the offense ultimately ran through the 6-foot-3 Johnson, who also averaged a team-best 7.1 rebounds per game.
“Back then, we still didnʼt have the 3-point line (it debuted in the MIAC the following season), so we were an insideorientated team,” Johnson said.
“Everybody had their roles and I ended up being the scorer. I was lucky enough
to have some really great passers around me. When they put the ball in my hands, I tried to make the most of it.
“But we had so many talented players. It was a really balanced team.”
SJU came into the regular-season finale against the Tommies needing a victory to clinch the MIAC title. Johnson and sophomore post Rick Theis ʼ88 each scored 13 points that night as the Johnnies held off a late UST surge before a boisterous crowd.
SJU went on to beat Augsburg and Bethel in the MIAC playoffs, earning the right to host the NCAA Division III West Regional in Collegeville. Unfortunately, the teamʼs luck ran out with a 71-47 opening round loss to Dubuque (Iowa).
But as disappointing as the loss was, the season wasn't over just yet. In those days, the two teams that lost in the first round of regional play met the next day for third place. And that was how the Johnnies came to face a Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) team coached by a young upstart named Gregg Popovich.
SJU won 71-52, giving Smith (still the winningest college basketball coach at any level in Minnesota history) a 1-0 lifetime mark against the future legendary
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Jim Smith never had the chance to coach Bill Sexton.
The longtime Saint John’s University basketball head coach did not arrive in Collegeville until 1964 – nine years after Sexton’s college career came to an end.
But Smith certainly heard about him plenty. “At that time, there was no bigger name in Saint John’s basketball,” Smith recalls. “He was the one everybody talked about.”
With good reason of course. Sexton did not just rewrite the SJU record book during his time in Collegeville. He essentially created it. His 1,480 points made him the school’s all-time scoring leader to that point, and the total still ranks sixth in school history.
He was the first Saint John’s player to earn All-MIAC honors twice – in 1954 and 1955 – and he became the first Johnnie to be named an All-American when he was selected to the All-NAIA third team in 1954.
Perhaps the highlight of Sexton’s distinguished career came during the final game of his junior season in 1954. On that night, he scored 49 points in a victory over Macalester, a total that still stands as a single-game school record. The performance also wrapped up that season’s MIAC scoring title. He entered play leading Pat Costello of Saint Mary’s by just three points.
“I don’t recall much of the specifics from a
lot of the big games I played in,” Sexton said. “I know the charts say I was 19-for32 from the field and 11-for-11 from the free throw line. I guess it was one of those games when I just got going.”
His senior year was equally spectacular as he finished with a team-best 511 points. And his involvement at Saint John’s did not end with his graduation. In fact, it’s only grown stronger in the decades that have followed. He went on to a successful career in the insurance business, and served as a member of the school’s Board of Regents from 1989 to 2001. He and his family, meanwhile, are among the school’s biggest donors. The current Sexton Commons on campus is named in honor of his parents.
A $10 million pledge in 2004 created the Joyce and William Sexton Family Endowed Scholarship, as well as supporting the Abbey Guest House project and SJU athletics.
In 2000, he received the Fr. Walter Reger Award for service to his alma mater – the SJU Alumni Association’s highest honor. And, of course, it was his gift that allowed for a renovation of the Warner Palaestra in 1997, which included a new wood floor in the basketball arena, which was named in his honor. In 2008, the court was redone thanks to the support of a group of former Johnnie basketball players –Sexton, Joe Mucha ’66, Michael Dady ’71, Tom Grudnowski ’72, Pat McKenzie ’79, Tim Kosiek ʼ80 and John Wiehoff ’84.
The court itself was named in honor of Smith and his wife Adrienne while the arena remains named for Sexton – uniting their two legacies and their collective impact on the SJU basketball program.
“Saint John’s has played such an important role in my family’s life,” Sexton said.
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