Excitement Builds For Huskies As They Head To The Playoffs

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The last time the St. Cloud State University Men's Basketball team won its regular-season championship, the players on this year's team weren't even born yet.

The Huskies enter the NSIC tournament as regular-season champions.

Their first conference title in 23 years.

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For the first time this season, the Huskies are ranked in the Division II National poll.  The poll has them as #21 overall in the nation.

Junior Guard Anish Ramlall of Rosemount says several NSIC conference coaches recruited him heavily in high school, but he's happy with his decision to come to St. Cloud.

I have three younger sisters, and I'm close to my family, so being one-and-a-half hours from home is really helpful.  It's nice to be in a big city like St. Cloud as well.  The fans and the way everybody is super inclusive and welcoming here, I haven't had a bad experience here in my three years. I love St. Cloud.

Junior Wyatt Hawks of White Bear Lake says he was also recruited heavily in high school, but being a third-generation Husky didn't hurt either.

Both my parents went here and met here, and then my mom's dad (my grandpa) also went there, so that's a pretty cool thing to see.

Ramlall leads the team, shooting 38 percent from three-point range. He's averaging nine-points per game overall.

Shots have been falling, and when shots are falling for us, we play amazingly.  And then even when they're not, our defense holds our back line.  It's just all about confidence and feel, and right now we're playing like we feel it.

Hawks is closing in on the third most blocked shots in program history and is making a strong case to be the NSIC Defensive Player of the Year.

For me, being able to play in the middle, it allows all of our guys to stay out farther, which has helped us to be a super good three-point defending team, and it just puts a lot of pressure on their guards and their bigs to finish around the rim.

Hawks averages 12 points and nine rebounds per game.

The Huskies don't have a senior on the team; there are three juniors, and the rest are sophomores and freshmen.

St. Cloud State's leading scorer this year is Sophomore Guard Luke Winkel from Ankeny, Iowa who is averaging 18 points per game and is shooting 33 percent from three-point range.

SCSU has an overall record of 23-5 this season. They are 20-2 in conference games.

The Huskies have won 16 straight games going into the conference tournament. It's their longest win streak since the 1985-1986 season, when they won 19 in a row.

St. Cloud State will play either Wayne State or Sioux Falls at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

Last year, the Huskies went 20-12 overall, and they were 12-17 in the 2023-2024 season.