Labeling Tyler Crisman and Chris Siebert is tougher than a 99-cent steak.
When you watch the Lawrence University men’s basketball team, you think Crisman is the point guard, right? He’s the smaller guy bringing the ball up the court and calling out plays so he must be the point guard.
And Siebert is the taller guy out on the wing so he must be the shooting guard, right?
Well, you would be right on both counts and wrong on both counts because these guys defy easy categorization.
“With the way we play, and if you play true motion basketball, every position is interchangeable,” Lawrence coach Joel DePagter said.
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and that’s how you build a good motion team, you figure out everyone’s strengths.”
It turns out both Crisman and Siebert are multi-talented players who slip in and out of both roles in the backcourt.
“Really, their stats should be the opposite,” DePagter said with a chuckle.
While Crisman would appear to be the point guard, he’s more of a shooter. Among the national leaders in 3-point shooting, the junior from Frankfort, Ill., scored a career-high 29 points at Ripon College on Tuesday to push his scoring average to 14.7 per game.
“Crisman has a toughness and a grit about him, and he’s extremely confident,” DePagter said. “He doesn’t think he’s going to miss a shot.”
Crisman is shooting 44.7 percent from the floor, including 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. Crisman also is averaging 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per contest.
Siebert, a freshman from Baraboo, has the look of a shooting guard or someone who can slash to the basket, but he isn’t the type of guy who shoots first and looks for the pass later.
“Chris is one of those guys who makes the best playmakers,” DePagter said. “Chris makes plays, and that doesn’t always mean for yourself. He can do things that you can’t coach, and that makes my job a lot easier.”
Siebert, who was ill and limited to only 17 minutes against Ripon, is averaging a team-high 4.9 assists per game. He’s on pace to have one of the top-five assist seasons in Lawrence history.
Siebert also is averaging 11.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor.
“Chris is a guy who should go into every game with a triple-double on his mind,” DePagter said. “He can score 10 points and get close to 10 assists and 10 rebounds in every game.”
Siebert, who is the only freshman other than All-American Chris Braier to start for the Vikings in the last decade, came to Lawrence from Loras College where he took a medical redshirt in 2009-10.
“Chris has the ability to be great. The challenge for Chris is to improve,” DePagter said. “The challenge for Chris is not to have a good freshman year but to have great sophomore, junior and senior years.”
With standouts Jon Mays and Erik Borresen both in their senior seasons, it will be up to Siebert and Crisman to run the show for the Vikings next season.
“Both Chris and Tyler have something, what ever that thing is, they both have that natural leadership ability,” DePagter said.
“Their job is to do whatever it takes next year to get this team back to where we were a couple of years ago.”
Mays shoots down MWC honor
Senior guard Jon Mays was named the Midwest Conference Player of the Week after a career game against Carroll University.
Mays scored a career-high 38 points in Lawrence’s 85-65 win over Carroll this past Saturday. For the two games last week, Mays averaged 26 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 69.2 percent (18-26) from the floor, including 58.3 percent (7-12) from beyond the arc.
In the win over Carroll, Mays hit 12 of 16 shots from the floor, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. He also grabbed eight rebounds and picked up one steal and one assist.
The 38 points matches the most scored by a Lawrence player against an opponent other than Grinnell College since Pete Hachmeister had 45 against Silver Lake College in 1975.
Weekend hockey showdown
It’s a big weekend series for the Lawrence hockey team with the Vikings hosting Northland College.
With six regular-season games left, the Vikings lead the Lumberjacks by two points in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association standings entering this weekend’s play.
The good news for the Vikings is they have won 27 of the last 29 games against Northland. The Lumberjacks have reason to be optimistic as well because the teams split the series at Northland earlier in the season.
Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a weekly notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.