BELTON — With Christmas having passed and the D3hoops.com Classic ahead, UMHB men’s basketball is gearing up for what comes next. Starting next Monday in Las Vegas, The Cru is set to play eight games in a three-week span, including matchups against No. 11 Redlands, Concordia (TX), LeTourneau, and Christopher Newport. The back half of non-conference play will no doubt be crucial for a team that is 7-2 over its last nine games and currently owns a three-game win streak.
As UMHB preps for the highly-regarded D3hoops.com Classic, where the Crusaders will play Ohio Northern on Dec. 29 and Redlands on Dec. 30, this point of the season provides us a good opportunity to dig into the numbers, particularly those around the UMHB offense. Having scored 90-plus points in six games, The Cru has emerged as a high-scoring squad, and the metrics back that up. We now have enough games played to get an accurate picture of both UMHB’s consistent outputs and those of the rest of Division III.
Leaning on NCAA Stats and the D3Datacast.com Efficiency Ratings, here are five numbers to know as UMHB men’s hoops looks ahead coming out of the holiday break.
117.1
UMHB’s adjusted offensive efficiency rating; the number of points The Cru would be expected to score in 100 possessions against an average defense, with “average” being between the #208 and #209 defenses in Division III. Not only is UMHB far and away No. 1 in the ASC in this advanced stat—Howard Payne is No. 2 at 109.6—but the Crusaders also rank No. 19 nationally. That ranks ahead of at least half of the current 25 teams ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25, and puts The Cru in the upper-tier of offenses in Division III.
What exactly does this high-ranking efficiency number tell us? Matt Snyder’s efficiency ratings do a superb job of grading performances on both sides of the ball in contrast to the quality of the opponent. It gives us an even playing field on which to evaluate one team’s output against all the rest, regardless of how tough or weak the schedule has been to that point. UMHB’s non-conference slate has been a mix, featuring nationally-ranked matchups against Trinity (TX), St. Thomas, and Whitworth, sprinkled amongst contests against a handful of lower-rated opponents. That puts The Cru at No. 85 in the D3Datacast’s SOSWin50 metric (a strength-of-schedule indicator), and makes UMHB’s offensive production look even better in the computer’s eyes, especially with four of The Cru’s 11 matchups coming against teams currently rated in the Top 30 nationally in defensive efficiency. The bottom line: Even against a fairly strong schedule so far, UMHB has produced consistently on the offensive end, garnering attention from the computer within the national landscape.
17.2
The Cru’s offensive rebounding average. It’s not just great; it’s elite. Only five other teams in Division III are pulling down more offensive rebounds per game than UMHB, who has consistently found success on second-chance scoring opportunities. The Crusaders are 7-0 when scoring 17 or more second-chance points, and have emerged as a team that aggressively attacks the glass off every missed shot. They have tallied 20 or more offensive rebounds five different times this season and are already nearly two-thirds of the way to matching last season’s offensive rebounding total.
46.8
UMHB total rebounding average. While this doesn’t exclusively relate to the offense, everything works together on both ends of the floor to produce efficient possessions and quality results. So when it comes to the topic of rebounding, there’s more to say about the output from The Cru thus far. UMHB’s total rebounds per game rank as the third-best in Division III, only behind Occidental (49.0) and Bates (47.0). The success on the offensive glass certainly helps, but defensively, UMHB’s 29.7 rebounds per game also play into making The Cru one of the nation’s top rebounding squads through the first two months of the season. At this juncture, UMHB is 3.8 rebounds per game above the program’s single-season record for rebounding average, set at 43.0 in 2019-20 and matched in 2020-21.
10.5
The Cru’s average number of made 3-pointers per game. In head coach Sam Patterson’s offense, 3s are a clear priority, evidenced by UMHB’s 28.4 3-point attempts per contest. That mark ranks No. 1 amongst the four teams in the ASC, roughly 2.7 more shots from beyond the arc than Howard Payne, and over 11 more than both Hardin-Simmons and ETBU. But The Cru isn’t just taking a high quantity of perimeter shots; they’re making them. Shooting 36.9 percent from long-range, UMHB is 44th nationally in three-point percentage and 32nd in 3s per game, recording a double-digit 3-point total in seven games so far. That fact alone makes UMHB’s high offensive efficiency rating all the more impressive. Typically, higher-volume 3-point shooting teams score plenty, but need more shots to get there, which drives down the efficiency of the offense. That hasn’t been the case for the Crusaders. Of the 12 teams in D3 that have converted on at least 115 3s this season, only three rank in the Top 50 in efficiency, with UMHB No. 2 in that group behind Montclair State (#9 in adj. Off. efficiency).
37
3-pointers made by UMHB senior Hudson Johnson, the third-most by a single player in D3 this season. The Salado native has picked up where he left off at Howard Payne last season, emerging as The Cru’s primary long-range shooting threat through the first 11 games. Johnson is on pace to break Aubrie King’s single-season record (86 in 2011-12) if his average of 3.36/game holds, and even more notably, is shooting 44.0% from beyond the arc. Of the five D3 players with 37 or more 3s in the current season, Johnson’s 3-point percentage is the second-highest behind Bates’ Brady Coyne (48.7%).
A few other numbers worth noting…
- 47 – UMHB’s current NPI (NCAA Power Index) ranking, per D3Datacast.com. That makes The Cru the top ASC team in NPI, with the rest of the conference coming in at No. 104 (Hardin-Simmons), No. 146 (Howard Payne), No. 286 (ETBU). While it will be another month before the current NPI can truly lend itself an accurate postseason picture, the Crusaders are certainly in a good position as we head into 2026.
- 8.7 – Rebounds per game for Zach Engels, a mark that leads the ASC and ranks No. 74 nationally. Engels has already surpassed his single-season rebound total from each of his first three years as a Crusader, with 96 to this point.
- 77.0 – UMHB’s adjusted tempo per D3Datacast.com, which is the number of possessions they would be expected to play against an average opponent. That puts The Cru in the top 20% of D3 offenses in terms of pace, highlighting their speed and desire to play fast while maintaining control and limiting turnovers.
UMHB begins play in Las Vegas against Ohio Northern at 6 p.m. CT on Monday, battling the Polar Bears for the first time in program history. The Cru returns to South Point Arena on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. CT for a tilt against Redlands, who is 7-1 and ranked No. 11 in the D3hoops.com Top 25.
Both games will be streamed live on the D3sports.com YouTube channel. We will have more on both matchups in Sunday’s preview story.
