LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team returns to Freedom Hall tomorrow following three road games and 19 days away from their home court. The Knights will host North Florida on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. ET and Jacksonville on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m. ET. ESPN+ and ESPN680 will carry live coverage.

Saturday's game is designated as the men's basketball's homecoming game, as well as Alumni Day. Several men's basketball alumni will be introduced, including 2011 national champion and 2012 NABC Division II Player of the Year Braydon Hobbs and 2015 Division II consensus All-American Jake Thelen. A full list of alumni scheduled to appear is below. Fans can register for Homecoming Hoopla pregame events and receive 50 percent off tickets here.

Senior guard Bash Wieland returned to the hardwood on Saturday at Eastern Kentucky following eight missed games after surgery on his broken left pinkie. He will look to build on his career-high 20-point performance that saw him connect on 9-of-13 field goal attempts. His season scoring average is now up to 12.2 points, just 0.6 points shy of leading scorer Ben Johnson.

It was after Johnson suffered a hip injury against West Virginia on Nov. 26 that Wieland was inserted into the starting lineup and really began to ramp up his production. He averaged 14.8 points over the next four games starting in Johnson's place before suffering his injury late in the game against Berea. Overall, he has scored double-digit points in nine games this season, including his last six appearances.

Johnson has strung together a series of nice games after averaging just 4.7 points in three games off the bench upon returning from his injury. The sophomore guard has scored double digits in six straight games since returning to the starting lineup, including a career-high 32-point performance at High Point on Dec. 30. He is shooting 43.5 percent (17-for-39) from three during that span.

Bellarmine (4-16, 0-5 ASUN) will have their hands full with a North Florida (11-9, 4-1 ASUN) team who, like them, played several road games against Power 5 competition prior to conference play.

"North Florida is one of the hottest teams in the conference and all of college basketball," said Bellarmine head coach Scott Davenport about the Knights' Friday opponent. "They have the all-time winningest coach in ASUN history in Coach Matthew Driscoll and a very potent offensive attack especially, from the three. We are facing a well-schooled team at both ends of the floor."

The Ospreys come into the game winners of their last four and attack from three they have. They lead the nation averaging both 34.9 three-point attempts per game and 12.4 three-point makes per game. They have hit 55 threes (13.8 per game) and shot 44.0 percent from behind the arc during their winning streak while taking down Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State and Queens. Over 56.5 percent of their field goal attempts have been threes and they have shot 137 more threes than any other team in the ASUN.

Leading the three-point barrage has been junior guard Chaz Lanier. He has connected on 66-of-145 attempts from deep (45.5 percent) and is averaging a team-high 16.9 points per game. Senior forward Jake van der Heijden has hit 40.2 percent from distance, attempting 74.0 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

A three-time ASUN Coach of the Year, Driscoll has been with UNF since 2009 and led the Ospreys to the NCAA Tournament First Four in 2015 after winning the conference tournament. He has also led UNF to three ASUN first-place finishes.

Bellarmine is 2-1 all-time versus UNF and split two meetings last year. The Ospreys took the regular season finale in Jacksonville 79-67 on Feb. 24. BU bounced back three days later in a 76-74 win in Lynchburg, VA at the ASUN Tournament despite 14 made threes by UNF. It was a fadeaway jumper by sixth-year senior Juston Betz that hit front iron, bounced up and fell through the net with 0.4 seconds left to give BU the win.

North Florida's counterpart in the "River City Rumble" rivalry, Jacksonville, visits the Knights on Saturday. The Dolphins will visit Eastern Kentucky on Thursday before they swap locations with the Ospreys.

"Jacksonville comes to Freedom Hall earning total respect from our program starting with the outstanding leadership of Jordan Mincy," said Davenport. "They always present a difficult challenge because they are very sound team that doesn't beat themselves. They compete, they are fundamentally sound and they do what they are taught. Their athleticism presents a challenge and they know how to play to their strengths."

Jacksonville (10-9, 1-4 ASUN) is one of three teams tied for ninth in the ASUN. Their lone conference win to this point was a 79-77 win over Queens, also tied for ninth, in which they rallied from down 14 points.

JU is led by Wake Forest transfer, Robert McCray. The sophomore guard leads his team averaging 16.2 points, good for eighth in the ASUN. Backcourt mate Marcus Niblack is averaging 11.8 PPG. Though he is the best three-point shooter percentagewise for JU at 38.9, 90 percent of Niblack's field goal attempts come from inside the arc.

Leading rebounder, Bryce Workman (7.2 RPG), has not appeared in a game since suffering a knee injury while attempting to block a shot on a fast break in Jacksonville's Dec. 6 game against Central Florida. The senior forward was also averaging 12.3 points at the time of his injury. He redshirted in 2022-23 due to an injury, as well, and his status for the rest of the season is unclear. The team's active leading rebounder is sophomore forward Stephon Payne II with 5.8 RPG, 12^th in the ASUN.

The Knights are 5-0 all-time against the Dolphins, including a 77-72 win in the ASUN Tournament championship game at Freedom Hall in 2022. The programs last met on Feb. 22 of last season, with BU sneaking out of Swisher Gymnasium in Jacksonville with a 63-61 win. Garrett Tipton scored 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting in that contest.

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Alumni scheduled to appear Saturday (graduation year):

Donald Kalmey (1964)
Bob Papes (1966)
Dan McCauley (1980)
Bryan Clemons (1987)
Chartrael Hall (2009)
Justin Benedetti (2011)
Steve Pogue (2011)
Braydon Hobbs (2012)
David Shearn (2013)
Jeffrey Whitton (2015)
Ethan Claycomb (2022)
Nick Thelen (2023)
Drew Comer (2023)
Rocky Celebrezze (2023)