MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team opens its 2021-22 season today with an exhibition game versus the SMSU Alumni Team starting at 12 p.m. inside the R/A Facility.

The game is part “Andy Wiersma Day” at SMSU. This is the ninth time SMSU has hosted the Andy Wiersma Alumni Game.

Admission is free to the game, but free-will donations will be accepted with all proceeds going to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The SMSU Alumni team will consist of some of the top players in recent team history. Players expected to play include Vinard Birch, Turner Moen, Nate Huot, Jordan Miller, Taylor Schafer, Michael Lee, Joey Bartlett, Kolin Bartlett and Mitch Weg. More alumni players could be added to the roster later in the week.

Andy Wiersma passed away in an auto accident on July 27, 2008. He was a four-year letterwinner at SMSU from 2002-06, playing in 112 career games with 36 starts. He scored 418 points while grabbing 237 rebounds in his career. He shot 42.6 percent from the field (135-of-317) including 37.7 percent from three-point range (69-of-183).

Following his playing career in 2006, the SMSU men’s basketball program honored Wiersma by renaming its “Mustang Award” the “Andy Wiersma Mustang Award”. The award is given each year to an SMSU men’s basketball player who exemplifies the qualities of being a Mustang men’s basketball student-athlete.

SMSU will have another exhibition game next week hosting St. Olaf College on Friday, Oct. 29 starting at 6 p.m.

SMSU opens the regular season on Nov. 12-13 at the Concordia-St. Paul Classic taking on Rogers State (Okla.) at Newman (Kan.). SMSU’s first regular season game at home will be on Dec. 4 versus Augustana.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications