ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team will welcome Colby College, Denison University and UC Santa Cruz to the Field House this weekend for the 40^th Annual Lopata Classic. The tournament is one of the most prestigious in Division III and will take place Friday, Dec. 6 to Saturday, Dec. 7.
 
Game Schedule

• Friday, December 6
  • 5 p.m. – Denison vs. UC Santa Cruz
  • 7 p.m. – WashU vs. Colby
• Saturday, December 7
  • 1 p.m. – Consolation Game
  • 3 p.m. – Championship Game

 All games will be streamed live on the WashU Sports Network. Links for live video and stats can be found in the tournament portal HERE.
 
WashU's Leaders
The Bears are sitting at a 6-0 record to start the season, their best start since the 2014-15 season when they won 11-straight games to open the year.
 
WashU is led by senior guard Hayden Doyle with 16.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game as well as a team-high 19 assists. Senior Drake Kindsvater is averaging 14.7 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds as well as 15 total assists. First-year Connor May has made an immediate impact, averaging 12.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as well as a team-high 10 total blocks on the season.
 
The Bears face off with Colby in the 7 p.m. match up on Friday.
 
Scouting Colby
The Mules are currently 7-1 on the year, falling only to Ramapo College by six points on Nov. 22. Colby has picked up wins over Worcester Stats, Maine-Farmington, Thomas College, Penn State Altoona, Salve Regina, SUNY Plattsburgh and Union College. Colby will face off with the Bears at 7 p.m. on Friday.
 
Max Poulton leads the scoring efforts for the Mules with 18.3 points per game. He is also averaging 5.4 rebounds per game and leads the squad with 18 total steals to go with five blocks. Jack Lawson is averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game while Marcos Montiel is averaging 12.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game to go with 30 assists. Sam Hinman is also average in double figures with 10.8 points per game.
 
Scouting Denison
Denison – which is receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll is off to its best start since 2016-17, posting a 4-0 record. Most notably, the Big Red took down No. 18 Carnegie Mellon on Nov. 16 in a one-point win. They have also defeated Adrian College, Capital University and Otterbein University. The Big Red will face UC Santa Cruz on Friday night at 5 p.m.
 
Denison is led by Ricky Radtke who is averaging a team-high 14.5 points and 9.0 rebounds. Kellon Smith is average 12.5 points and 2.5 rebounds while Darren Rubin is averaging 10.3 points and 1.8 rebounds per game to go with a team-high 10 assists on the year. Jack Steinbach leads the squad with seven steals.
 
Scouting UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz sits at 5-4 on the year which includes wins over Caltech, George Fox, Lewis and Clark, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Whitman. The Banana Slugs have lost to Chapman, Pomona Pitzer, Menlo and Cal Lutheran. They will take on Denison at 5 p.m. on Friday.
 
About the Lopata Classic
The Lopata Classic is made possible by a gift from the late Stanley Lopata, a Washington University alumnus and emeritus trustee, and his late wife, Lucy. President of Lopata Research and Development Corporation, Stanley founded and was chairman emeritus of the St. Louis-based Carboline Corporation. He also was past president of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society and recipient of the Society's "Search" Award.
 
Active and dedicated supporters of Washington University, Stanley and Lucy sponsored student scholarships in addition to the Lopata Basketball Classic. They endowed a professorship in chemical engineering and were major benefactors to the construction of several buildings. The Village Housing complex was completed in the fall of 2001, and one of the four buildings was dedicated as the Lucy and Stanley Lopata House.
 
A key leader of the Alliance for Washington University, Stanley received an Alliance Achievement Award in 1987, and he was a past recipient of the university's Distinguished Alumni Award and the School of Engineering & Applied Science Alumni Achievement Award. In the fall of 1992, Stanley and Lucy were inducted into Washington University's Sports Hall of Fame in the distinguished service category. Stanley passed away at the age of 85 on Jan. 19, 2000, while Lucy died May 24, 2013, at the age of 98.