Hoglund's historic DWU career

Growing up the son of a coach in Dell Rapids, Ty Hoglund has always had a basketball in his hands.

"My dad and my mom have been great the whole way," Hoglund said. "They never really pushed me or pushed me too hard I should say. They said if you want to be great, go out and do it on your own. So they always provided a hoop and a ball in the driveway and I just kind of took it from there."

After a standout career with the Quarriers, Hoglund could've played at a higher level than the NAIA but it didn't take long for DWU to feel right.

"And I when I came on my visit and talked to Coach Wilber," Hoglund said. "I actually committed an hour later once I was done with my visit."

"You know I played for his dad in high school," said Matt Wilber, DWU head coach. "That wasn't everything to it. Obviously we had a previous relationship for it but he loved Dakota Wesleyan. You know had a USD or SDSU offered him a scholarship, he probably would've taken that but I think it was that or DWU is what it was coming down to for him. And talk about getting lucky here at Dakota Wesleyan."

Hoglund has been scoring even since he put on the Tiger uniform. With almost 2,300 points, Hoglund is third in school history. He's a threat to score from 40 to 50 on any night.

"There's nothing that he's not allowed to do," Wilber said. "Now, are there are times when he takes a shot and I'm like 'for heaven sakes,Ty, oh good, there you go man'. That kind of stuff has happened, too. But he's a special talent and I can't believe it's already been four years."

"I just want to win," Hoglund said. "If that's me scoring a lot then I'll do whatever I can to help my teammates win. But our offensive system, it's kind of fit for scorers to get hot sometimes."

While Hoglund has a shot get the Tigers all-time scoring record, his main goal is to lead his 7th ranked team to a long national tournament run. The furthest they've gotten is the round of 16 in his career.

"Making that sweet 16, it's obviously a fun experience but nobody is happy when they lose their last game," Hoglund said. "So that's just kind of been fuel to the fire and we've kind of kept the gut-wrenching feeling in the back of our minds. That's just kind of what drives us every day to get better and hopefully play our best basketball later on in the season."