Independent file photo SMSU’s Taylor Holicky drives past a pair of Bemidji State University defenders during their game last Saturday. The Mustangs will face Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State University, Mankato this weekend.

MARSHALL – Southwest Minnesota State will begin a stretch of four consecutive road games with a weekend trip to play at Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State this Friday and Saturday night respectively. SMSU will take on Concordia-St. Paul at 6 p.m., from the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, followed by matchup with Minnesota State at 4 p.m., from the Taylor Center.

Concordia-St. Paul Game Preview

CSP Team Notes

– 2016-17 Record: 19-10, 15-7 NSIC

– 2017-18 Record: 4-13, 1-10 NSIC

– The Golden Bears travelled to North Dakota over the weekend to face U-Mary and Minot State, falling to U-Mary by eight and Minot by 17.

– The Bears shot 44.8% from the field against Mary, but the Marauders capitalized on ten more points from the free-throw line (18-8) to secure the win.

– CSP ran into a hot shooting Minot State squad, who connected on 49.2 percent of their field goals, including 58.8 percent of their three point attempts.

– Concordia will close out January with five straight home games.

– Junior Anna Schmitt scored a game-high 28 points against U-Mary, scoring 14 of her team’s 16 points in the fourth quarter to help spark a comeback effort.

– Freshman Ayla Lemke scored a career-high 11 points against Minot State, draining three out of her four three-point attempts.

Series History

– CSP leads the all-time series, 36-16

– The Golden Bears have won 11 straight over SMSU with the Mustangs’ last win coming in a 60-55 victory in Marshall back in December of 2011.

– CSP has won 26 of 27 games over SMSU and 32 of 34 dating back to 2006.

– The Mustangs’ last win in St. Paul, was a 76-57 win back in the 2001-02 season.

– SMSU won 12 straight games over Concordia-St. Paul from the 1986-87 season through the 2001-02 season.

– The Mustangs dropped both games against CSP by less than four points last season.

Game Coverage

– SMSU vs CSP will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik and Anthony Rohlik handling the play-by-play for SMSU basketball.

– The game can also be viewed online at SMSUmustangs.com.

Minnesota State Game Preview

MSU Team Notes

– 2016-17 Record: 16-11, 12-10 NSIC

– 2017-18 Record: 5-12, 3-8 NSIC

– MSU went 1-1 last week on the road last weekend.

– MSU snapped a four-game losing streak at Minot State, 72-54.

– With the win over Minot State head coach Emilee Thiesse earned her 100th career win.

– Sophomore, Taylor Klug, averaged a team-high 21.5 points last weekend with a career-high 27 points to go along with five rebounds, three steals, and one assist.

– Senior Claire Jordan averaged 13.5 points for the Mavericks.

– Senior Claire Ziegler averaged 12.0 points with a team-best 7.0 rebounds, five steals, and three blocks to round out the top performers.

Series History

– Minnesota State leads the all-time series, 17-39.

– The Mavericks have won 21 straight games over SMSU since the Mustangs last win which was a 74-61 nonconference victory in Marshall back in 2004.

– SMSU has not won a game in Mankato, Minn., since the 2003-04 season.

– SMSU is 4-20 against the Mavericks in conference games and 6-23 all-time on the road in Mankato.

Game Coverage

– SMSU vs MSU will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik and Anthony Rohlik handling the play-by-play for SMSU basketball.

– The game can also be viewed online at SMSUmustangs.com.

Recipe for

Success

In its four wins this season, SMSU has:

– Committed 13 or fewer turnovers.

– Held opponents to 35 percent shooting or below.

– Combined for at least 11 assists as a team and attempted at least 61 field goals.

– Tied or outrebounded its opponent, pulling in at least 37 total rebounds as a team.

Midseason

Momentum

The Mustangs have gone 2-2 over the two weekends of conference play. Over its current four-game stretch, SMSU…:

– Has significantly dropped its turnover numbers with just 10.8 turnovers per game and a +3.3 turnover margin over its opponents.

– Has a 1.1 assist/turnover ratio as a team and averaged 11.5 assists per game.

– Has racked up 7.5 steals per game as a team.

– Holds +4.5 scoring margin over opponents with a positive scoring margin in the first, third and fourth quarters of games.

– Has a .382 field goal percentage as a team and a .794 free throw shooting percentage as a team.

– Has averaged 42.0 rebounds per game with a +3.5 rebounding average over its opponents.

4th Quarter Queens

– The Mustangs have outscored opponents 255-233 (+22) in the fourth quarter of games this season, its only positive scoring differential of any quarter.

– SMSU went 7 of 13 (54 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter against Augustana on Dec. 30 and went 8 of 9 (89 percent) in the fourth quarter at St. Cloud State on Dec. 9.

– SMSU held both UMC (36 percent) and BSU (25 percent) to its lowest shooting percentage of each respective game during the fourth quarter last weekend.

Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications