MARSHALL – The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team (17-7, 13-5 NSIC), currently riding a three-game winning streak, hits the road for the final time in regular season play with a pair of games this Friday and Saturday.

•SMSU will face Wayne State College (13-13, 8-10 NSIC) on Friday, Feb. 9, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. at Rice Auditorium.

•SMSU concludes the weekend with a 6 p.m. match-up versus Augustana University (14-10, 9-9 NSIC) on Saturday, Feb. 10, at the Sioux Falls Arena.

•SMSU begins the weekend in second place in the NSIC South Division standings and fourth place overall.

•WSC opens the weekend in sixth place in the NSIC South standings and ninth overall, while Augustana is fifth in the South standings and eighth overall.

SERIES HISTORY VS. WAYNE STATE

•Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State meet for the 69th time with WSC leading 37-31.

•The two teams first met during the 1969-70 season.

•WSC leads 23-8 in games played in Wayne, but SMSU has won the last two at Rice Auditorium.

•SMSU has won the last five games overall, including 86-65 earlier this season on Dec. 31 in Marshall.

•SMSU has won 13 of the last 14 games since Dec. 3, 2011, with WSC’s lone victory coming on Feb. 14, 2015, in Wayne.

•SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 15-3 all-time versus WSC.

LAST TIME VERSUS WAYNE STATE

•Carter Kirk scored 23 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to pace SMSU to an 86-65 victory over Wayne State on Dec. 31.

•Ryan Bruggeman, KJ Davis and Kenny Byers each scored 11 points for the Mustangs, which finished the game shooting 53 percent (31 of 59) from the field, including 9 of 17 from 3-point range. SMSU also dominated on the glass, holding a 44-26 rebound advantage.

•Trevin Joseph led the Wildcats with 15 points.

SERIES HISTORY

VS. AUGUSTANA

•Southwest Minnesota State and Augustana meet for the 34th time with Augustana leading 20-13.

•The two teams first met during the 1972-73 season.

•Augustana holds a 10-4 advantage on its home court in the series, but SMSU won last season, 78-76.

•Augustana won earlier this season on Dec. 30, 89-78 in Marshall.

•Augustana has scored 89 or more points in seven of the last eight games in the series.

•SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 6-11 all-time versus Augustana.

LAST TIME

VERSUS

AUGUSTANA

•SMSU had its five-game winning streak snapped on Dec. 30 as Augustana shot 55 percent from the field to earn an 89-78 victory.

•Carter Kirk led the Mustangs with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

•Ryan Bruggeman (14) and Nick Dufault (12) also scored double figures for SMSU.

•John Warren scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Vikings while also recording six assists and four steals.

•Jordan Spencer added 17 points and dished out 11 assists with three steals.

TOUGHEST

SCHEDULE

IN THE NSIC

•SMSU has played a strong schedule this season and the latest NCAA statistical numbers back it up.

•SMSU has played the 55th toughest schedule in Division II and the toughest among all NSIC schools as of Tuesday, Feb. 6.

•SMSU’s Division II opponents have a combined record of 214-176 (not including games with SMSU).

MUSTANG

TIP-OFF TIDBITS

•SMSU has nine home victories this season tying last season’s total. The last time SMSU reached double figure home wins came in 2013-14 with 11.

•SMSU limited U-Mary to 18 field goals last Saturday, the lowest total by an opponent this season.

•Carter Kirk’s 789 career rebounds rank 11th among active players in Division II. He needs one more rebound to tie Mitch Weg for second all-time in rebounds in program history.

•SMSU tied a season-high with 11 steals last Saturday versus U-Mary. SMSU has reached the mark three times this season.

•SMSU is 14-2 when opponents shoot less than 50 percent.

•Ryan Bruggeman made 11 field goals at MSU Moorhead on Jan. 26, which is the highest by a Mustang player this season.

•Carter Kirk ranks first in school history in field goal pct., third in rebounds, sixth in blocked shots and 12th in field goals made. •SMSU has shot 50 percent or higher in 10 games this season. A season ago, SMSU shot 50 percent or higher in 15 games.

•SMSU has made eight or more 3-pointers in 11 of its last 14 games.

•SMSU has committed nine or less turnovers in nine games.

•SMSU’s 116 points versus Crown College on Nov. 21 was the second highest point total in school history.

•SMSU limited Michigan Tech to just 15 points in the second half on Nov. 17. It was the first time SMSU has held an opponent to less than 20 points in a half since Feb. 8, 2014, when Concordia-St. Paul scored 17 first half points.

SCOUTING

WAYNE STATE

•WSC is 13-13 overall, 8-10 NSIC, and is coming off a road split versus Bemidji State (L, 91-70) and Minnesota Crookston (W, 85-74) last weekend.

•Kendall Jacks leads the team averaging 14 ppg while shooting 51 percent from the field and recording a team-high 62 assists.

•Trevin Joseph is averaging 12.8 ppg with a team-high 39 3-pointers. He scored 24 points versus BSU and 26 versus UMC last weekend.

•Head coach Jeff Kaminsky is in his second season with a record of 23-33. He has also been head coach at Valley City State and Wisconsin-Superior.

SCOUTING

AUGUSTANA

•Augustana is 14-10 overall, 9-9 NSIC, and will host Sioux Falls on Friday night.

•The Vikings lost at Minnesota Crookston (70-60) last Friday, before winning at Bemidji State (92-66) on Saturday.

•Jordan Spencer leads the team averaging 16 ppg with 53 3-pointers and a team-high 185 assists.

•John Warren is averaging 14.3 ppg with 51 3-pointers, while leading the squad with 36 steals. He scored 32 points with eight 3-pointers in the win at BSU on Saturday.

•Steven Schaefer (12.5), Marcus Asmus (11.2) and Adam Dykman (10.5) all are averaging double figure scoring.

•Head coach Tom Billeter is in his 15th season with a record of 285-162. He has a career record of 376-206 in 20 seasons as a head coach (North Dakota State, 1992-97).

Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications