This week

The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team (5-4, 2-3 NSIC) returns home to face a pair of NSIC South Division opponents this Friday and Saturday inside the R/A Facility. SMSU will face Concordia University-St. Paul (3-7, 1-4 NSIC) on Friday night with tip-off set for 7:30, while on Saturday the Mustangs face Minnesota State University (10-1, 4-1 NSIC) for a 5:30 p.m. match-up.

SMSU will also host Northland College (3-7) in a non-conference game on Monday, Dec. 19, starting at 11:30 a.m. Northland is a member of NCAA Division III and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC).

Monday’s non-conference game is “Elementary and Community Day” inside the R/A Facility. Numerous elementary school students from the Southview and Lakeview Elementary schools, among others, have been invited to attend the game. Admission to the game is free to all fans.

Mustangs by the numbers

For the season, SMSU has three players averaging double figures in scoring with sophomore Dunwa Omot leading the way at 13.3 ppg while connecting on 14 3-pointers with 10 steals.

Junior Jake Phipps is scoring 10 ppg, while shooting 53 percent and leads the team averaging 8.2 rebounds per game

Senior Anthony Costello is averaging 11.2 ppg and has made 10 3-pointers.

Junior Cliff McCray is scoring 9.2 ppg and has dished out a team-leading 33 assists.

Freshman Mason Lund is tied with Omot for the team lead with 14 3-pointers and is averaging 8.7 ppg.

SMSU is shooting 46 percent from the field, 35 percent from 3-point range, 78 percent from the free throw line and is plus-2.9 in rebound margin. The Mustangs are averaging 67 points per game, while opponents are averaging 64 ppg. 

Mustang tip-off tidbits

Through games of Dec. 12, SMSU ranks 25th in Division II in free throw pct. (77.7), 26th in fouls per game (13.9), 29th in scoring defense (64.0) and 43rd in field goal pct. defense (40.3), while Jake Phipps ranks 60th in rebounds per game (8.2).

Redshirt freshman Jakob Braaten and true freshman Mason Lund each made their first career start last Friday at Winona State. Lund grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds in the loss at Upper Iowa on Saturday.

SMSU held Winona State to 26.7 percent shooting in the second half last Friday and limited Upper Iowa to 27.3 percent shooting in the second half last Saturday.

SMSU held Winona State to 46 points and 18 field goals last Friday, the lowest by an SMSU opponent in both categories this season.

SMSU was held to a season-low 57 points last Saturday at Upper Iowa.

Redshirt freshman Jakob Braaten tied a career-high with 11 points and dished out a career-high five assists at Winona State last Friday.

Junior Jake Phipps ranks fifth in team history in field goal pct. (56.1, 325 of 579) and is tied for sixth in blocked shots (90).

Sophomore Dunwa Omot ranks second in team history in 3-point field goal pct. (50.0, 71 of 142).

Omot’s 56.6 3-point field goal pct. (56 of 99) last season set a program single-season record, while his 87.5 free throw pct. ranks seventh in team single-season history.

Phipps grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds at Wayne State on Dec. 3. He is the first SMSU player to grab 15 rebounds in a game since Kenny Byers had 15 at Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 14, 2019.

SMSU scored a season-high 79 points and made a season-high 14 3-pointers on Nov. 26 versus Mt. Marty.

Series history vs. Concordia-St. Paul

SMSU and CSP meet for the 46th time with SMSU leading 31-14 in a series that began during the 1980-81 season.

SMSU has won 14 of the last 21 games since Feb. 11, 2011, but CSP has won four of the last five games. The teams split a pair of games last season with SMSU winning, 83-70, in St. Paul, but CSP rallied to win 61-60 in Marshall.

SMSU is 18-5 all-time in games played in Marshall, but CSP has won the last two games played inside the R/A Facility.

SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 14-10 all-time versus CSP.

Series history vs. MSU

SMSU and MSU meet for the 68th time with MSU leading 48-19 in a series that started in 1969-70.

MSU leads 21-10 in games played in Marshall, but SMSU won last season, 81-71, breaking a four-game home losing streak to MSU.

SMSU won both games last season in earning its first season sweep over MSU since the 2016-17 season.

MSU has won 16 of the last 22 games overall since the 2012-13 season.

SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 9-20 all-time versus MSU.

Series history vs. Northland

SMSU and Northland meet for the fourth time with SMSU leading 3-0 in a series that began during the 1975-76 season.

SMSU won the first-ever meeting played in LaCrosse, Wis., in 1975, and also earned two victories in Marshall, 126-71, during the 1999-2000 season and, 92-61, on Nov. 20, 2018.

SMSU is 55-39 all-time versus current members of the UMAC, with 80 of the 94 games versus Minnesota-Morris, when UMM was a member of the NSIC. Last season, SMSU defeated UMM, 83-60 in Marshall.

SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 1-0 all-time versus Northland.

SMSU splits 2 road games last week

SMSU split two NSIC road games last weekend, defeating Winona State, 62-46, last Friday, before suffering a 66-57 loss to Upper Iowa on Saturday.

In the win at WSU, Anthony Costello scored a team-high 14 points, while teammate Jakob Braaten tied a career-high 11 points, while adding five rebounds and five assists.

SMSU held WSU to 30 percent (18 of 60) shooting, including 6 of 28 from 3-point range.

The Mustangs used a balanced scoring attack in the win with Dunwa Omot scoring nine points, while Jake Phipps and Majok Majouk each chipped in with eight points.

In Saturday’s loss to UIU, the Peacocks pulled away in the final five minutes to earn the victory, closing the game on an 11-3 run.

Costello and Omot led the Mustangs with 14 points, while Braaten added 10 points to round out SMSU’s double-digit scorers.

SMSU, which held a 41-29 rebound advantage, was led Mason Lund’s game-high 10 rebounds.

The Mustangs committed 19 turnovers, while the Peacocks had just eight turnovers. UIU held a 16-7 scoring advantage in points off turnovers.

SMSU head coach Brad Bigler

Brad Bigler, the all-time wins leader in program history, is in his 14th season as head coach and has an overall record of 210-169, including 140-132 in NSIC play. 

The 2012-13 and 2016-17 NSIC Coach of the Year, Bigler has led SMSU to seven winning seasons, including one 28-win season, one 25-win season and two 19-win seasons.

SMSU won NSIC Tournament titles in 2012 and 2017 and won back-to-back NSIC South Division championships in 2016-17 and 2017-18. 

SMSU has played in five NSIC Tournament championship games during his tenure (2010, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019).

SMSU’s 11th head coach, Bigler spent six seasons (2003-09) as an assistant coach at SMSU, including the last three as associate head coach.

SMSU’s 71 combined victories from 2016-19 was the best three-year stretch in program history.

Broadcast info

All three games will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik providing play-by-play.

Live stats, radio and video broadcasts of all games can be found at SMSUmustangs.com.