Men's Basketball | January 15, 2015

FULL PDF NOTEBOOK  |  LIVE STATS AT UIU  |  LIVE STATS AT WSU  |  LIVE VIDEO  |  LIVE AUDIO

Teams: Minot State at Upper Iowa | Series: UIU leads 4-0
Date: Friday, Jan. 16, 2015 | Time: 8 p.m. | Site: Dorman Gymnasium
Teams: Minot State at Winona State | Series: WSU leads 4-0
Date: Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: McCown Gymnasium

THIS WEEK: Minot State hits the road once again this weekend after a short weekend home stand this past weekend. This Friday, Jan. 16, the Beavers will square off with Upper Iowa in Fayette, Iowa. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. The following day, Minot State travels to Winona State for another NSIC game at 6 p.m.

RECORDS: Minot State comes into the week of Jan. 12 with an overall record of 9-7 and a NSIC record of 4-6 after they lost their first home games of 2015 against Northern State and Minnesota State Moorhead. Upper Iowa begins the week with an overall record of 10-6 and a 6-4 record in the Northern Sun. Winona State comes into the weekend sitting at 7-7 overall and holding the same 4-6 record as the Beavers in the Northern Sun.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his third season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 22-37 record during his first two seasons with Minot State and is 67-45 throughout his five year head coaching career. In his first season with the MSU, Murken increased the Beavers' win total by six from the previous year including the program's first ever win against a NCAA Division II ranked opponent (68-62, No. 19 St. Cloud State, Jan. 5, 2012). Before his time at Minot State, Murken was the head coach at the University of Jamestown where he compiled and impressive 46-16 overall record and was named Dakota Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2012. Upper Iowa is led by second year head coach Brooks McKowen. In McKowen's first year with the Peacocks, he took them to the NCAA Division II postseason Central Region tournament. The team recorded the most wins in school history since moving to Division II. Mike Leaf is in his 17th season with Winona State and has had a tremendous career with the program. Leaf led the program to a national championship in 2006 and 2008 and had a 57-game win streak from 2006 to 2007.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: The game is broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live audio can be accessed online at kcjb.com. MSU provides live video and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: Neither Upper Iowa, Winona State nor Minot State were ranked or received votes for the latest top 25 poll released by the NCAA and National Association of Basketball Coaches.

RECENT HISTORY: Despite playing some of their best basketball this past weekend at home, Minot State fell in both of the games they hosted. On Friday, Jan. 9 the Beavers took on the Northern State Wolves, a team receiving votes in the latest top 25 poll released by the NCAA. Minot State held a 10 point lead with just over six minutes to play in the game, but the Beavers were unable to hold on and execute down the stretch as they fell in a one-point game, 79-78. Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) led all scorers with 20 points on 7-10 shooting. The following day, Minot State faced a strong challenge as the No. 13 ranked Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons set foot in the MSU Dome. The Beavers held their own early on as the teams went into the break tied at 24 apiece, but the Dragons' hot shooting in the second half got the best of the Beavers. MSUM shot 60 percent from the field and made 7-of-11 three point attempts, contrary to their 1-of-10 shooting in the first half.

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: After dropping their first two games of the New Year, the Peacocks came back strong this past weekend at home when they picked up two wins in the NSIC to move to 6-4 in the conference. Last Friday Upper Iowa played an overtime thriller against Southwest Minnesota State. Seven different players scored in double figures of the Peacocks as they went on to pull out a 105-103 win. The game marked the second time the Peacocks scored 100 points this season. Last Saturday Upper Iowa hit the century mark again, their third time this season, as they defeated Sioux Falls 100-87. The Peacocks got out to a 52-36 lead and coasted to their sixth win in the conference and their second consecutive win.

NOTING THE WARRIORS: Winona State's four-game losing streak came to an end this past weekend when they picked up two important victories at home moving their conference record to 4-6. Last Friday the Warriors squared off against Sioux Falls and picked up a 79-64 victory. Corey Jeffs led the way in the game for the Warriors as he dropped a season-high 29 points. Jeffs' previous season-high was 12 points against Concordia St. Paul. The following day Winona State picked up another victory, this time in a closer game, as they defeated Southwest Minnesota State by a score of 73-68. Isaiah Gray with 22 points, five assists and five rebounds to pace the Warriors in the win.

UNDER 50 TO GO: After dropping 14 points Friday and 12 points on Saturday, Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) sits just 48 points shy of joining the 1,000-point club at Minot State. With his current scoring average of 12.7 points per game, Korf is projected to break 1,000 career points on Saturday, Jan. 24. If he doesn't reach the mark that weekend, the Beavers have another pair of home games the following weekend on Jan. 30 and 31.

CHANCE TO MOVE UP: While the Beavers currently sit in fifth in the NSIC North and tenth overall in the conference, Minot State has the chance to move up five spots this weekend in the conference as only two games separate tenth place and fifth place in the Northern Sun. Minot State is only one game out of third place in the NSIC North with St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth sitting in third and fourth place respectively. The Beavers finished in 15th place last season.

PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS: Minot State's Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) continues to fill up the stat sheet in multiple ways but his rebounding has been most impressive this season. Despite only standing at 6-2, Robinson is currently fifth in the Northern Sun in rebounding averaging 6.7 rebounds per game. He averages 2.1 offensive rebounds per game, which is good for ninth overall in the Northern Sun.

NSIC Top Rebounders        
Name                        School                       RPG
1. Seth Bachand         Northern State             8.8
2. Assem Marei          Minnesota State           8.8
3. Casey Schilling       Augustana                   8.4
4. Tyler West              Minnesota Crookston    8.1
5. Everett Robinson     Minot State                  6.7

DEFINING ROAD TRIP: Much of the Beavers' season falls on this weekend's road trip as Friday's game marks the midway point of the conference season. Minot State currently holds a 3-3 record away from the MSU Dome and a 2-3 record away from home in the NSIC. The Beavers currently hold a 5-3 record at home.

BY THE NUMBERS
51.6: Thomas Korf became the Beavers' all-time leader in three point field goals made this season and much of that is credited to his 51.6 three-point percentage this season, good for third-best in the conference.

66.3: Despite improving their free throw percentage by nearly six percent in the last two weeks of play, Minot State still holds the second-lowest free throw percentage in the league at 66.3 percent.

85.3: Upper Iowa currently averages the most points per game in the entire Northern Sun, coming into the weekend at 85.3 ppg. The Peacocks also allow the most points per game, giving up 81.3 per contest.