Men's Basketball | January 22, 2015

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Teams: Minot State vs. Minnesota Duluth | Series: MSU leads 3-2
Date: Friday, Jan. 23, 2015 | Time: 8 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome
Teams: Minot State vs. St. Cloud State | Series: SCSU leads 3-1
Date: Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome

THIS WEEK: Minot State begins a four game home stretch this weekend after being on the road two of the last three weekends. Friday, Minnesota Duluth comes to the Minot State Dome for an 8 p.m. tip-off. The following day, Minot State plays host to St. Cloud State. Game-time is set for 6 p.m Saturday evening.

RECORDS: Minot State comes into the week of Jan. 19 with an overall record of 9-9 and a NSIC record of 4-8 after a weekend road trip to Upper Iowa and Winona State. Minnesota Duluth begins the week with an overall record of 9-9 and a 6-6 record in the Northern Sun. St. Cloud State comes into the weekend sitting at 10-8 overall and holding the same 6-6 record as the Bulldogs 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. Matt Bowen, like Murken, is in his third season with Minnesota Duluth. Prior to his appointment as head coach for the Bulldogs, Bowen served as the head coach at Bemidji State for six season. Bowen also coached under Bob Knight at Indiana University. Matt Reimer is in his first season as the assistant coach for St. Cloud State. He was a long-time assistant of the program beginning his time at St. Cloud State in 1997.

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 Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud 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: After beginning the conference season with a 4-4 record, Minot State has struggled as of late dropping their last four games. This past weekend the team took their longest road trip of the conference season and began with Upper Iowa on Friday Jan. 16. In a highly competitive game that made its way to two overtimes, the Beavers found themselves on the wrong end of the result losing the game 107-101. Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) led the way for the Beavers recording a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. The following night Minot State looked to bounce back against Winona State but came up short as they dropped the game 78-69. Robinson once again led the team with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: After beginning the New Year with two road losses, Minnesota Duluth has gotten themselves back in the thick of things in the NSIC after winning three of their last four conference games. This past weekend the Bulldogs hosted Wayne State and No. 9 Augustana and split the weekend at home. Despite winning the game by 14 Friday night against Wayne State, the game was close throughout regulation and overtime was needed to decide a winner. The Bulldogs outscored Wayne State 14-0 in the overtime period and won the game by a final score of 94-80. The following night wasn't as kind for Duluth as Augustana pulled out a 95-69 victory. The Vikings shot an impressive 59.1 percent from behind the arc on 13-of-22 shooting which sunk the Bulldogs.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: Like the Bulldogs, St. Cloud State has won three of their last four games in conference play and all of those games were played at home. Last Friday the Huskies played the No. 9 ranked Augustana Vikings in a close game but couldn't come away with the result dropping the game 101-92. As a consolation, three different Huskies scored 20+ points in the loss. Saturday night St. Cloud got back on track as they defeated Wayne State College 94-77. Leading by 19 points at halftime, the Huskies all but ended the game with 20 minutes to play. Jordan Poydras led the way for St. Cloud with 22 points and five rebounds on the night.

GRAND WEEKEND AHEAD: Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) is looking to become the next member of the 1,000 point club at Minot State as he's currently recorded 976 points in his career. Korf is having a career year in the scoring column as he's averaging 12.6 points per game and has only averaged 10+ points once during his time at Minot State. Over his career, Korf is averaging 9.6 points per game, and the three-point specialist is shooting 41.6 percent from behind the arc. He's shooting 52 percent from three this year.

MISTER DO-IT-ALL: Two more games and two more double-doubles for Minot State's Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.). Robinson, who leads the Beavers in scoring (13.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.1), scored 21 points and brought in 10 rebounds in the Beavers' game against Upper Iowa last Friday. He followed up that performance with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Winona State. The senior guard has four double-doubles on the season.

GUIDING THE SLEIGH: After averaging 9.3 ppg in his previous four games, Tyler Rudolph (Fr., F, Bismarck, N.D.) was rewarded with his first start of the season Saturday night against Winona State. The Freshman from Bismarck responded coming up just two points short of a double-double as he brought in 10 rebounds and scored eight points. The previous night Rudoplh just missed a double-double again as he scored eight points and corralled 11 rebounds.

Tyler Rudolph's Last Five Games        
Opponent                     Points    Rebounds
Minnesota Crookston      13          7
Northern State                7           3
MSU Moorhead               9           2
Upper Iowa                     8           11
Winona State                 8           10

DO-OR-DIE TIME: This weekend presents itself as arguably the most important weekend of the season as the Beavers welcome the two teams directly ahead of them in the NSIC North standings to the MSU dome. Minot State sits two games behind both St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth as the Beavers currently hold the No. 5 position in the North. Bemidji State and U-Mary are only one game behind Minot State.

BY THE NUMBERS
1: This past weekend marked the first game Minot State surrendered 100+ points in a single game this season. St. Cloud State who averages an impressive 80.6 ppg has reach the mark just once this year.

3rd: Minot State currently corrals the third-most rebounds in the NSIC and they allow their opponents to bring down the third-fewest amount of rebounds per game. Thomas Korf has the third-best three points percentage in the conference.

3.56: The Beavers currently average the fewest amount of steals in the Northern Sun with just 3.56 per game. Upper Iowa averages the most steals in the conference with 8.11 per game.