THIS WEEK: Minot State plays away from the MSU Dome for the first time in a month and for the first time in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play as the Beavers travel to the University of Sioux Falls Friday (8 p.m.) and Southwest Minnesota State Saturday (7 p.m.).

RECORDS: The Beavers dropped a pair of games last week and are still looking for their first NSIC win, coming into the weekend series at 4-4 overall and 0-3 in NSIC play. USF is 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC, while SMSU is 5-3 overall and 1-2 in league play.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fourth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 36-55 record during his first two seasons with Minot State and is 82-71 throughout his six 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. Chris Johnson, a former Minot State assistant, is the head coach at the University of Sioux Falls. Johnson, who is in his eighth year at USF, is 130-94 with the Cougars and 146-109 overall. SMSU's head coach is Brad Bigler, who is in his seventh season with the Mustangs. He is 100-83 overall and with SMSU.

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 – with Leif Bakken serving as the play-by-play announcer – and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: None of the three teams were ranked in the latest NABC Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll or the D2SIDA MBB DII Media Regional Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State couldn't finish off otherwise solid games, falling to No. 6 Minnesota State University Moorhead 75-63 Friday and 87-80 to Northern State Saturday. Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) continued a great start to his sophomore campaign as he scored 21 points in each game for the Beavers. He was joined by Chris Davis (Sr., G, Colorado Springs, Colo.) who had 23 against MSUM, and Nathan Mertens (Jr., G, Devils Lake, N.D.), who finished with a career-high 18 against NSU. USF and SMSU played each other in a single game last week with Sioux Falls coming out on top 78-72 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Cougars have won four straight at Sioux Falls in the series. SMSU was up 40-27 at halftime, but Sioux Falls outscored the Mustangs 51-32 in the second. Jared Mays finished with 23 points and seven rebounds to pace four USF players in double figures, while Mitch Weg and Carter Kirk each scored 15 for SMSU. Weg pulled down nine rebounds in the loss.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: MSU has just one win against the duo this week and it came on a bucket by Dominique McDonald (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) with 4.6 seconds to play to top USF. The Cougars are 6-1 against MSU, however, and SMSU holds a 4-0 record against the Beavers all time.

LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers got the win over Sioux Falls last season on the McDonald floater as MSU rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to win 60-58 at the Dome. Everett Robinson led MSU with 20 points, while Michael Pelo (Sr., G, Charleston, Utah) finished with 15. Charles Ward led four USF players in double figures with 18 points. The following night was a shootout as SMSU's Mitch Weg led all scorers with 25 points and paced his team to a 91-81 win. Robinson again led MSU, scoring 16 points and adding 12 rebounds as five MSU players reached double digits.

NOTING THE COUGARS: The University of Sioux Falls is a perfect 4-0 at home this season, beating SMSU in its only conference home game, but is 1-2 away from the Stewart Center… The Cougars' offense has been better in the second half as they have scored 349 points after halftime compared to 296 before… Clint Thomas is averaging 11.1 points per game off the bench, making 21 of 42 shots from beyond the arc and is a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line… Mack Johnson was named NSIC South Division Player of the Week two week again as he averaged 33.5 points per game over two road NSIC games. Johnson is the team's leading scorer on the season at 16.6 ppg. … Tom Aase had a solid 4.3 rebounding average for the Cougars and has been a force on the offensive glass, pulling down 13 of his 34 rebounds on the offensive end… USF has nearly a nine-rebound edge on its opponents per game and is averaging 40.6 per game… Daniel Hurtt and Clint Thomas are both averaging double figures and are both shooting better than 50 percent from the field.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Southwest Minnesota State won four of its first five games, including a wild 111-105 nonconference overtime win over Northern State, but has lost two of its first three conference games… Mitch Weg and Joey Bartlett both average in double figures for the Mustangs, who come into the weekend with an 80.0 scoring average… Weg hits for 15.4 points per game and leads the team with an 8.1 rebounding average… Bartlett is 20 for 24 from the free throw line to help him to a 12.1 scoring average… Taylor Schafer has come off the bench in seven of eight games and averaged 9.1 points through eight games, despite playing just 17.9 minutes per contest… Turnovers have hurt SMSU as they have 22 more miscues than its opponents and has 10 fewer steals than the Mustangs have allowed… SMSU is limiting teams to just 28.9 rebounds per game and have allowed just 72 offensive boards in tight games.

DISTANCE FOR DAVIS: Chris Davis (Sr., G, Colorado Springs, Colo.) broke out in a big way last weekend, hitting 10 3-pointers in two games and scoring 32 total points. He had 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc in Friday's game against MSU Moorhead. The 23 points was a career high and matched what he had scored in his first six games as a Beaver combined. His seven 3s was four more than his total combing in. He cooled off a bit Saturday, scoring nine points on 3-of-8 shooting on 3s, in all was 11 of 26 from the floor with seven rebounds, two steals and an assist.

SEEING DOUBLE: MSU sophomore Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) averaged 21 points and 6.5 rebounds last week, but it marked the first time this season where he didn't earn a double-double in at least one game during the week. He scored 21 points and pulled down six boards against MSU Moorhead and added 21 and seven against Northern State. Even without a double-double on the week, he still has four on the season, which leads the conference, and five for his career.

DOUBLE DOUBLES FOR RUDOLPH 

Year	Opponent	Pts.	Rebs.
2014-15	Bemidji State	22	10
2015-16	Southern Arkansas	18	11
2015-16	Henderson State	21	14
2015-16	Mayville State	10	11
2015-16	University of Mary	17	10

900 AND COUNTING: MSU senior Dominique McDonald (G, Raleigh, N.C.) moved closer to becoming MSU's 15th member of the 1,000 point club. McDonald has 907 points in his career and just went over 250 rebounds this past weekend. McDonald has a 10.1 points per game average in 2015-16, just under his 10.2 career average, and with that same clip would eclipse the plateau sometime in January.

ASSISTS IN BUNCHES: Over the past three conference games, MSU sophomore Luis Ricci Maia (G, Franca, Sao Paulo, Brazil) has 19 assists. That is nearly double of the amount of helpers he dished out in all five nonconference games to start the season. Maia has 30 assists to just nine turnovers on the year. His progression was on display this past weekend where he scored 12 points, have 17 assists, nine rebounds and just one turnover.

BY THE NUMBERS

19.1: Average free throws made per game for Minot State. The Beavers are shooting at a 73.6 percent clip and are outscoring their opponents by 4.3 per game.

48: Percent shooting for Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) on 3-pointers this season. Rudolph leads the Beavers with 14 3s and is the leader in percentage.

53: Assists combined for Nathan Mertens (Jr., G, Devils Lake, N.D.) and Luis Ricci Maia (G, Franca, Sao Paulo, Brazil). The duo only has 17 turnovers combined.