THIS WEEK: Minot State finishes off a three-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference home stand and a six-game overall home stand with a pair of NSIC contests this weekend. MSU plays host to No. 9 ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead Friday at 8 p.m. and takes on Northern State Saturday at 6 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers fell in the NSIC opener to the University of Mary Saturday and dropped to 4-2 overall. MSU Moorhead knocked off its travel partner Northern State to go to 1-0 in NSIC play and is 7-1 overall. NSU is 4-3 overall and 0-1 in NSIC.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fourth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 36-53 record during his first two seasons with Minot State and is 82-69 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. Chad Walthall has built MSU Moorhead into a regional powerhouse in his six seasons with the Dragons, coming into the weekend with a 117-46 record. Overall, he is 233-15, having coached Loras College to a 116-69 mark. Walthall was also an assistant at the University of Iowa from 2007-10. Northern State's head coach Paul Sather is no stranger to the MSU Dome as he coached Black Hills State before being named head coach at NSU six seasons ago. He is 90-61 at NSU and is 184-123 overall. Sather, a NSU graduate, is 6-0 against MSU with the Wolves and is 12-5 overall.

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: Minnesota State Moorhead is one of two NSIC teams ranked in the top 10 in the latest NABC Division II Top 25 coaches' poll. The Dragons are ranked No. 9 overall and is the top team in the D2SIDA Division II Central Region Poll. MSU and NSU did not receive votes in either poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State couldn't overcome a sharp-shooting University of Mary team in the second half, falling 78-66 Saturday in the NSIC opener for both teams. The loss snapped a winning home streak that dated back to the 2004 season against the rival Marauders. Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) continued solid play to start the season, picking up his fourth double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Dominique McDonald (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) chipped in with 14 points and five rebounds in the loss. MSU Moorhead got a career night from Isaac Sevlie to hold of NAIA University of Jamestown Tuesday. Sevlie hit 14 of 16 shots from the floor and scored a game-high 37 points to go along with 14 rebounds. Tyler Vaughan added 16 in the 86-74 win over the Jimmies. Northern State also topped Jamestown this week, taking an 87-82 win as Mack Arvidson scored 23 and Ian Smith and Carter Evans scored 17 each for the Wolves.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: Minot State has struggled historically with both programs both as an NSIC member and an NAIA program. The Beavers have won just nine games in 31 games against MSU-Moorhead and has only seven wins in 38 games against Northern State. MSU has not defeated either team since joining the Northern Sun four seasons ago.

LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers pushed both MSUM and NSU in a pair of games at the Dome in January. Minot State lost a late 10-point lead and fell 79-78 against the Wolves, who came into the game receiving votes in the national poll. Everett Robinson led all scorers with 20 points to pace Minot State, while Seth Bachand scored 17 in the win for NSU. The following night, MSU held the No. 14 ranked Dragons to their  lowest point total in a half during the season and were tied with MSUM at 24 at halftime, but couldn't hold on, falling 71-56. Thomas Korf and Michael Pelo each scored in double figures, netting 12 and 10 points each, while Taylor Vaughan scored 21 points for the Dragons.

NOTING THE DRAGONS: Minnesota State University Moorhead has played more minutes on the season than anyone in the conference as they have gone to overtime three times already in 2015-16. The Dragons are 2-1 in OT games… MSUM has played tight games in nearly all of its contests on the season and has outscored its opponents by just 44 points despite being 7-1 on the year… Isaac Sevlie leads the conference in scoring average at 23.1 and blocked shots with 17 and is fourth in rebounding at 8.3 per game… Tanner Kretchman has missed just two free throws in 32 attempts this season, good for second overall in the NSIC… The Dragons are on a seven-game winning streak since an 84-80 overtime loss against California Baptist in the season opener… Tyler Vaughan is second in the conference in assists per game, dishing out 4.6 on average per night…  Nobody logs more minutes per game than Aaron Lien, who has played 33.8 minutes per game through eight games for a total of 270 minutes.

NOTING THE WOLVES: Northern State comes into the weekend riding a three-game winning streak and has scored at least 80 points in five of their seven games… Two of those games, the Wolves hit the century mark, but one of them was a 111-105 overtime loss to fellow NSIC team Southwest Minnesota State – in nonconference play… The 3-pointers has been the weapon of choice for NSU as the team has 74 3s on the season, making 10.6 per game. The Wolves are currently shooting 43.8 percent from beyond the arc… The biggest threat on 3s is Skye Warwick who has hit 25 of 51 triples for a 49.0 percent clip, the most made 3-pointers in the NSIC so far this season. He leads the team overall with a 17.4 ppg., scoring average… DJ Pollard has done a little bit of everything for NSU as he is fifth on the team in scoring and leads the squad with 37 rebounds, 21 assists and 11 steals in six games… Northern is third overall in field goal percentage at 48.5 percent, but is just 12th in the NSIC in field goal defense, giving up 46.1 percent.

RICCI SETTLING IN: MSU's Luis Ricci Maia (So., G, Franca, Sao Paulo, Brazil) redshirted in 2014-15 and made his first appearance in an organized game in two years with his debut against Southern Arkansas Nov. 13. His first two games, against SAU and Henderson State in the NSIC/GAC Challenge, didn't go too well for the sophomore as he scored three points on 1-of-10 shooting. Since coming home to the MSU Dome, he has settled in to the tune of 34 points on 11-of-22 shooting and has nine assists compared to just four turnovers.

STEADY AS HE GOES: Despite playing nearly 30 per game, MSU junior guard Nathan Mertens (Devils Lake, N.D.) has just six turnovers overall on the season. He hasn't turned the ball over more than twice in one game as well. While he has been steady protecting the ball, he has been just as good distributing it on the offensive end, dishing out 17 assists. Over the past four games, Mertens has scored 37 points, dished out 12 assists and has just three turnovers.

THE RIGHT RATIO

Opponent	Minutes	Assists	Turnovers
Southern Arkansas	24	3	1
Henderson State	34	2	2
Dickinson State	30	3	0
Mayville State	26	0	0
University of Jamestown	30	4	1
University of Mary	27	5	2
Total	171	17	6

CLEANING GLASS: Minot State's Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) leads the Northern Sun in offensive rebounds with 28 in six games for a 4.7 per-game average. He has 32 offensive rebounds this season compared to 46 during the entire year as a freshman. The super sophomore has four double-doubles in six games and has reached double figure scoring in all six.

SHOOTING STRUGGLES: Defense has paved the way so far for the Beavers as MSU is 4-2 overall, but is last in the NSIC in shooting percentage and 14th overall in scoring average. MSU has shot just 39.8 percent from the field, the only NSIC team to come in under 40 percent at this point in the season. The biggest reason for the low percentage is 3-point shooting. The Beavers are also last in the NSIC in that category, knocking down just 32 of 115 3s so far (27.8 percent).

MCDONALD'S HITTING THE OPEN MAN: Dominique McDonald (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) moved into third place overall on the Beavers all-time assists mark with 327 assists for his career. The assists record, held by Ryan Johnson, has only been researched back to the 1999 season. McDonald is currently tied for 11 overall in the NSIC in assists, averaging 3.5 per game. His career average is 3.76 per contest.

BY THE NUMBERS
1.2: Average steaks per game for Dominique McDonald (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) and Nathan Mertens (Jr., G, Devils Lake, N.D.), who are tied for the team lead with seven steals each.

4: Blocked shots by senior Brandon Pines (F, Jessup, Md.), MSU's leader in the category. Minot State only has 10 blocked shots as a team in 2015-16.

182: Points allowed by Minot State in the first half of games so far this season. MSU is limiting teams to just 30.3 points per game before the halftime break.