THIS WEEK: Minot State looks to stay hot as the Beavers travel to Wayne State College Saturday (5 p.m.) and No. 1 ranked Augustana University Sunday (3 p.m.)

RECORDS: The Beavers continue to sit in seventh place in the NSIC North Division but have closed the gap considerably, trailing third place by just three games. MSU is 5-9 in NSIC play and 10-10 overall. WSC is last in the NSIC South at 2-12 and are 4-16 overall and the top ranked Vikings are unblemished in NSIC play at 14-0 and are 17-1 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fourth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 44-61 record during his first four seasons with Minot State and is 91-77 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. Brian Dolan is in his third season at Wayne State and is 15-56 overall at the school. He helped Upper Iowa from NCAA DIII to DII and was 67-127 with the Peacocks. Augie's head coach Tom Billeter is the school's all-time winningest men's basketball coach and is 327-192 in his 13 seasons at the helm. He is an outstanding 48-3 over the past two seasons.

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: Augustana University climbed back into the No. 1 position in the latest NABC Division II Top 25 Poll and are the No. 1 ranked team in the D2SIDA Central Region Poll. The Vikings were the preseason's top team in the NABC Top 25 Poll. MSU and WSC are not ranked in either poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State earned its first three-game NSIC win streak of the season Friday with an impressive 30-point win over Minnesota Duluth at Duluth. The Beavers, however, had that streak snapped at St. Cloud State Saturday for a road split. Winston Williams (Sr., F, Plainfield, Ill.) finished with 17 points and seven rebounds to pace MSU at UMD. In Saturday's back-and-forth contest, Tyler Rudolph's (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) league-leading eighth double-double wasn't enough to carry the Beavers to their fourth-straight win. He finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Wayne State played a nonconference game against Nebraska-Kearney Tuesday, falling 86-69 despite 25 points from Matt Thomas. The Wildcats dropped both of its road games last week in NAIA play 95-89 in overtime at Upper Iowa and 86-69 Saturday at Winona State. Augie continued to roll as they topped Winona State 75-62 Friday and dumped Upper Iowa 96-87 Saturday on the road. Jordan Spencer had 22 Friday, while Daniel Jansen finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds Saturday at UIU.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: Minot State took a 2-1 series lead over Wayne State last season with a 76-60 win at home. MSU is still looking for its first win over Augustana University, going 0-3 during its first three seasons in the league.

LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers ran away from Wayne State last season at the Dome, pushing a 33-24 halftime cushion into a 76-60 win. Dominique McDonald (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) paced the Beavers with 18 points and four assists, while Trae VandeBerg, Jordan Cornelius and Austin Esters all finished with 11 for WSC. Saturday was a different story as the No. 5 ranked Vikings rolled to a 42-21 halftime lead and did not look back in an 87-58 win. Casey Schilling had 20 points and six rebounds for Augie. Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) had one of his biggest games of his early career scoring 19 points on 7 of 9 shooting and added three rebounds off the bench in the loss.

NOTING THE WILDCATS: Wayne State College has done a decent job of scoring the basketball, but they are struggling stopping teams from scoring. WSC has allowed 83.9 points per game this season… Matt Thomas has been the team's most consistent scoring, averaging a solid 16.9 points per game… Jordan Corneluis is steady with a 9.7 points verage, 4.9 reboudning average, 33 assists and 14 blocked shots… WSC has been outrebounded by 5.4 boards per game and doesn't have a player averaging more than 4.9 individually… Team have hit 43.6 percent of their 3-pointers against the Wildcats… Wayne State has eight players averaging more than 5.9 points per game, but just Thomas hits for double figures… WSC had just one senior and no juniors on the squad, sporting eight sophomores.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Augustana University leads the Northern Sun in nearly every team category on the books including scoring offense (92.8), scoring defense (70.1), 3-point field goal percentage (42.5), rebounding margin (+8.5), assists (19.5) and steals (6.8)… Daniel Jansen, the reigning Daktronics Central Region Player of the Year, has positioned himself for a run at national player of the year as he comes into the weekend at 20.4 ppg., 8.3 rpg., 31 assists and 20 steals… Casey Schilling is making his case as well, averaging 17.4 points per game and 9.3 rebounds. Schilling leads the league in rebounding… Augie has rolled over opponents in the first half, outscoring the competition 848-609… Alex Richter is the third AU player averaging in double figures at 14.4 per game… Jordan Spencer is the league's top assist man with 128 on the season and has a staggering 4.4 assist-to-turnover ratio… The Vikings have eight guys who have at least 15 3-pointers on the season and have knocked down 194 total.

19 AND COUNTING: MSU senior guard Dominique McDonald (Raleigh, N.C.) will look for a big weekend to become the 15 th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career points. McDonald is just 19 points away sitting at 981 overall. His career average of 9.7 points per game suggests the milestone could be the weekend and will mark the second player for the Beavers in as many seasons to reach 1,000 as Thomas Korf surpassed it last season. With just 13 rebounds and 26 assists, he will reach rarified space as one of the only MSU players with 1,000 points, 400 assists and 300 rebounds.

GET OFFENSIVE (REBOUNDS): MSU's Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) has been an offensive rebounding machine this season, coming into the weekend with 70 offensive boards and a 3.50 per-game average. He is tied for 19th in NCAA Division II in the category and is leading the NSIC. He has a 12 offensive rebound game to his credit in 2015-16. Rudolph is second in overall rebounds in the NSIC at 8.7, trailing only Augustana University's Casey Schilling, who is pulling down 9.3 per game.

GLASS MEN

Player	Team	O Rebs.	NSIC	NCAA
Tyler Rudolph	MINOT	3.5	1st	T19th
Mitch Weg	SMSU	3.2	2nd	29th
Casey Schilling	AUGIE	3.1	3rd	T39th
Jon Fuqua	MSU	2.3	T4th	NA
Shea Mandli	CSP	2.3	T4th	NA

D DETERMINES W: MSU had moved up to No. 4 in the Northern Sun in scoring defense, allowing just 72.3 points per game. The Beavers trail Augustana University, who leads the league, by just 2.2 ppg. Over the past seven games, MSU has limited teams to fewer than 65 points three times, including back-to-back games where the Beavers allowed just 46 (63-46 win over Winona, Jan. 16) and 64 (94-64 win over Minnesota Duluth, Jan. 22) respectively. The defense has helped the Beavers move up to eighth overall in scoring margin at plus 3.7.

BACK TO HIS OLD SELF: Winston Williams (Sr., F, Plainfield, Ill.) has been the Beavers second leading scorer most of the season, but was mired in a stretch of four games where he did not reach double figures. But, the senior broke out this past weekend, scoring 17 points at Minnesota Duluth and added 16 at St. Cloud State to push his average back over 10 at 10.1 per game. He has nine double figure point games in 2015-16.

BY THE NUMBERS

1.2: Steals per game for senior Dominique McDonald (G, Raleigh, N.C.). McDonald has moved into 15th in the NSIC in steals per game with 23 overall.    

2.1: Ratio of assists to turnovers for MSU's Nathan Mertens (Jr., G, Devils Lake, N.D.). Mertens has dished out 60 assists for a 3.0 per-game average and has coughed up the ball just 28 times in 20 games.

6: Rank of MSU's Chris Davis (Sr., G, Colorado Springs, Colo.) in made 3-pointers in the NSIC. Davis has hit 44 3s in 20 game, averaging 2.2 per game and is tied with Brandon Tyler of U-Mary and Clint Thomas of Sioux Falls for sixth.