THIS WEEK: Minot State travels for the second year in a row to Lancaster, Texas, to take on teams from the Great American Conference in nonconference play. MSU plays Henderson State Friday at 5 p.m. and takes on Southern Arkansas Saturday at 5 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 0-0 overall and 0-0 in NSIC North play. Both Henderson State and Southern Arkansas are starting their respective seasons this weekend.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fifth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 47-65 record during his first five seasons with Minot State and is 93-81 throughout his six year head coaching career. Jimmy Elgas is in his second season as head coach at HU, compiling a 9-19 record in his first season. SAU's Andy Sharpe begins his fifth season as head coach of the Muleriders. He has guided SAU to a 32-25 overall record.

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 first NABC Division II Top 25 poll or the D2SIDA Media Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State won both of its exhibition games against former Dakota Athletic Conference rivals Valley City State and Dickinson State, including an 88-68 drubbing of the Blue Hawks last week in Dickinson. Tyler Rudolph had a fantastic game against DSU scoring 26 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Luis Ricci Maia also reached double figures with 14 points. HU took on NCAA Division I Arkansas State in its only exhibition, falling 71-49. Toney Foster scored 14 in the loss for the Reddies. SAU also lost in exhibition play at a DI school as Louisiana Tech rolled to an 86-69 win. CJ Elkins scored 17 points to pace three Mulerider players in double figures.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: Last year's nonconference meetings were the first in school history for MSU against both teams. The Beavers are 1-0 against Henderson State and 0-1 against Southern Arkansas.

LAST TIME OUT: MSU struggled to get the offense going in game 1 of the year, falling 66-53 against SAU. Tyler Rudolph scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to pace the Beavers, while Jaron Davis scored a game-high 20 points for the Muleriders. The Beavers rebounded nicely on night 2, outscoring Henderson State 42-27 in the second half for a 78-65 win. Rudolph was brilliant again, scoring 21 and pulling down 14 rebounds, while Dominique McDonald scored 19 on 15 of 16 free throw shooting. HU was paced by 17 points from Kevin Kozan.

NOTING THE REDDIES: Henderson State's top returner Kevin Kozan is just 64 points shy of 1,000 points in his career as he has averaged 11.1 points per game… HU struggled to a 9-19 overall record last season including losses to both Minot State and the University of Mary in nonconference place. The Reddies finished 7-15 in conference play… Leading scorer from a year ago Kaylon Tappin is also back as the junior guard averaged 14.1 points per game in 2015-16… Also returning from a year ago are Matt Panaggio and Ben Marello as duo averaged 16.6 points and 8.0 rebounds between the two… HU went 8-6 at home, but was just 1-13 away from the Duke Wells Center.

NOTING THE MULERIDERS: Southern Arkansas finished 17-13 overall and 13-9 in league play last season… Under head coach Andy Sharpe, the Muleriders have posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons, winning 24 conference games in the past two campaigns… CJ Elkins was third on the team in scoring at 11.5 points per game last season, one of four players who averaged at least 10 per game. But, Elkins is the only one of the foursome who returns in 2016-17… SAU's Denarious Lockhart, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward, led the team in rebounding at 7.5 per game.

ASSISTING OTHERS: Minot State dished out 278 assists last season, averaging 13.0 helpers per game and returns two-third of a trio that provided most of those assists. Gone is Dominique McDonald, who was tied for the team lead with 90, but co-leader Nathan Mertens is back for his senior season. Mertens and Luis Ricci Maia, who was third on the team with 78, combined for 168 compared to just 70 turnovers.

SCORING PUNCH: Junior All-NSIC player Tyler Rudolph finished with 508 points, good for a 17.5 points-per-game average and ninth overall in the Northern Sun. Through just two seasons, Rudolph has scored 745 points and is on pace to eclipse 1,000 career points during his junior season. In 2015-16, he scored in double figures in 28 of 29 games and has 38 games of 10 or more points in just two years.

NEW FACES: Minot State will look to two transfers and a redshirt freshman to bolster its returning group. Junior college transfers Nathaniel Moore and Russ Davis and redshirt Trevor Rothstein will get extensive playing time. Moore played at Snow College last season and averaged 10.1 points for the Badgers. Davis helped Phoenix College to a third-place finish at the NJCAA National Tournament as a freshman and averaged 9.7 points and 3.9 rebounds last season at PC. Rothstein sat out last season with an injury, but scored 15 points and added four rebounds in MSU's opening exhibition win at Valley City State.

BY THE NUMBERS
7: Wins in eight home games down after the Christmas break for Minot State last season. The Beavers finished with a 10-7 overall record in 2016 to finish the season.

8: Number of players who shot 75 percent of better from the free throw line, paced by Tyler Rudolph's 83.8 percent shooting. Rudolph missed just 18 free throws in 111 attempts all season.

76.7: MSU's scoring average in 2015-16, the best mark in Matt Murken's four seasons as head coach. The Beavers held a plus-1.4 scoring average, shooting 45.2 percent from the field.