THIS WEEK: Minot State travels for games against NSIC South Division foes Minnesota State (Friday, 8 p.m.) and Concordia-St. Paul (Saturday, 6 p.m.).

RECORDS: The Beavers are 7-9 overall and 3-7 in NSIC play, sitting in a tie for fifth place overall in the NSIC North Division. Minnesota State is 6-4 overall, tied for fourth in the NSIC South Division and is 11-5 overall. CSP comes into the weekend with a 1-9 NSIC record and 4-13 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fifth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 54-74 record during his first five seasons with Minot State and is 100-90 throughout his six-year head coaching career. Murken reached 100 career wins with a 67-56 win over Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 31, 2016. Mark Margenthaler has put together a solid resume during his 15 seasons at Minnesota State, going 341-138 overall, guiding his team to 11 NCAA tournament appearances. CSP's Joey James is in his third season at the school and has a 36-40 record. He is 47-58 overall in his career as a head coach.

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 Top 25 poll or the D2SIDA Central Region Media Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State couldn't get a key basket against MSU Moorhead and couldn't get a key stop against Northern State as the Beavers were swept at home last weekend. MSU battled MSUM, but a cold spell in the second half led an 82-74 defeat. Luis Ricci Maia scored 21 points to lead Minot. On Saturday, it was the lack of stops late that derailed a comeback attempt as MSU dropped a 94-88 decision to NSU. Tyler Rudolph capped a solid weekend with a 30-point, 10-rebound outburst. Minnesota State won two of its three games played leading up to this weekend, including handling travel partner CSP by 20, 76-56 Tuesday. Jon Fuqua led the Mavericks in all three games, hitting for 20 points and pulling down nine rebounds against the Golden Bears. Concordia-St. Paul dropped all three contests and has lost seven straight dating back to an 82-75 win over Winona State Dec. 10. Bryndan Matthews scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds in the loss at Minnesota State Tuesday.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers have yet to defeat MSU during their short tenure in the NSIC with the Mavericks holding a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series. Minot State has a two-game win streak against the Golden Bears and lead the series 3-1.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State split a pair of NSIC home games last season with Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul at the MSU Dome. The Beavers were outscored 42-33 in the second half in a 73-63 loss to the Mavs to snap a six-game home winning streak. Tyler Rudolph finished with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds in the loss for Minot. Joey Witthus scored 16 in the win over Minnesota State. The Beavers started the weekend off in the right direction rolling to an 81-67 win over CSP Friday. Winston Williams paced the Beavers with 18 points, while Michael Pelo hit five 3s for 17. Rudolph earned another double-double with 14 and 11. Mike Yanke led the CSP with 13.

NOTING THE MAVERICKS: Minnesota State has won six of its last seven games to shake off a slow start to the season. The preseason favorites in the NSIC lost three straight during a stretch in December and were 1-3 in NSIC play at one point… Jon Fuqua has been big for the Mavericks in multiple ways, earning the team's lead in scoring and rebounding over the past three games. He is second on the team in scoring (16.0) and leads the team in rebounding (6.8)… Joey Witthus is the team's scoring average leader at 16.3 per game, but trails Fuqua 256-228 overall, playing in two fewer games… MSU is 6-1 on the road, but just 3-3 at home, coming into the weekend with a 4-1 conference mark away from Mankato… Minnesota State has make a living at the line, taking 347 free throws so far and has knocked down 76.1 percent.

NOTING THE GOLDEN BEARS: Concordia-St. Paul went 3-3 overall in the first month of the season, but has struggled since getting into NSIC play, going 1-9 in league play, 1-10 overall and has lost seven straight… Turnover has been a big issue for CSP, averaging 15.6 per game and has a minus-5.4 turnover margin… Bryndan Matthews leads the team in scoring average at 14.5 per game and rebounding average with 7.2 per contest… CSP has three averaging in double figures as Diallo Powell and Matt Ambriz join Matthews at 10.9 and 10.7 per outing. The trio has scored 36.1 of the team's 69.8 per game… Ahmad Newsome and Sam Siganos have combined for 120 assists.

MAIA HELPING IN SO MANY WAYS: MSU junior Luis Ricci Maia leads the team in assists through 16 games, dishing out 68 helpers for third overall in the NSIC at 4.3 per game. Maia is the team's leader in steals with 18 and is second on the team in scoring so far as well, knocking down 13.4 points per game, ranking him 25th overall.

CLEAN BASKETBALL: Minot State has eight games this season where the Beavers have not reached double figures in turnovers. MSU only has 19 total turnovers in its past three games combined including just four in Friday's game against MSU Moorhead. The Beavers average just 10.7 miscues per contest. That is a solid number, but is just fifth in the league as three two teams, MSU Moorhead (8.4) and Minnesota Duluth (9.7) aren't averaging 10 per game.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Tyler Rudolph finished with a pair of double-doubles last weekend, averaging 22.5 points and 10.0 rebounds over two games. He has three straight double-doubles and six on the season. He has hit for double figures in scoring in all but two games, scoring nine twice and has reached double figures in rebounds seven times including in five straight games.

BY THE NUMBERS

5: MSU players averaging 10 or more points per game. The Beavers have six scoring at least 9.5 per outing.

7: Players in the NSIC hitting 50 percent or better on 3-pointers, including MSU's Russ Davis (51.2) and CSP's Matt Ambriz (55.1). The two are tied for sixth in the league in 3s per game at 2.7.

56: Assists for Nathan Mertens on the season, tied for 11th overall in the NSIC and second on the team.