THIS WEEK: Minot State plays host to the University of Sioux Falls in the first-ever NSIC / Sanford Heath Men's Basketball Tournament game at the MSU Dome and the first home playoff game since a 104-99 win over Mayville State in the first round of the 2009 Dakota Athletic Conference tournament. Wednesday's matchup with USF is set to begin at 7 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers finished the regular season at 14-14 and a tie for fourth in the NSIC North Division, earning the four seed by tiebreaker over the University of Mary. USF is 14-16 overall and is the fifth seed from the NSIC South Division. SMSU is the No. 1 seed in the South and is 22-5 overall. UMD finished 4-24 overall and is eighth in the NSIC North.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fifth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 61-79 record during his first five seasons with Minot State and is 107-95 throughout his six-year head coaching career. Former Minot State assistant coach Chris Johnson is the head coach at USF. Johnson is 138-108 in eight seasons at USF and 154-123 overall as a head coach. Brad Bigler is 130-100 in eight seasons with SMSU. Matt Bowen is the head coach at UMD and is 55-86 with the Bulldogs and 119-188 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: Southwest Minnesota State earned votes in latest NABC Division II Top 25 poll and are the No. 3 ranked team in the first NCAA Division II Central Region Poll. None of the other teams were ranked in any national polls.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State swept a pair of games on the road – and got some help from Minnesota Crookston – to secure the fourth and final home playoff spot in the North Division. The Beavers defeated UMC Friday 75-73 in overtime, getting a game-winner from Nathaniel Moore at the OT buzzer. On Saturday, the Beavers rolled over Bemidji State winning 86-69. USF split two games on the weekend, ending a six-game losing skid with a 73-69 win at Concordia-St. Paul Friday, but were defeated 79-67 at Minnesota State. SMSU secured the South's top seed with a pair of wins, taking out Minnesota State 67-64 Friday and CSP 89-76 Saturday. UMD finished off a tough regular season with two losses, falling 93-80 against Northern State and 62-56 against No. 19 ranked MSU Moorhead.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers trail both USF (7-2) and SMSU (6-0) in the all-time series, but lead UMD 6-4. The Beavers have not faced any of the three opponents in the NSIC playoffs.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State help USF to just 29 second-half points to earn a 77-66 win over the Cougars at the MSU Dome in early February. Tyler Rudolph finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds to pace MSU. Mack Johnson and Drew Guebert scored 16 apiece in the loss for USF. That win came a night after MSU's rally against SMSU fell short in a 74-64 Mustang win. MSU cut a once-19 point lead to just five late in the game, but couldn't any closer. Luis Ricci Maia scored 15 points and dished out four assists for the Beavers. Joey Bartlett finished with 18 points off the bench for SMSU. Minot State rolled to a 79-63 win over UMD just two weeks ago at the Dome. Rudolph was unstoppable with 26 points and 21 rebounds, while Nathan Mertens set a school record with 13 assists. Brandon Myer scored 20 points for UMD in the loss.

NOTING THE COUGARS: The University of Sioux Falls looked poised to be a top-half team with seven wins in eight games during January, but lost seven of the final eight games to slip to fifth… USF has a solid plus-4.7 rebounding average, limiting teams to just 32.1 boards per game… The Cougars have four players averaging in double figures with Drew Guebert leading the way with a 15.2 average… Mack Johnson is second on the team in scoring (14.7) and assists (83)… Guebert and Clint Thomas have hit 68 and 67 3-pointers respectively.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Southwest Minnesota State has six players averaging 9.1 points per game or better and five who hit for double figures to power to an 81.6 scoring average… Ryan Bruggeman leads SMSU with a 14.1 per game average and has dished out 125 assists compared to just 61 turnovers… Four players are hitting 80 percent or better from the line to help the team to a 74.7 average from the line… Carter Kirk has pulled down 200 rebounds on the season.

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota Duluth has lost 14 straight games dating back to an 82-58 win over Minnesota Crookston Jan. 6… UMD has struggled to score points, coming into the tournament with a 69.8 scoring average, taking just 1,688 shots overall… Luke Harris and Logan Rohrscheib both average in double figures with Harris leading the way at 10.7 per game… UMD doesn't have a player averaging more than four rebounds per game.

ASSIST BATTLE: Minot State's Nathan Mertens and Luis Ricci Maia ranked No. 4 and No. 5 respectively in the NSIC in assists per game. Mertens leads the team with a 4.5 average, dishing out 125 in 28 games. He set a school record with 13 assists against UMD this season and has 45 assists to just six turnovers in his last six games. Maia had the team-high with nine earlier in the season before Mertens' record. Maia has a total of 117 on the season and is fourth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio with just 42 miscues all season.

TYLER'S WORLD: Tyler Rudolph has put together an impressive season. He leads the NSIC in rebounding average at 10.1 per game and is third overall in scoring at 21.1 per outing. Rudolph also leads the league and is ninth in the nation in double-doubles with 14. He has climbed the MSU scoring list, sitting at No. 9 all-time with 1,336 points, needing just 12 points to pass Kevin Bohl (1,347, 1985-89) and 13 to move into seventh passing Brian Buhr (1,348, 1990-93).

BY THE NUMBERS

4: Minot State's national rank in 3-point field goal percentage. The Beavers have hit 42.6 percent from beyond the arc. Northwest Missouri State is No. 1 at 43.5.

28: Three-point makes in 51 attempts for redshirt freshman Trevor Rothstein, who leads the Beavers in percentage at 54.9.

49.3: Russ Davis' 3-point field goal percentage to rank him second in the country behind Harding's Will Francis. He is third in the NSIC in total makes from beyond the arc with 74.