SIOUX FALLS -- After some hard luck through the first half of the schedule, The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team  (6-8, 2-4 NSIC) will look to get off to a fast start in the second half of the season with league road games at Wayne State (4-8, 2-4 NSIC) and Augustana (10-2, 5-1 NSIC) on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 30-31. The Cougars face Wayne State at 8 p.m. on Friday at Rice Auditorium in Wayne before battling city rival Augustana on Saturday at 6 p.m., at the Sioux Falls Arena. 
USF will face Wayne State for the 21st time, trailing 12-8 in the series but owning two straight wins. After the Friday night encounter, USF meets up with co-South Division leader Augustana, which has won seven straight against the Cougars.

In recent action, USF split a pair of home games, defeating Mount Marty, 84-50, and falling to Southwest Minnesota, 87-86. USF has lost six games by four points or less, including five by two or fewer points with three of them coming in league play.  In its eight losses USF has lost by combined 36 points or 4.5 ppg. In its six wins, the Cougars have won by 140 total points or 23.33 ppg. USF is second in the league in scoring defense at 70.3 ppg, , sixth in scoring margin at 7.4 ppg,  third in field goal percentage defense at .420 and sixth in three point shooting percentage at .398 with its total 127 three's ranking second overall. USF, which has won the rebound battle in 10-of-14 games, ranks second in the NSIC in rebounding at 39.5 per game.  

Wayne State features four guard offense
Wayne State is  led by first year head coach Jeff Kaminsky, who has 456 career wins. The Wildcats are led by a pair of double figure scorers in Kendall Jacks at   13.3 ppg and Matt Thomas at 11.3 ppg. WSC, which ranks 12th in the NSIC in soring at 74.0 ppg, has gone 2-4 in league play as USF and the Wildcats both look to overcome slow starts to  league season. The Wildcats have split their last six games with their most recent game a 79-52 victory over William Jewell in nonconference play. WSC has league wins over Minot State, 85-80 in Minot and a 76-48 decision over Concordia St. Paul in Wayne. They have two losses to Augustana (94-87 OT in Sioux Falls and 93-60 in Wayne) as well as setbacks to Mary (85-78 in Bismarck, N.D.) and Minnesota State (77-72 in Wayne, Neb).

Augustana tied for NSIC South Division lead at 5-1
The Vikings will host the Cougars on Saturday in the 65th meeting between the two city rivals. After falling at Minot State (88-84), Augustana has won three straight games, including two in league play (Wayne State, 93-60; U-Mary, 89-75).  Augie, which leads the league in scoring defense (69.3 ppg) and sits fourth in scoring (84.6 ppg), is led by junior guard Jordan Spencer at 15.8 ppg and 7.8 assists per game. They also have a pair of guards hitting over 60 percent from three-point range with Adam Beyer (62.1 percent, 18-29) and Steven Schaefer (61.8 percent, 21-34). Augustana leads USF in all-time series, 35-27-2.

 Cougar Tracks
~ USF ranks second in the NSIC in rebounds as a squad at 39.5 per game, USF has won the rebound battle in 11-of-14 games, including six games with the margin of 11 or better.  
'~ In total, USF has had 47 double digit scoring games with Drew Guebert leading way with 12, including eight straight.
~ Senior forward Daniel Hurtt has the Cougars' top offensive performance with 33 points against Minnesota Duluth. In that game, Hurtt scored 21 points by halftime and also tied a career-best with five three points on just six shots. He is just one point from 500 career points (499) in 42 games at USF.  Hurtt has two games over 30 points this year, scoring 31 vs. Concordia-Wisconsin on Nov. 19  when he had a career-best and team-high 27 points at halftime.
~ Sophomore forward Drew Guebert, who has 558 points in 44 games, is leading USF in scoring with his 17.6 ppg, ranking eighth in the NSIC. Guebert, who has seven 20-point games this season and 10 in his career,  is supplying 6.1 rebounds per game - 12th in the NSIC. He had a season-high of 30 points in the season opener against Emporia State. He recorded his only  career double double with 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 69-52 win over UPR-Mayaguez.  He has 26 games with double digit points.
~  Senior forward Clint Thomas (12.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg) ranks fourth in the league in three point shooting at 57 percent on 45-of-79 shooting. With 45 3's Thomas trails only Mark Arvidson of Northern State who has 51 this season. Thomas has  105 career 3's on 223 attempts for 47.1 percent. He is 14 away from moving into the top 10 all-time at USF (Corey Smith, 119, 1999-01). Thomas is 47 points from 500 career points at USF.
~ USF has made 10 or more three-pointers in a game seven times, including four of the past six, this season with a high of 14 on 27 attempts against Winona State on Dec. 2. USF has at least nine three pointers in six of seven games.
.~ In games, USF has led at halftime, they are 6-3 but are 0-1 when tied at the break and 0-4 when trailing at halftime.
~ USF has shot over .500 five times this season and are 4-1 in those games. The season best performance was the 39-of-63 performance for 61.9 percent against Concordia-Wisconsin on Nov. 19. In games, USF has outshot opponents, the Cougars are 6-4.
~  Junior forward Tom Aase has set a program D2-best with 111 career blocks, owning USF's D2 mark for season blocks with 56. Brian Kielpinkski who had 135 career blocks from 2011-15, had the D2 mark of 108 career blocks at USF. Kielpinski had 27 blocks in USF's transition season to D2 (2011-12).

Mack Johnson owns school record for 3's; sits 10th on USF's scoring list
With 199 points this season, including nine double digit scoring games (66 in his career), Mack Johnson has moved into the top-10 on USF's all-time list.  Johnson, who will play in his 101th game against Wayne State, needs 131 points to pass Tim Dykstra (1,524) for ninth on the career list. After making 25-of-78 three point baskets this season, Johnson is the school's all-time leader in made three-point shots with 207. He is hitting 38.3 percent from three point range on 591 attempts. Johnson, who is shooting 84.4 percent from the foul line (206-of-244) owns 20 games of 20 points or more and three games of 30 points or more, including his career best 39 vs. Upper Iowa on Dec. 4, 2015