SIOUX FALLS --  The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team  (10-8, 6-4 NSIC) will look to build on a four-game winning streak when the Cougars head north to face Bemidji State (5-10, 3-7 (NSIC) and Minnesota Crookston (6-10, 2-8 NSIC) on Jan. 13-14. The Cougars face Bemidji State at 8 p.m. on Friday before traveling to Minnesota Crookston at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

USF has won 6-of-7 games after sweeping a pair of home games over Upper Iowa (73-57) and Winona State, 58-55 last weekend at the Stewart Center. In the win over Upper Iowa, which came in as a co-leader of the South Division, the Cougars used 19 points from Mack Johnson in picking up a crucial victory. On Saturday, the Cougars led Winona State by 13 with eight minutes to play but had to fight off a charge by the Warriors. USF, which had 13 points from Clint Thomas, earned a sweep of the season series with WSU with the win.
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How to watch/listen
All of USF's home games and NSIC contests will be streamed live via Stretch Internet and are available at USFCougars.com/watch. Veteran broadcaster Tom Frederick will broadcast Friday's games KWSN AM 1230 or FM 98.1 and Saturday's contests on FM 107.9 with pregame starting 15 minutes prior to tip-off each night. Links for all USF home games are available at USFCougars.com/livestats and links to road contest live stats are available on the USF Men's Basketball schedule.

Series Notes
USF, will face Bemidji State for the sixth time in the all-time series. USF owns a 3-2 edge in the series. The Cougars are 3-1 since the schools have been playing in in the NSIC. BSU won the first meeting 68-49 on Nov. 20, 2011. A year ago, USF defeated BSU, 90-62 and the last time the two teams played at Bemidji in 2014-15, the Cougars took a 69-64 decision. Overall against the Beavers, the Cougars have won three straight since a 72-69 setback at Bemidji State in 2012-13. USF will play Minnesota-Crookston for the sixth time with a 5-1 series lead. A year ago, USF took a 73-60 decision over UMC at the Stewart Center. Two years ago, UMC won at Lysaker Gym in Crookston with a 73-70 overtime decision.

Head Coach Chris Johnson passes milestone 150 career wins  
With two wins by the USF Men's Basketball Team, ninth year men's basketball coach Chris Johnson rsurpassed  the 150 career win mark at USF.  He claimed his 150th win in a 73-57 win over South Division leader Upper Iowa on Jan. 6  at the Stewart Center. Then, Johnson moved to 151 with a 58-55 victory against Winona State on Jan. 7 at home. With 151 wins (113 losses), Johnson is just three wins from tying USF's a;;-time leader Shane Murphy who had 154. Johnson has 167 career wins overall and will coach in his 296th game on Friday as he is quickly approaching 300 career games.  

Cougars' league-leading defense plays big role in winning streak
USF, which has lost six games by four points or less, including five by two or fewer points, used its league-leading defense to push its winning streak to a season-best four games.The Cougars have limited four straight opponents to 63 points or fewer, including three to under 60 (Wayne State, 58; Upper Iowa, 57; Winona State, 58). The winning streak is the longest since five consecutive wins from Jan. 29 to Feb. 12 in 2015-16 (at UMD, 95-73; at SCSU, 98-80; Minnesota Crookston, 73-60; Bemidji State, 90-62; and Wayne State, 79-58).  In the four-game run, the Cougars have limited opponents to 58.0 points per game with 37.3 percent (84-of-225) from the field, including 21.3 percent (19-of-89) from three point range. USF has outrebounded opponents, 39.8-to-34.2 and averaged 5.0 steals per game.

Breaking down USF's wins and losses by the numbers
In its eight losses, USF has lost by combined 36 points or 4.5 ppg. In fact, USF has outrebounded opponents, 35-9-to-34.8 in those games, when they have been outshot, 44.6 percent to 42.8 percent from the field by opponents, which has a 39.6 percent to 36.5 percent edge from three point range. In its 10 wins, the Cougars have won by 171 total points or 17.1 ppg, although USF has won by a combined 55 points or 9.1 ppg in league play.  In USF's wins, they own a 77.7 to 60.6 ppg advantage. The Cougars hold a 42.5-to-31.0 edge on the boards, a 40.7.5-to-31.9 shooting percentage margin in three point shots (9.0 made per game to 6.5 for opponents) and a 49.2 percent-to-38.2 percent edge in field goal shooting in those wins.

Assessing Opponents - Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston
This weekend, the Cougars will be tested by a pair of freshman, Harrison Cleary (21.1 ppg, 2nd, NSIC) of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State's Jai'Vionne Green (17.3 ppg, 7th, NSIC), who rank among the league's best scorers this season. Bemidji State, which sits 5-10 and 3-7 in the NSIC North), is suddenly hot with wins over Minnesota Duluth, 86-78 and Minnesota Crookston, 77-75. Green scored 22 in the win over UMD and freshman Lucas Wendt had 20 in the victory over Crookston.

Overall, BSU is averaging 77.2 ppg  (9th, NSIC) while allowing 79.8 ppg (15th, NSIC) They have made 7.9 three per game and have a plus rebounding average (35.9-to-34.9). Directed by head coach Mike Boschee, BSU is closing a five-game home stand this weekend as USF and SMSU play at the Sanford Center. 

Minnesota Crookston, which lost to Bemidji State, 77-75, on Tuesday, will face SMSU on Friday before battling the Cougars. Sitting 6-10 overall and 2-8 in league play, the Golden Eagles will be led by Cleary, who has had a stellar freshman season. UMC is averaging 73.1 ppg (12th, NSIC) while allowing 76.6 ppg (7th, NSIC). Besides Cleary, Chase Knickbocker averages double figures in points at 10.6 ppg. Both Bemidji State (NSIC, 4th, 3.3 bpg) and UMC (NSIC, 1st, 4.3) are shot-blocking units and rank at the top of the league stats.

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 15-of-18 games, including six games with the margin of 11 or better.  
'~ In total, USF has had 61 double digit scoring games with Drew Guebert  and Mack Johnson, both with 13 to lead USF. Johnson has five straight double digit games while Daniel Hurtt has four straight and 12 overall.
~ Hurtt has the Cougars' top offensive performance with 33 points against Minnesota Duluth (12-10-16). In that game, Hurtt scored 21 points by halftime and also tied a career-best with five three pointers on just six shots.  
~ Sophomore forward Drew Guebert, who has 591 points in 48 games, is leading USF in scoring with his 15.6 ppg. Guebert, who has seven 20-point games this season and 10 in his career,  is supplying 6.1 rebounds per game . He had a season-high of 30 points in the season opener against Emporia State. He has 27 games with double digit points.
~  Senior forward Clint Thomas (10. 8 ppg), who ranks fourth in the league and seven in NCAA DII in three point shooting at 52.1 percent on 50-of-96 shooting.  Last weekend, Thomas made 5-of-10 from three point range. Thomas has  110 career 3's on 240 attempts for 45.8 percent. He is nine away from moving into the top 10 all-time at USF (Corey Smith, 119, 1999-01). Thomas is 18 points (482) from 500 career points at USF.
~ In games, USF has led at halftime, they are 9-3, 1-1 when tied at the break and 0-4 when trailing at halftime.
~ In national stats, the Cougars rank third in total rebounds with 708, 16th in three point field goals made with 153, 16th in defensive rebounds per game (29.22), 28th in rebound margin (6.7), 30th in scoring defense (67.6 ppg) and 39th in field goal percentage defense (41 percent),.
~ 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 9-4.
~  Junior forward Tom Aase has set a program D2-best with 118 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 269 points this season, including 13 double digit scoring games (70 in his career), Mack Johnson has moved into the top-10 on USF's all-time list.  Johnson, who will play in his 106th career game against Bemidji State, has 1,463 career points, needs 62 points to pass Tim Dykstra (1,524) for ninth on the career list. After making 30-of-99 three point baskets this season, Johnson is the school's all-time leader in made three-point shots with 212. He is hitting 37.7 percent from three point range. Johnson owns 21 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.