SIOUX FALLS --  The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team  (12-8, 8-4 NSIC) will build look to extend a six-game winning streak when the Cougars return home for a four-game home stand this weekend. The Cougars will open with Minnesota State at 8 p.m. on Jan. 20 before facing Concordia-St. Paul at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Stewart Center.  On Friday, USF will hold a "White Out" with the first 150 students receiving a t-shirt. Midco is the game sponsor.

USF has won six straight games, all in NSIC play, for the first time in the program's D2 history. USF have the longest current winning streak among NSIC teams. It is the Cougars' longest winning streak since a nine-game victory string in 2011-12 (Dec. 30, 2011 to Jan. 28, 2012). In the six-game winning streak, USF is outscoring opponents, 68.5-to-60.5 and outboarding foes, 37.7-to-32.9. The Cougars are limiting opponents to 25.2 percent from three-point range and 39.9 percent from the field.

The Cougars, which improved its road mark in the NSIC to 5-2,  defeated Minnesota Crookston (69-60) on Jan. 14, holding the Golden Eagles to  60 points. It was the ninth time USF held an opponent this year to 60 points or fewer. In fact, during the six-game winning streak, USF has held five of its six opponents to 62 points or fewer. USF also recorded a 78-71 road win over Bemidji State.

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 handle play-by-play on KWSN AM 1230 or FM 98.1 and 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
Since moving to NCAA DII, the Cougars trail MSU, Mankato, 8-0 (12-2 overall), including an 80-70 setback at MSU on Feb. 19 and a 70-68 setback at the Stewart Center on Jan. 23, 2015. In DII, USF is 5-3 (9-4 overall) vs. Concordia, St. Paul, with a 110-90 victory over CSP the last time the teams met (Jan. 22, 2015) at the Stewart Center. In that win, USF tied a league and set a school record with 20 three pointers vs. CSP.

Head Coach Chris Johnson approaching USF's all-time wins record  
With two wins by the USF Men's Basketball Team, ninth year men's basketball coach Chris Johnson will become the school's all-time  wins leader.  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 153 with a 69-60 victory against Minnesota Crookston on the road on Jan. 14. With 153 (113 losses), he is just one win from tying USF's all-time leader Shane Murphy who had 154. Johnson has 169 career wins overall and will coach in his 299th game on Friday as he is quickly approaching 300 career games.  

Wessels earns 1st NSIC Player of Week honor
Junior guard Zach Wessels, who averaged 15.5 points, 9.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds as the Cougars extended its winning streak to six games, was named the North Central Conference South Division Player of the Week on Monday. Wessels, an exercise science major at USF, earned the honor for the first time in his career. Against Bemidji State, (78-71 W) he became the first player in the NSIC this year to record 20 points and 10 assists in a game. He flirted with a double triple in the win (69-60) over Minnesota Crookston with 11 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Overall, he was 10-of-15 from the field for 66.7 percent, made his only three-point shot, and knocked in 10-of-14 free throws for 71.5 percent. In addition, he had just two turnovers with 19 total assists in 71 minutes of action. Wessels, who accounted for 51 percent of the points scored by USF (75-of-147), became the first USF player in the D2 era (since 2011) to record at least nine assists in back-to-back games. He also became the first USF player in over 15 years to record 20 points and 10 assists in a game.

Cougars' league-leading defense plays big role in winning streak
USF used its league-leading defense to push its winning streak to a season-best six games.The Cougars have limited five of six straight opponents to 62 points or fewer, including four to 60  and under (Wayne State, 58; Upper Iowa, 57; Winona State, 58;  Minnesota Crookston, 60). The winning streak is the longest since nine consecutive wins from Dec. 30, 2011 to Jan. 28 in 2012.  

Cougar Tracks ,
~ USF ranks second in the NSIC in rebounds as a squad at 38.9 per game, USF has won the rebound battle in 17-of-20 games, including six games with the margin of 11 or better.  
'~ In total, USF has had 69 double digit scoring games with Drew Guebert  at 15 to lead USF. Zach Wessels, Daniel Hurtt and Guebert all had two double digit games last weekend.
~ Hurtt, who scored in double digits in six straight games, 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 621 points in 50 career games, is leading USF in scoring with his 15.5 ppg. Guebert, who has seven 20-point games this season and 10 in his career,  is supplying 5.9 rebounds per game . He had a season-high of 30 points in the season opener against Emporia State. He has 29 career games with double digit points.
~  Senior forward Clint Thomas (10. 9 ppg), who ranks seven in the league and ninth in NCAA DII in three point shooting at 50.5 percent on 53-of-105 shooting.  Last weekend, Thomas, who scored 19 points and passed 500 career points (501), has  113 career 3's on 249 attempts for 45.6 percent. He is six away from moving into the top 10 all-time at USF (Corey Smith, 119, 1999-01).
~ In games, USF has led at halftime, they are 11-3, 1-1 when tied at the break and 0-4 when trailing at halftime.
~ In national stats, the Cougars rank fourth in total rebounds with 775, 24th in three point field goals made with 166,  27th in rebound margin per game (6.5), 27th in scoring defense (67.4 ppg) and 29th in assists (286). Individually,  Clint Thomas is ninth in three point percentage (50.5) and 29th in made three-pointers (53).
~ USF has shot over .500 six times this season and are 5-1 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 11-4.
~  Junior forward Tom Aase has set a program D2-best with 120 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).
~ In league play, USF is 8-4 and have a 74.3-to-70.2 points per game advantage. The Cougars are outshooting opponents, 44.6 percent-to-43.5 percent while limiting foes to 30.4 percent from three point range. In addition, USF is averaging 8.3 3-pointers and have a 35.5-to-34.0 rebound margin. Mack Johnson is averaging 16.5 in league games with Drew Guebert at 16.0.

Mack Johnson owns school record for 3's; sits 10th on USF's scoring list
With 269 points this season, including 14 double digit scoring games (71 in his career), Mack Johnson has moved into the top-10 on USF's all-time list.  Johnson has 1,477 career points, and needs 48 points to pass Tim Dykstra (1,524) for 9th on USF's career list. After making 30-of-104 three point baskets this season, Johnson is the school's all-time leader in made three-point shots with 212. He is hitting 37.4 percent from three point range. Johnson owns 21 games of 20 points or more and three games of 30 points or more, including a career best 39 vs. Upper Iowa on Dec. 4, 2015.

USF looks to end losing skein to MSU
The Cougars will take a six-game winning streak into a matchup on Friday with Minnesota State, which is 12-6 overall and 7-5 in league play. Directed by veteran coach Matt Margenthaler, the Mavericks are led by all-league forward Jon Fuqua, who is averaging 16.7 ppg and 6.7 ppg. Sharp-shooting guard Joey Witthus is supplying 15.9 ppg for MSU, which ranks sixth in the league in scoring at 81.9 ppg. They sit in the league's top six in six different categories, including third in blocks (3.4 bpg) and fourth in free throw shooting at .755.  MSU has won three of five coming into the game and are 6-1 in league road games.

Concordia St. Paul faces USF Saturday
Directed by fourth year head coach Joey James, the Golden Bears have struggled in record (4-15, 1-11 in league play) but have been highly competitive with some near misses against some of the top teams in the league. Guard Bryndan Matthews is scoring 14.6 ppg and grabbing 7.1 rebounds in a bid for all-league honors.  The two teams split games a year ago as USF owns a 9-4 overall record against CSP, including 5-3 in NSIC play.