SIOUX FALLS --  The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team  (13-15, 9-11 NSIC) will conclude the regular season at Concordia-St. Paul (5-22, 2-18 NSIC) and Minnesota State (18-8, 13-7 NSIC)  this weekend. The Cougars look to end a six-game slide when visit CSP on Friday night for a 8 p.m. game at the Ganglehoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.  They will look to end a nine-game losing streak to Minnesota State on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Taylor Center in Mankato.  

USF leads Concordia-St. Paul, 10-4 in all-time series
In DII, USF is 6-3 (10-4 overall) vs. Concordia-St. Paul, after a 93-70 decision on Jan. 21 at the Stewart Center. Drew Guebert had 23 points and five three pointers while Clint Thomas added 19 points and three triples at USF was 12-of-24 from distance. A year ago, the Cougars set a school record by hitting 20 triples on 28 attempts in a 110-90 victory over CSP at the Stewart Center on Jan. 22, 2016.   In the last match up in St. Paul, CSP took a 78-63 decision on Feb. 20, 2016. Bryndan Matthews had 16 points and seven rebounds. Thomas led USF with 12.

Breaking down CSP
The Golden Bears, which ranks 16th in the NSIC in scoring (69.2 ppg) and scoring defense (80.0 ppg) are led Bryndan Matthew, who ranks 18th in the league in scoring at 15.1 ppg and sixth in the NSIC with 7.4 rpg.  CSP has lost two straight, dating back to a 95-85 home win over Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 4.  Diallo Powell is second on the team with 11.0 points and has grabbed 4.0 rebounds. He is also CSP's best three point shooter with 38 3's on 35.2 percent shooting. Overall, the Golden Bears make 35.8 from distance and .450 overall in field goal percentage.
 
MSU leads USF, 13-2 in all-time series
Since moving to NCAA DII, the Cougars trail MSU, Mankato, 9-0 (13-2 overall), including a heartbreaking 68-67 loss on Jan. 20  at the Stewart Center as Cole Harper made a driving lay-up in the closing seconds. A year ago at the Taylor Center, MSU took an 80-70 decision on Feb. 19, 2016 and a 70-68 decision at the Stewart Center on Jan. 23, 2016.

Breaking Down MSU
The Cougars will end the regular season with the Mavericks, looking to end a nine-game losing skein against MSU. Jon Fuqua leads the Mavericks in scoring at 15.3 ppg (16th in the NSIC) and is ninth in the league with 6.4 rpg. MSU has won 5-of-6 heading into this weekend's play. Their only loss  during the run came in overtime at Upper Iowa, 83-73 on Feb. 10. MSU is 6-4 at home and 10-3 on the road.

Head Coach Chris Johnson has tied USF's all-time wins record  
With a 93-70 victory over Concordia-St. Paul at  the Stewart Center, on Jan. 21 men''s basketball coach Chris Johnson tied Shane Murphy (154-77, 2001-08) as the school's all-time  wins leader with 154 victories . His next win puts Coach Johnson into the school's top spot. Johnson claimed his 150th win in a 73-57 win over South Division leader Upper Iowa on Jan. 6  at the Stewart Center. Johnson has 170 career wins overall and will coach in his 306th game against Concordia-St. Paul on Friday  

Wessels earns 1st NSIC Player of Week honor; has 14 double digit games this year
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 Jan. 16. 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. Wessels, who has totaled 14 double digit scoring games, including eight in the past 10 games, is averaging 10.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 3.5 apg. In league play Wessels averages 11.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 3.95 apg.

Guebert leads USF in scoring and rebounding
Sophomore forward Drew Guebert, who has 744 points in 58 career games, is leading USF in scoring with his 15.5 ppg, which ranks 15th in the NSIC. Guebert, who has eight 20-point games this season and 11 in his career,  is supplying 5.2 rebounds per game . He had a season-high of 30 points in the season opener against Emporia State. He has 375 career games with double digit points.  He ranks 12th in made three all time with 122. Guebert's 63 triples in 2016-17 ranks 9th on USF's all-time chart.

Cougar Tracks
~ In total, USF has had 100 double digit scoring games  in 2016-17 with Drew Guebert  at a team-high 23, including 10 straight.

~ USF has been snake bitten this year as they have lost eight games this season by two points or less, including five in league play.

~ Daniel Hurtt, who has scored in double digits in 20 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.  Hurtt is approaching 700 career points, sitting at 682 in 56 career games. He has nine starts this season, including the last two games when he totaled 38 points, scoring 20 against Wayne State for his fourth career 20 point game.

~  Senior forward Clint Thomas (10.3 ppg) ranks seventh in the league in three point shooting at 46.9 percent on 67-of-143 shooting.  Thomas is tied for 10th in made threes all-time at USF with 127 with Lance Winter  (1991-93).

~ In games, USF has led at halftime, they are 12-7, 1-1 when tied at the break and 0-5 when trailing at halftime. He ranks fifth all-time for made triples in a season with 67 this year and his 60 a year ago is 11th on the career charts.

~ Three players for USF all have at least 122 career made three-point field goals, which is a first in the history of the program. Mack Johnson is USF's all-time leader at 224 while Clint Thomas is 10th with 127 and Drew Guebert 12th at 122.  

~ USF has shot over .500 eight times this season and are 6-2 in those games. The season best performance was the 38-of-58 performance for 65.5 percent against Concordia-St. Paul on Jan. 21.

~  Junior forward Tom Aase has set a program D2-best with 128 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.  

Mack Johnson owns school record for 3's; approaching 8th on USF's scoring list
With 378 points this season, including 20 double digit scoring games (77 in his career), Mack Johnson ranks 9th on USF's career scoring chart. He has 1,572 career points, and needs 18 points to pass Hall of Famer Luther Hippe (1,589, 1983-86)on USF's career list. After making 42-of-144 three point baskets this season, Johnson is the school's all-time leader in made 3-point shots with 224, which is 31 more than second place held by  Ryan Coapstick (2001-03) and Derek Brown (2010-14) with 193.  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. Johnson, who ranks 8th all-time in games played with 113, has had a three point field goal in 98 games with 55 games with two more treys. Additionally, he has 32 games with three or more threes and 10 contests with five or more.

Seniors to play final regular season game on Saturday
 On Saturday, six USF seniors will play their final regular season game at USF. After Saturday, they will play in the postseason as part of the NSIC Tournament. The seniors include Mack Johnson, exercise science major, Roseville, Minn., son of Monte and Mary Johnson; Clint Thomas, sports management major, McCall, Idaho, son of Tim and Becky Thomas; Daniel Hurtt, business administration major, Kansas City, Mo., son of Martha and Lewis Hurtt; Kebu Johnson, criminal justice major, Hopkins, Minn., son of Patricia Jones; Cutler Finneman, business administration major, St. Paul, Minn., son of Jodi Lukenbill and Steve Finneman; and Tyler Thielges, exercise science major, Lamoure, N.D., son of Darren and Gwen Thielges.