SIOUX FALLS -- The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (13-6, 7-5 NSIC South, 3rd) which leads the NSIC in rebounding and ranks third in scoring, will continue a  four-game NSIC road swing at #12 Northern State  (20-2, 13-1 NSIC, North, 1st) at Wachs Arena at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26.  The game will be televised on Midco with David Brown on the call. On Saturday, the Cougars head to MSU Moorhead  (5-15, 3-11 NSIC North, 8th) for a 6 p.m. tip off at Alex Nemzek Hall in Moorhead.

USF, which has won five of eight games, stands 1-1 on the current four-game road trip. The Cougars split a pair of games last weekend, falling in a shootout South Division leader Minnesota State, 99-82, before rebounding with an 85-64 victory at Concordia St. Paul.

With the victory over the Golden Bears, the Cougars, which feature two of the league's top six scorers in Drew Guebert (20.5 ppg) and Trevon Evans (20.0 ppg), improved to 8-6 in league play. Ahead for USF will be a matchup with long-time in-state rival Northern State, which leads the NSIC North with a 13-1 record and stand 20-2 overall. USF and Northern State will meet for the 79th time. On Saturday, the Cougars will face MSUM, which is 5-15, including 3-11 in the NSIC North.

Series Notes --  USF vs. NSU
USF trails NSU, 58-20 in a series that dates to the 1927-28 season when the Cougars won the first meeting ,20-18. The Wolves recorded their first win in the series with a 31-22 decision in 1930-31. NSU has won seven straight in the series, including a dramatic 86-84 victory a year ago at the Stewart Center.  After Mack Johnson, who had 18 points, converted a lay-up with 10 seconds to play, Mack Arvidson hit a three-pointer as the clock expired to give NSU the victory.  USF, which had a 35-23 advantage at halftime, led by as many  as 18 points early in the second half before the Wolves rallied. USF's last win over NSU was a 71-70 decision at Wachs Arena on Nov. 23, 2002. Adam Burnison scored 24 points while Brett Moody added 14. Jared Obering led NSU with 19;  Current NSU assistant coach Sundance Hicks was on the Wolves that season, finishing with 10 points.

Series Notes  - USF vs MSUM
MSUM has won three straight in the series and lead 8-2 overall. In the first matchup, held in the 1975-76 season, MSUM defeated the Cougars, 75-66. USF's first win was a 73-70 win in 1976-77. The Cougars' last win over the Dragons was a 92-70 decision at the Stewart Center when five players scored in double digits, including Charles Ward with 21 points and eight rebounds. Mahlon Jones had 17 and Derek Brown, 15.  USF shot  50.9 percent from the floor and held a 39-35 rebound edge. Prescott Williams had 12 points and Jordan Riewer, 11, for the Dragons. In the most recent meeting, MSUM built a 42-22 lead at halftime en route to an 84-59 win at the Stewart Center. Jon Doss had 18 points for MSUM, including four of the Dragons' 12 3's on the night. Addison Park added 13 for MSUM. USF, which was outrebounded, 40-28, was led by 11 points from Drew Guebert, Zach Wessels and Daniel Hurtt.  

Inside Scoop on Cougars
Through 20 games, USF has been one of the league's best scoring teams, averaging 80.5 ppg (3rd, NSIC) with 12 games of 80 points or better.  USF is led by junior forward Drew Guebert, who ranks third in the NSIC in scoring at 20.5 ppg.  Junior guard Trevon Evans is sixth in the NSIC in scoring at 20.0 points per game.   The Cougars, picked ninth in the NSIC Preseason Poll,  lead the NSIC in rebounding at 39.3 per game and margin at 6.6 differential.  

NSU comes into the game nationally ranked at #12 in the NCAA DII poll. It is a squad that ranks first in scoring defense at 65.5 ppg and sixth in scoring at 79.2 ppg. NSU is third in rebounding in the NSIC at 35.8 per game and first in rebounding defense at 29.2 caroms per game. It is a team that is highly efficient and leads the NSIC in field goal percentage at 50.4 percent and rank fourth in three point shooting at 40.4 percent. DJ Pollard leads a balanced attack with 13 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Point guard Ian Smith adds 12.9 ppg and 4.7 boards while Logan Doyle supplies 11.3 ppg and Carter Evans, 10.3 ppg.

As for MSUM, the Dragons have had a challenging season at 5-15 with just one win in their last 10 games. In that game, they rolled up a 90-66 win over Wayne State at home. MSUM has the capacity to put points on the board, averaging 74.6 ppg but have allowed 82.8 per contest. Tanner Kretchman leads the way with 15.4 ppg, including a team-high 54 3's and 64 assists. Johnny Beeninga supplies 14.2 ppg while Travaun Coad adds 13.2 ppg and 6.8 rpg.

Cougar Tracks
~ USF has opened with 13 wins in first 20 games for the first time since 2011 when the Cougars started 15-5.
~ Junior forward Drew Guebert has 1,218 career points and has moved up to 19th on USF all-time scoring chart. He is the 33rd player to surpass 1,000 points in his career.   
~ A rarity, USF has had two players record double doubles of over 30 points and 10 rebounds. Trevon Evans had career highs with 31 points and 12 rebounds against Ft. Hays State while  Drew Guebert had a career-best 36 points with 10 rebounds against SMSU
~ Between Evans and Guebert, they have a combined six games over 30 points and 20 games of 20 points or more. Evans scored 31 against Fort Hays State, 31 against Upper Iowa and a career-high 32 on the road against St. Cloud State. Guebert had his career-high 36 points in the overtime win at home against SMSU, 31 at Winona State on Jan. 5 and 32 in the victory over Fort Hays State.
~ The Cougars have had three players (Jerrod Walton, 2; Trevon Evans, 10; and Drew Guebert, 10) combine for 22 games of 20 points or more.
~ In total, USF has a combined 62 double digit scoring games  from 10 players including Guebert, 18; Evans, 18; Walton, 7; Wessels, 3; Teathloach Pal, 2; Justin Taylor, 3; Drew Maschoff, 4; Austin Slater, 2; Aaron Rothermund, 4; and Chase Grinde, 1.
~ Four players including Slater (17), Evans (12), Maschoff (11) and Guebert (10) have recorded double digit rebounds and also had double doubles in those games. Slater had 17 points and 13 rebounds against SMSU, 11/25/17; Guebert, 36 points and 10 rebounds against SMSU, 11/25/17; and Evans, 31 points and 12 rebounds against Fort Hays State, 11/11/17. In his first career start, Maschoff recorded career-bests of 15 points and 11 rebounds in an overtime win over Augustana, 70-61, at the Stewart Center. Teachloach Pal had a team-high and career best 13 rebounds in the win over Minnesota Crookston. He now has two double digit rebounds game.
~ For the second time this season, USF has shot over 50 percent for three straight games.
~ USF has outrebounded 15-of-20 opponents team this season, including 13 teams by at least six rebounds, which has enabled them to lead the NSIC at 39.9 per game. When USF outrebounds opponents, they are 12-2 in 20-17-18. The Cougars' 6.6 margin per game also leads the NSIC.  The Cougars have had over 40 boards nine times with a high of 50 against both SMSU on Nov. 25 and Augustana on New Years Eve (12-31-17). In fact, USF has had a double digit margin over opponents in rebounds eight times.
~ In its 13 wins, USF has outshot opponents from the field 10 times with a season-best 56.3 percent against Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 9. The Cougars have shot at least 50 percent eight times
~ Four times in 2017-18, the Cougars have had at least 10 3's in a game with a high of 12 against Wisconsin-Superior and the most recent of 11 in a 72-70 loss at Winona State.
~ Redshirt freshman Austin Slater recorded his first career double double with 13 points and 17 rebounds in OT win over SMSU. He had totaled just five points and seven rebounds before his big game on Nov. 25. In fact, the 17 rebounds represents the most by a USF player since Kelly Hubbard had 19 on Jan. 13, 2009 (16 points, 18 rebounds, 85-84 win over Northwestern).
~ USF is 6-4 when trailing at halftime, 7-3 when leading at the break and 8-2 in home games.
~ USF has scored at least 41 points in the second half of 10 of 20 games and has had 45 or  more second half points five times.
~ USF has had at least one block in every game with a high of eight against Wayne State (12/30/17). 17 straight games, USF, second in the NSIC in blocks at 4.25 per game, have had at least two each game.
~ For stat nerds, Drew Guebert is an effective field goal percentage of 54.5 percent (accounting that three point shots have more value than two point field goals) and a true shooting percentage of 58.5 percent (player's shooting efficiency - accounting for field goals, three pointers and free throws in one metric) while accounting for 28.3 percent of plays by USF on offense. Trevon Evans has a 53.3 percent effective field goal percentage, 58.0 true shooting percentage and accounts for 30.5 percent of the USF plays. The Cougars have a team offensive rating at 109.8 and team defensive rating of  100.6 per game.

Player Awards
U.S. Basketball Writers Player of the Week -- Drew Guebert, Nov. 28
NSIC Player of the Week -- Trevon Evans, Nov. 13
NSIC Player of the Week -- Drew Guebert, Nov. 27, Jan. 8

How  Cougars stand in NCAA DII Statistics (as of Jan. 17, 2018)
Team                
Free Throws Made -- 38th, 315
Free Throws Attempted -- 46th, 433
Rebound Margin -- 28th, 6.7 per game
Defensive Rebounds Per Game  --18th, 29.10 per game
Total Blocks -- 18th, 85
Blocked Shots Per Game, 36th, 4.2
Total Rebounds -- 11th, 785
Total Rebounds Per Game -- 56th, 39.3

Individual
Scoring -- Drew Guebert, 44th, 20.5 ppg; Trevon Evans, 52nd, 20.0 ppg
Total Points -- Drew Guebert,  12th, 410; Trevon Evans, 35th, 380
Total Field Goals -- Drew Guebert, 13th, 147; Trevon Evans, 33rd, 133
Total FG Attempts -- Drew Guebert, 6th, 308; Trevon Evans, 19th, 286

Evans ranks sixth in the NSIC in scoring
Junior guard Trevon Evans ranks sixth in the NSIC in scoring at 20.0 points.  Evans set career-bests with 32 points and five threes (seven attempts) against St. Cloud State. In the 88-82 loss, he scored 11 points in the final 55 seconds of the game.  In a 91-66 win over UMD on Saturday, Dec. 9, he had 26 points with six rebounds in 30 minutes. In a 50-minute period between the second half of SCSU and first 30 minutes against UMD, he scored 53 points or over a point a minute. He had 31 points, including a career-best 27 points in the second half, to help USF rally to a 90-78 victory over Upper Iowa on Dec. 2. In a 91-85 overtime win over SMSU Nov. 25, Evans had 16 points and had the game-tying basket with 2.8 seconds to play. At the MIAA-NSIC Classic on Nov. 10-11, Evans tallied 28 points and nine rebounds in the 94-89 OT win against Emporia State on Nov. 10. He bettered his performance on the second day, lighting it up for a career-best 31 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as USF defeated Fort Hays State, 96-92 in overtime.  As a result of those performances, he earned NSIC Men's Basketball Player of the Week honors.  Evans has 18 double digit scoring games (28, 31, 13, 14, 16, 14, 31, 32, 26, 14, 22, 28, 10, 21, 13, 14, 24, 22) including 10 games over 20 points and three over 30.  He also has one double double . Thirteen times this season, he has totaled five or more rebounds and has three or more assists eight times.

Guebert ranks 3rd in scoring in NSIC ; 12th in DII in total points
Through 20 games, Drew Guebert, a junior from Apple Valley, Minn., is third in the NSIC at 20.5 points per game. Guebert, who is 12th in DII with 410 total points, has 10 games of 20 points or more, including three times (36, 32, 31) scoring over 30 points. Guebert has become the 33rd player in school history to top 1,000 career points. With 54  points in the last week, Guebert increased his career scoring total to 1,218 which ranks 19th on USF's career scoring chart.  He can move to 18th with 23 points and up to 15th with 54 points. He has 179 made three pointers in his career, which ranks fifth all-time at USF.  With eight more treys, Guebert will move into fourth all-time at USF, held by Chad Bendt, who had 186 from 1991-95. Guebert has been named the U.S.. Basketball Writers Association Player of the Week on Nov. 28.  This season, Guebert has been named NSIC  Player of the Week on Nov. 27 and Jan. 8. He has 58 double digit scoring games with 22,  20-point games. This season, he has scored double digits in 18 games. He set a career-best with 36 points and 10 rebounds, which helped USF defeat SMSU, 91-85 in overtime on Nov. 25. Guebert, who is averaging 5.9 rebounds per game, set a career-best with seven threes (12 attempts)  as he scored 31 points in a  72-70 loss at Winona State.