SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (12-4, 7-3 NSIC) will host U-Mary (7-9, 4-6 NSIC) on Friday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Minot State (7-12, 2-8 NSIC) at 6 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 19 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference cross divisional action at the Stewart Center.  

Led by senior guard Trevon Evans, the University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team, swept road games on Jan. 11-12 at Minnesota State, 74-45; and Concordia St. Paul, 95-64, to run their winning streak to four games. Evans was named NSIC South Division Player of the Week as he averaged 28 points, four rebounds and 33.5 assists while committing just one turnover as the Cougars moved into third in the NSIC South with a 7-3 record. USF is one game behind South co-leaders Wayne State and Minnesota State at 8-2.

At Stake
There is certainly a lot at stake this coming weekend for USF, which trails MSU and Wayne State by one games in the South Division standings. USF is 7-3 while MSU and Wayne State stand, 8-2 in the division.
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USF leads U-Mary, 5-2
Overall USF has a 5-2 all-time lead in the series, including 4-2 while members of the NSIC. USF registered a 75-66 win over U-Mary on Feb. 2, 2018 at the Stewart Center. On Feb. 3, 2017, U-Mary  defeated USF, 81-73 at Bismarck (McDowell Activity Center). Damonta Henry scored 25 and Bryan Jefferson supplied 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Mack Johnson led USF with 18 points while Clint Thomas had 13. On Dec. 12, 2015, U-Mary took a 69-65 decision at Sioux Falls (Stewart Center). Clint Thomas had 17 points and USF had a 29-22 advantage on the boards, 10-to-5 edge in made threes and 7-4 margin in blocked shots but fell to Mary at home. Damonta Henry led the Marauders with 12 points. Marquelis Edwards, who had 11 points, made a pair of free throws in the final seconds to ice the victory. On Dec. 13, 2014, USF edged U-Mary, 75-73 at Bismarck (McDowell Activity Center). USF's Jordan Stotts had 19 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks with a three-pointer at the 1:23 mark of the second half to give USF a 71-70 lead.  On Feb. 15, 2014, USF picked up a 79-71 overtime win at Bismarck (McDowell Activity Center). Mahlon Jones had 16 points and Derek Brown added 13 while Charles Ward converted all his points at the foul line (12-of-12). USF, which led 37-31 at halftime, outscored the Marauders, 12-4 in overtime. U-Mary, which was led by 16 points from Marc Musungayi, outrebounded USF, 41-39, and had a 41.7%-to-35.6% edge in shooting from the field. However, the Cougars won the game with a 31-of-36 performance at the foul line while the Marauders hit 16-of-30 charity tosses. DaMonta Henry sent the game into overtime tied at 67 with a three with six seconds left. In overtime, USF didn't make a basket from the floor but converted all 12 of its foul shots, including six by Ward. On Feb. 9, 2013, USF defeated U-Mary, 75-70 at the Sioux Falls (Stewart Center). Derek Brown scored 21 points, including 6-of-9 from three point range to lead USF.  The Cougars outscored the Marauders, 53-39 in the second half after trailing 31-22 at the break. USF, which also had 14 points from David Maxwell, hit 11-of-25 from three-point range and committed just four turnovers. Both teams had 29 boards. Josh Turner led all U-Mary with 28 points, including seven treys.

USF leads Minot State, 9-2, all-time in series
USF owns a 9-2 all-time mark against Minot State with an 80-59 decision at the Stewart Center on Feb. 3, 2018. In that game Drew Guebert scored 25 points with six rebounds while Teathloach Pal had 10 points and 13 rebounds. In NSIC matchups, USF has a 5-2 advantage. On Feb. 22, 2017, Guebert scored 23 points, including hitting the game-winning shot with a second to play, to lift USF to an 80-77 win in the first round of the NSIC Postseason Tournament. Minot State opened up a seven-point lead (61-54) on a Russ Davis triple with 9:36 to play. USF closed on a 26-to-16 run to grab the win. On Feb. 4, 2017, MiSU defeated USF, 77-66, at the Minot State Dome despite 16 points by Guebert and Mack Johnson. The Beavers, were led by 34 points and 13 rebounds from Tyler Rudolph. On Dec. 11, 2015, Mack Johnson hit a three-pointer with a second to play in overtime as the Cougars took a dramatic 66-65 win over the Beavers at the Stewart Center. USF trailed 64-58 with 1:29 left in overtime before USF rallied. Jordan Stotts had 17 points and seven rebounds while Johnson, who hit the game-tying basket with 13 seconds left in regulation, had 15 to lead the Cougars.  On Dec. 12, 2014, MISU's Dominque McDonald, who scored just five points, hit a floater to lift the Beavers to come-from-behind win. USF led, 42-33, in the second half before MSU rallied. Charles Ward led USF with

Cougars rank fourth in NSIC in scoring and fourth in scoring defense  
USF enters play this weekend ranking fourth in the NSIC with 80.2 points per game. The Cougars are fourth in defensive scoring at 69.5 points per game, which places USF third in scoring margin at 10.7 ppg. A lot of USF's success has coming from not only explosiveness on offense but a defense that has shutdown offenses. Last weekend, they held South Division leader Minnesota State to its lowest total in several years at 45 points and followed up by giving up just 64 points at Concordia-St. Paul. As a result, USF ranks first in the NSIC in field goal defense at 39.9 points per game. Another key factor to their success is a rebounding edge against every opponent. That margin has enabled USF to lead the league at 43.9 per game and a margin of 12.1 which is also the best in the league.   

Evans named NSIC Player of the Week for second straight week; selected to Bevo Francis Watch List and nearing 1,000 career points
All-league guard Trevon Evans, who has earned two NSIC South Division Player of the Week honors this year and five in his career, was named this week to the Bevo Francis Award Watch list. The watch list includes the top 100 players in small college basketball. Evans, who now has 986 career points, ranks third in the NSIC in scoring at 23.4 ppg.  Evans, who was the NSIC South POW on Jan. 14, has 16 straight double-digit scoring games and 20 dating to last year. The Wichita, Kan., senior guard has 11, 20-point games this season with 42 career double digit score games in 45 played. He is also averaging 4.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.4 steals with 48 made three-pointers (3.0 per game, 3rd in the NSIC). Against Minnesota State he had 27 points to lead USF to a win over their South Division foes. The next night against Concordia-St. Paul, Evans, who was named the NSIC Preseason South Division Co-Player of the Year (Ryan Bruggeman, SMSU) scored 29 points in 31 minutes of a 95-64 win at the Gangelhoff Center. He has scored 27 points or better in four of the last five games. A year ago, Evans was the NSIC Newcomer of the Year while also gaining all-league accolades.
   
Guebert has moved up to fourth in all-time scoring at USF   
Guebert, who was named second team All-NSIC a year ago, has played in 108 games, including 91 starts, and has moved up to fourth in career scoring at USF with 1,722 points. Guebert, who is averaging 19.9 points per game for sixth in the NSIC, needs 88 points to move past Tony Overbaugh for third all-time at USF. Overbaugh scoring 1,809 points from 1987-91. USF's all-time scoring leader is Gayle Hoover, who had 2,169 points from 1954-58. Ron Krayl, who is the only USF player drafted in the NBA or now defunct ABA had 2,029 from 1964-68. At USD, Krayl was a two-time NAIA All-America selection. He was selected by the Dallas Chapparals in the third round of the 1968 American Basketball Association (ABA) draft. After serving in the United States Army, Krayl was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1971 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft.
 
Guebert averaged 16.0 points (18. 14) and 4.5 rebounds (7, 2) while shooting .571 (12-of-21) from the field and .778 (7-of-9) from three point range in wins over Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul on Jan. 11-12. He has made 14-of-23 threes for 60.9 percent over the last four games. Guebert is also USF's career three-point leader with 243. Interestingly, his twin sister Madison Guebert, a two-time All-Summit league honoree, is the career three-point leader at South Dakota State with 321 three-pointers and has 1,591 points. As such, the twins have a combined 564 made three-pointers and  3,313 points. Adding in their mother's Melissa Olson Guebert's career point total of 2,001, which is the all-time point mark at Augustana, and the 332 points scored by their dad Dan Guebert, who also played (two years - 1985-1987) at Augustana, the Guebert family has collected 5,646 collegiate points between mom, dad, son and daughter. Melissa Olson Guebert , a 1987 graduate of Augustana, was a three-time All-North Central Conference selection, Academic All-American and Augustana Sports Hall of Fame inductee. When she played the three-point shot was not yet in existence. Dan Guebert was a guard at Augustana from 1985-1987. Also of note, a younger sister, Maci, is headed to USD. So yes, the Guebert family has had quite an impact in basketball in the region. As for USF's Guebert, Drew now has 82 games in double-digit points. And, Guebert ranks 16th in career points in NSIC play with 1,194 and is just 14 points from 15th.   

NSIC All-time Leading Scorers
1. Gage Davis, SCSU (2016-), 1,542 (2016-)
2. Daniel Jansen, AU (2012-16), 1,521
3. Tyler Rudolph, Minot St. (2015-18), 1,494
4. Cameron McCaffery, AU (2009-13), 1,455
5. Cody Schilling, AU (2008-12), 1,394
6. Joe Hasz, Minn. Crook. (1999-03), 1,389
7. Casey Schilling, AU (2012-16), 1,347
8. Scottie Stone, SCSU (2014-17), 1,336
9. Dan Hagen, SCSU (1977-81), 1,329
10. Brett Ervin, UMD (2010-13, 14-15), 1,291
11. Harrison Cleary, Minn. Crook. (2017-), 1,289
12. Terez Van Pelt, CSP (2011-15), 1,247
13. Ryan Rasmussen, UMD (2009-12), 1,244
14. Clayton Vette, Winona St. (2008-13), 1,210
15. Craig Heiman, CSP (2006-10), 1,206
16. Drew Guebert, USF (2016-), 1,194
17. Ryan Bruggeman, SMSU (2016-), 1,190
18. Larry Grimes, Mich. Tech (1968-72), 1,167
17. Jordan Miller, SMSU (2009-13), 1,164
19. Assem Marei, MSU (2012-15), 1,148
19. Eric Erdman, U-Mary (2006-11), 1,148
21. Ryan Bruggeman, SMSU (2016-), 1,190

Breaking Down Games won by USF
The Cougars have averaged 82.0 points per game in the 12 games won this year. In those games, USF has a 45.7-to-32.7 rebound average and have outshot opponents, 45.8 percent to 37.4 percent from the field. USF also has more blocks (50-to-39), steals (80-to-67) and offensive rebounds (167-to-113).  The Cougars have outscored opponents in the games won by 15.9 points. In the first half of those games, USF has a 465-to-339 margin with a 505-to-443 margin in second half and 14-to-11 advantage in overtime. Trevon Evans is averaging 23.9 points per game and shooting 40 percent from three-point range in USF's wins. Drew Guebert is scoring 19.1 points per game with 6.3 rebounds per contest in those games. Milan Surlic is averaging 9.8 points per game in the USF wins.