SIOUX FALLS -- The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (17-9, 12-8 NSIC) will close the regular season with a pair of road tests at city rival Augustana (16-10, 12-8 NSIC) and Wayne State (18-8, 13-7 NSIC) on Feb. 22-23. The Cougars, which rank second nationally in rebound margin (10.7 per game), will face the Vikings in a rivalry match up on Friday (Feb. 22) at 7:30 p.m. at the Elmen Center. USF, which has clinched has had a .500 record or better for the fourth time in six years in NSIC play, will also travel to face South co-leader Wayne State at 5:30 p.m., Saturday (Feb. 23) at Rice Auditorium in Wayne, Neb.
 
AT STAKE
After an 2-0 home swing, the Cougars will wrap up the regular season at Augustana and Wayne State. The Cougars have plenty at stake this weekend.  USF, which has clinched a home game when the NSIC Tourney begins next Wednesday with home games at top four seeds in both NSIC divisions, is tied with Augustana with 12-8 South Division conference records. The Cougars, which defeated Augustana, 77-73 on Jan. 5 at the Stewart Center, will try to pick up a second straight season sweep of the Vikings. The Cougars have won four of the past five games in the city rivalry series. With a win, the Cougars will clinch at least third in the NSIC South. USF, which defeated Wayne State, 77-71, on Jan. 4 at the Stewart Center, will try and move up to second or possibly even first with their play this weekend. If USF goes 2-0 and MSU, Wayne State both take a loss (Winona State or Upper Iowa), the Cougars could find themselves sitting with a No. 1 seed in the tournament. If USF goes 1-1 and Augustana goes 2-0, the Vikings would earn the No. 3 or higher South Division seed.   

What happened last week
Last weekend, the Cougars swept Winona State and Upper Iowa at the Stewart Center. For the first time since Feb. 1, 2011, the Cougars earned a home double overtime win with an 84-80 verdict in 2 OT against Winona State. Drew Guebert scored 33 points with nine rebounds while Trevon Evans contributed 25 points with six boards and two crucial free throws that iced the win over WSU in the final 10 seconds of the second overtime. In the 80-60 Upper Iowa win, Trevon Evans had 28 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Guebert added 20 points with five rebounds. It was the seventh time this season and 13th time as teammates that the All-NSIC tandem both scored 20 or more points in the same game.

On the Opponents -- Augustana, Wayne State
AU, directed by veteran head coach Tom Billeter, who picked  up his 400th career win last weekend, has won three straight games and also in tight games. They ended St. Cloud State, 92-91; defeated Minnesota State, 97-90 in double overtime in Mankato and edged Concordia St. Paul, 83-78. The Vikings will be led in scoring by sophomore Matt Cartwright with 16.4 points per game and has hit 42.9 percent on threes with 70 total on the season. Tyler Riemersma will be back for AU after missing the first game. He is averaging 15.5 points and 8.7 rebounds in 12 games. Freshman guard A.J. Plitzuweit added 14.5 points and Michael Schaefer, 13.5 ppg. The Vikings rank eighth in the league in scoring at 78.8 ppg and 10th in scoring defense at 77.1 per game. They are third in rebound at 37.8 boards per game and third in free throw shooting at 78.2 percent.

As for Wayne State, they are tied for the lead at 13-7 in the NSIC  South. Directed by veteran head coach Jeff Kaminsky, who has 474 career wins, the Wildcats have lost three of four games. WSC recorded a 94-74 road win over Concordia St. Paul on Feb. 15 and then dropped a 89-78 decision to Minnesota State on Feb. 16 in Mankato. Senior guard Trevin Joseph leads the team in scoring at 16.3 ppg and averages 3.0 rebounds. Senior guard Kendall Jacks has scored 15.8 ppg and also grabs 4.9 rebounds per contest.

Seniors look to finish regular season strong
The USF Men's Basketball Program, directed by all-time wins leader Chris Johnson (209 wins, 193 at USF), has five seniors which will look to wrap up the regular season in a strong matter. Seniors include forward Drew Guebert, senior guard Trevon Evans, senior guard Aaron Rothermund, senior guard Jacoby Odegaard and senior forward Justin Taylor. The group has compiled a 35-19 recorda 37-19 record in the past two years and a 69-48 mark over the past four seasons. Led by this group of seniors, USF has advanced to the NSIC Postseason Tournament quarterfinals three straight years.  

Evans ranks third in NSIC in scoring
Evans ranks third in the NSIC and 12th in NCAA DII in scoring at 23.5 per game. In 55 career games, Evans, an All-NSIC selection and NSIC Newcomer of the Year in 2017-18, has 1,222 career points, which ranks 20th all-time at USF. He also has 147 made threes which rank 9th all-time at USF. Named NSIC South Division Preseason Co-Player of the Year in 2018-19, Evans has 611 points this season, which is  tied for his 611 a year ago 11th all-time at USF. He has become just the second player in school history with 600 points in back- to-back seasons. Gayle Hoover, a USF Athletics and South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame inductee, had 627 points (9th all-time at USF, 28.5 ppg) in 1956-57 as a junior and added 605 points (13th all-time at USF, 25.2 ppg) as a senior in 1957-58 for USF. Evans has 17, 20-point games this season and 33 for his career with nine 30-point games, including a career-high 42 points against NSU on Jan. 26, 2018. He is fourth at USF in made threes for a season with 80. Those 80 treys ranks as the 17th most in DII. Six times , including three times this year, he has been named the NSIC South Division Player of the Week. He has been named to the Bevo Francis Award Watch list, which includes the top 100 players in small college basketball.  

Guebert ranks 3rd all-time in scoring and 1st in 3s at USF
Senior Drew Guebert ranks third all-time in scoring at USF with 1,923 points in 118 games with 97 career starts.  He is USF's career leader in three pointers with 261. A two-time Academic All-NSIC selection, he was named All-NSIC a year ago. Guebert, who has earned three NSIC Player of the Week and a U.S. Basketball Writers Association recognition, has also moved into seventh place on the NSIC all-time  scoring list (league games only) with 1,395 points. He has 90 career games in double-digit points and 42 games of 20 points or more. Guebert, who has made 60 straight starts, is tied for fifth in games played at 118 with Chad Bendt,1991-95; David Maxwell, 2009-13; and Zach Wessels, 2014-18. He also has totaled five double doubles and five games of 30 points or more.

USF and Augustana tied 36-36 all-time in series play
USF will face Augustana for the 73rd time with the Vikings and Cougars deadlocked with 36 wins each. On Jan. 5, 2019 at the Stewart Center, Trevon Evans scored 33 points with six rebounds and Drew Guebert had 16 points to lead USF to a 77-73 win. USF led 42-40 at halftime and outscored the Vikings, 35-33, in the second half. USF made just six threes but hit 19-of-26 free throws and held a 41-to-35 rebound edge. Augustana had 25 points from Matt Cartwright and hit 11 threes with 10 foul shots. This intra-city rivalry began in the 1922 season as USF defeated the Vikings, 30-12 on Jan. 23. USF won the first seven games of the series, including a 55-16 decision on March 9, 1922. The Cougars have won four of the past five games in the series as they swept the 2017-18 series. In fact, USF won 9-of-12 meetings to open the series with the first Augustana win coming on February 24, 1926. Two games in 1927 were ties but the scores are unavailable. USF, which once led the season series, 25-10-2, won eight of 10 games played between 1929-30 and 1934-35 and 7-of-8 from 1938-41. A 42-40 win by USF in 1940-41 was the last match up for the schools for 46 years until Augustana took a 96-74 decision on Nov. 20, 1987. The Cougars ended a seven-game losing streak with a 69-62 come-from-behind victory on Dec. 31, 2016 at the Sioux Falls Arena. It was USF's first win at Augustana since a 93-87 victory at the Elmen Center on Nov. 22, 1994. Augustana defeated USF, 80-78 on Feb. 10, 2017 at the Stewart Center. USF won the first match up of a year ago with a 70-61 overtime decision on Dec. 31, 2017 as Drew Guebert had 18 points. Down seven with 12 minutes to play, USF rallied to send the game into overtime, outscoring the Vikings, 13-4 in the extra session.  Then, on Feb. 10, 2018, the Cougars had 23 points from Trevon Evans, 21 from Aaron Rothermund and 18 from Drew Guebert to capture an 88-86 win over the Vikings at the Sioux Falls Arena. On Dec. 31, 2016, the Cougars ended a seven-game losing streak to the Vikings with a 69-62 come-from-behind victory on Dec. 31, 2016 at the Sioux Falls Arena. It was USF's first win at Augustana since a 93-87 victory at the Elmen Center on Nov. 22, 1994.

Wayne State leads series, 15-10
In the most recent meeting, the Cougars took a 77-71 win over the Wildcats to edge WSC's three-game winning streak in the series. In the USF win, Guebert had 23 points and 10 rebounds while Trevon Evans supplied 16 points. The Cougars, which hit nine threes and own a 48-to-24 rebound advantage, led 38-33 at halftime. WSC was led by Trevon Joseph with 35 points, including eight triples. Kendall Jacks had 25 points as the tandem supplied 60 of WSC's 71 total points. This will be the 26th meeting between the schools. WSC won twice a year ago, including a 78-64 win over the Cougars on Feb. 11 at Wayne, Neb., and a 78-66 decision to the Wildcats on Dec. 30, 2017 at the Stewart Center. Trevon Evans had 22 points and Drew Guebert, 17 to lead the Cougars in the setback at the SC. Trevin Joseph scored 22 and Kendall Jacks, 21, to lead WSC, which outscored USF, 47-29 in the second half. WSC won the first five games of the series in a series that began in the 1929-30 season. The streak ended when USF took a 41-23 win in 1940-41. USF ended a three-game losing skein to the Wildcats with an 85-75 win over WSC at the Stewart Center on Dec. 6, 2013. In 2014-15, the two teams split with USF defeating Wayne State, 80-77 at the Stewart Center on Jan. 3, 2015. On Feb. 13, 2014 at Rice Auditorium, WSC won, 73-50.  On Feb. 11, 2017, USF had 20 points from Daniel Hurtt but fell to the Wildcats, 80-68, at the Stewart Center. In USF's last win over WSC, the Cougars had 24 points from Mack Johnson and 13 from Drew Guebert in a 64-58 decision at Rice Auditorium. On Feb. 12, 2016, USF had its last win over WSC at home with a 79-58 decision as Mack Johnson scored 16 points.  

Cougars rank second in NCAA DII in rebound margin
USF has outrebounded 25-of-26 opponents this year and leads the NSIC at 41.7 boards per game, which is 12th in DII. The Cougars are ranked first in the NSIC and second in NCAA DII in rebound margin at 10.7. The Cougars enter play this weekend also ranking fifth in DII in total rebounds with 1,083.  Individually Trevon Evans ranks 12th in the country in scoring at 23.5 points per game. He is eighth in DII with 611 points and ranks 17th in made threes with 80.

USF, which sits sixth in scoring defense at 71.8 ppg, ranks first in the NSIC in field goal defense at 41.6 percent and fifth in three-point field goal percentage at 35.4 percent. The Cougars are sixth in scoring at 79.3 points per game, which places USF third in scoring margin at 7.5 ppg.  

How USF stacks up in South Div. games
Through 12 South Division games, the Cougars have outscored opponents, 82.4 -to-72.1 ppg. They have hit 46 percent from the floor and 36.2 percent from three-point range while averaging 8.2 threes per game. Opponents are shooting 39.9 percent and 36.3 percent from three point range. But they have made 9.2 threes per game. The Cougars own a massive 44.2-to-30.9 rebound advantage. Individually both Evans, who has scored 23.3 points per game, and Guebert, who is at 21.8 points per game, are providing 20 or more points in the South Division encounters.

Evans averaging 24.1 ppg in away games
USF is 5-4 on the road in conference play. The Cougars outscore opponents, 80.2-to-72.0 per game with a 41.1-to-28.4 rebound edge. Evans is leading the way with 24.1 points per game on the road while Guebert is providing 17.6 points. USF has 48.4 percent from the field and 38.0 percent from three in road games. Also the Cougars average 7.8 made threes but allow 8.9 to home teams. Those home teams are shooting 42.3 percent from the floor.