SIOUX FALLS -- (RV) The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (19-5, 13-3 NSIC), which is off to the best start in the program's DII history and leads the NSIC, will face South Division road tests with games at Winona State on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 pm at McCown Gym and at Upper Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 pm.  

On Friday, the Cougars, which owns five straight wins, will face Winona State, which they have defeated in overtime in two straight games. USF took an 87-85 OT decision at the Stewart Center on Jan. 25, 2020 after winning 84-80 in two overtimes on Feb. 15, 2019. In the previous two match ups to those overtime thrillers, USF fell at WSU, 80-77 on Jan. 26, 2019 and took a 72-70 loss on Jan. 6, 2018. USF, which leads the overall series, 8-7, has won once at WSU - a 90-81 decision on Dec. 2, 2016.

USF will face Upper Iowa for the second this year after the Peacocks took a 68-60 decision at USF on Jan. 20, 2020.  Prior to that loss, USF has defeated UIU five straight times. They included an 80-60 win at the SC on 2-16-19 and a 81-72 win at Fayette, Iowa, on Jan. 25, 2019. USF also had a 77-72 victory at Fayette on Jan. 5, 2018 and wins at home of 90-78 on Dec. 2, 2018 and 73-57 on Jan. 6, 2017. UIU's last win over USF in Fayette was a thriller, 78-76, on Dec. 3, 2016.

After five straight wins, Cougars increase support in NABC Top 25 poll

At 19-5, the Cougars, which received votes (22 points) in the NABC Top 25 Poll, are off to the best start in the program DII history. With a 15-3 league mark, USF also has the program's top mark through 18 league games in the DII era (since 2012-13). USF leads the NSIC by one game over Northern State and holds a three game advantage over Upper Iowa (12-6) in the NSIC South. With four games to play USF needs one win to clinch a tie for the NSIC South. The Cougars already have matched last year's win total of 19 and how has 19 or more wins in each of the past three seasons. 

 Last weekend, USF defeated two of the NSIC North's top teams with a 68-61 victory over Northern State (18-6, 14-4 NSIC) on Feb. 7 at the SC as freshman guard Jack Thompson scored 18 points, which included a career-best 10-of-10 free throws, and sophomore guard Troy Houghton added 16. With the cross divisional win in a first place showdown, the Cougars took a one-game lead over the Wolves for the overall NSIC lead. USF also recorded a home win over MSU Moorhead, 79-68, as sophomore guard Chase Grinde scored a career-high 29 points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Houghton also set a career-high with 17 points in the win over the Dragons, which sit in third in the NSIC North. 

USF, which has a 8-3 home mark and an 8-1 road record, picked up two roads win two weeks ago with a 66-54 decision at Bemidji State and a 77-62 verdict of Minnesota Crookston on Feb. 1 as Thompson set a career-best with 23 points. In the UMC win, USF avenged an earlier nonconference loss to the Golden Eagles with a double-digit victory. 

How to follow USF Men's BB

Follow USF Men's Basketball on twitter at @USFCooBBall. All USF's home games and NSIC contests are streamed for free through Stretch Internet 

at usfcougars.com/watch. Veteran announcer Tom Frederick will provide play-by-play for both the nonconference games on Stretch Internet and conference games at  KWSN.com.   For live stats for Winona State - USF, click here. For live stats vs Upper Iowa, click here.  

With balanced scoring and stout defense and boardwork, USF is off to best league start in program DII history

One of the keys to USF's success this season is the team's balanced scoring in which six players average 6.5 points per game or more. Redshirt sophomore guard Chase Grinde leads USF with 12.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game . Grinde has 16 games with double-digit points, which includes each of the last nine games. Junior forward Teathloach Pal, who has 11 career double-doubles, is supplying 10.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.  Junior forward Austin Slater is adding 9.8 points and has 7.0 rebounds per game.  For the first time at USF, both Pal and Slater had double-doubles in the same game when Pal had 10 points and 13 boards while Slater added 10 points and a game-high and season-best 14 rebounds in the win over Bemidji State (66-54) on Feb. 1.  Slater has four double-digit rebound and 12 double-digit scoring games this season, twice going over 20 (22 vs Lincoln, 11/8/19; 20 vs. St. Cloud State, 12/14/19). Pal has 15double-digit scoring games, including eight in the past nine games and nine double-digit rebound games which has resulted six double-doubles this season with 11 in his career.

Freshman guard Jack Thompson is averaging 10.6 points per game and has gone over 20 points four times with a career-high 23 vs. Minnesota Crookston on Feb. 1, 2020.  He also has 20 points against Minnesota Duluth, 12/13/19; 20 vs. Augustana on Jan. 4, 2020 and 21 against Minnesota State on Jan. 10, 2020.  He has 12 games in double digit points. He has hit 33-of-84 three-pointers for 39.3 percent from three and has 54 assists or 2.3 per game. He ranks second in the league with 1.8 steals (43) per game. In league play, Grinde leads the way with 13.7 points and is hitting 53.9 percent (90-167) from the field with a 58.8 percentage on three with 20-of-34 conversions. Thompson is scoring 12.7 points per game in league play and has hit 30-of-70 from three for 42.9 percent.

Second half difference makers

All of USF's numbers are higher in the second half. USF is outscoring opponents, 38.5-to-35.4 while hitting 48.7 percent (45.2 overall) from the field and 37.9 percent (33.3 overall) from three with an 18.0-to-14.3 rebound edge. USF is committing fewer turnovers than opponents 6.1 to 6.2 with more steals (3.3-to-2.3) and have shot and made more free throws (238-of-341, 69.8% to 187-of-245 for 76.3 percent) than their opponents. 

Breaking Down Winona State

Directed by Head Coach Todd Eisner, WSU has been on a hot run of late with its first road sweep of the season in wins over U-Mary, 86-83 and Minot State, 73-68.  In their last 10 games, they have three losses all by overtime. They fell to Wayne State, 102-97 in three overtime; lost to Sioux Falls, 87-85 in overtime and lost to SCSU, 90-83, in overtime.   WSU, which ranks 76.6 points per game for ninth in the league, lead the NSIC with 11.7 threes per game. The Warriors are led by a pair of 20-point scorers in Clint Wagner with 20.4 points per game and Kevion Taylor provides 20.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Wagner scored 47 points in a loss at USF, in which Taylor had 26 points.

Upper Iowa will look for 2nd win against USF

 Directed by veteran Brooks McKowen, the Peacocks will look for a second win against USF after a 68-60 win at the Stewart Center. At 12-6, UIU is second in the NSIC South and three games behind the Cougars. Jareese Williams leads UIU in scoring at 13.8 points per game while Jake Hilmer and Joe Smoldt both average just over 12 points per game. The Peacocks are a high scoring unit at 82.0 points per game. They rank second in threes per game at 10.2 and lead the NSIC with 7.63 steals per game.

USF closes January with 7-2 mark; 3-0 in February

USF was 5-2 in November this year and 15-5 over the past three seasons. The Cougars finished  4-1 in December and 11-7 over the past three seasons. In January, the Cougars finished 7-2 record this year and stand 18-8 over the past three seasons. The Cougars have opened February at 3-0. USF was 5-4  a year ago and 6-2 in 2017-18 for a 14-6 record over the past three years in February. 

In its move to the top of the NSIC, USF has utilized stout defense and steady rebounding. While USF is averaging 71.2 points for 14th in the NSIC, they lead the NSIC in scoring defense at 67.1 points per game.  As a result, USF is fifth in scoring margin at 4.1 per game.  In rebounding defense, USF is first in the NSIC at 29.2 while sitting fourth  in rebounding overall at 35.8 per game.

The Cougars, which average 11.7 offensive boards per game for second in the NSIC, also rank second in rebounding margin at 6.7 per game. Steadily, USF has moved near the top of the league (4th) in steals per game with 6.25 (150 total) per game. The Cougars have had more steals than opponents in 17-of-24 games and recorded seven or more steals 12 times and twice has had 12 steals in a contest. USF is also ninth in blocked shots at 3.08 per game.  After a slow start this season in shooting from the field, USF has moved up to 11th in the NSIC at 45.2 percent while holding opponents to 43.2 percent for fourth in the NSIC. Also USF ranks eighth in the NSIC with 13.3 turnovers per game, which is an improvement of nearly one per game (.6) over the past eight games.

USF is 15-3 when leading at halftime  and 16-2 when shooting better than its opponents.  In shots inside the arc, the Cougars have made 464-of-927 for 50.0 percent. The Cougars have a season high of 43 boards in a loss at Wayne State. Sixteen times USF has had a margin of six or more boards with a high of 22 against Southwest Minnesota State on Nov. 30 at the Stewart Center.  USF has won the rebound battle in 22-of-24 games, which includes each of the past 11 contests. Twelve times, USF has over 70 points with a high of 87 points in an overtime win over Winona State (87-85) on Jan. 25 at the Stewart Center. When USF has scored 70 points or more, they have an 14-0 record. 

For the second time (2017-18) in three seasons, USF opened the NSIC season with three straight wins. Then, the Cougars split with UMD and SCSU  and registered a 84-69 road win over SMSU with a 77-65 win at Wayne State and a 65-59 decision over city rival Augustana. The Cougars completed season sweeps of Minnesota State, 71-64, and Concordia St. Paul, 74-59, at the Stewart Center earlier which gave USF an 9-1 record and they opened 8-0 in the South Division. Both were DII program best starts. Since then, USF has a 6-2 league mark for 15-3 which is also the best in DII program history. The Cougars own a three-game lead over Upper Iowa in the NSIC South and lead the NSIC. 

Last weekend, USF defeated NSU, 68-61, in a first-place South-North showdown and then upended MSUM, 79-68. Last time on the road, USF Cougars picked up their four road sweep of the season with  66-54 win at Bemidji State and a 77-62 decision over Minnesota Crookston. Teathloach Pal and Devin Green scored 12 points to lead five USF players in double digit points in the win at BSU. Jack Thompson had a career-high 23 in the victory at UMC. 

In their last home games on Jan. 24-25, the Cougars recorded an 87-85 overtime win over Winona State on Jan. 25 as Teathloach Pal scored 18 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Senior captain Devin Green had a career-high 18 points and hit a late three in the game which helped force overtime. USF has gone 2-0 in overtime games at home in each of the past two seasons against WSU. USF also dropped a 68-60 decision to Upper Iowa. USF also had a 59-53 win at U-Mary and dropped a 69-66 decision to Minot State on Jan. 18.