SIOUX FALLS (Feb. 16, 2021) --  The University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (6-4, 4-4 NSIC) will conclude their regular season confence slate with two road games at Southwest Minnesota State (2-7, 0-5 NSIC) on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19-20. Game time is set for 6 pm on Friday with a 2 pm matinee on Saturday at the R&A Facility in Marshall, Minn.

  

At Stake
With two games left in the regular season and berths for the NSIC Postseason Tourney up in the air, the Cougars have a big challenge ahead this season. The Cougars, which has lost three straight, will play SMSU for the 36th and 37th time in the series. USF trails the all-time series, 21-14 and has won just twice in 17 tries at Marshall. However USF won the last time they play against the Mustangs in Marshall in 2019-20.

As the regular season concludes, USF will need a pair of wins and a little help to make the NSIC Sanford Health Postseason Tournament. Currently, USF stands 6-4 overall but 4-4 in the NSIC South. At the top of the division is Wayne State at 9-3 in the South and is just ahead of Upper Iowa at 7-3. UIU has a division best seven-game winning streak. Minnesota State, which faces Concordia St. Paul is 6-5 while USF and Winona State both are tied at 4-4.

With the winning percentage a critical criteria in determining advancing teams, this week's match ups set up as a dandy of a final go-around in the South. USF plays at SMSU on Feb. 19-20. Augustana will host Wayne State while Upper Iowa goes head to head at Winona State. If USF wins two and Augustana loses 1-of-2 the Cougars would advance at the No. 4 seed. In that scenario they would face the #1 North team, which is currently Northern State, which is ranked No. 2 in NCAA DII. However NSU will host MSU Moorhead at Aberdeen, S.D., and MSUM is unbeaten in North Division play. Winona State will host Upper Iowa in another critical matchup. Should USF and Winona State both earn two wins then it would fall to a tiebreaker. If UIU wins two and Wayne State falls to Augustana once or twice, then the Peacocks will win the South.

As noted, a lot is yet to be decided as the final games in this CoVID-19 pandemic-shortened season are at hand.   

Follow USF BB - Broadcast & Social Media Links
Follow USF Men's Basketball on twitter at @USFCooBBall. All USF's home games and NSIC contests are streamed for free through Blue Frame at NSIC Network on USFCougars.com schedule page. Veteran announcer Tom Frederick will provide play-by-play for USF home games while John Gaskins will handle road games, which will be streamed on Blue Frame, live on the NSIC Network. USF Men's Games will be available on KWSN.com. Live stats for home games are available at www.sidearmstats.com/mbball.  

Quick Look at USF

Last week, the Cougars dropped a pair of games to city rival Augustana, 67-65, and 75-66 with both games decided in the final two minutes. Teathloach Pal, who leads USF with 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, led the Cougars with 12 points and eight rebounds in the 67-65 loss and had 18 points and two boards in the second game. Pal, who now has 735 career points and 701 career rebounds (9th all-time at USF), was honored on Senior Day on Saturday.  He now has 16 career double doubles, 33 double-digit scoring games and 20 games with double-digit rebounds. Plus he has led USF in rebounding 47 times.

Checking in - SMSU review

As for SMSU, the Mustangs fell twice to Wayne State, 82-54, and 74-56. In the first game Jake Phipps led the Mustangs with 11 points while Sam Schwartz came off the bench to score 13 and lead the Cougars on the second night.  Nick Default leads SMSU in scoring with 12.8 points while Kaden Evans adds 11.4 and Jake Phipps, 10.2 ppg.  Directed by 12th-year Head Coach Brad Bigler (189 career wins), the Mustangs lead the NSIC in three-point shooting at 41.3 percent and make 8.2 per game. They hit 44.1 percent from the field. They also allow 74.7 points per game. 

USF leads the league in offensive rebounds and rebound margin

The Cougars, which lead the league in offensive rebound average at 14.1 per game and rebound margin at 7.5 per game is also second in the NSIC with 37.8 rebounds per game.  

USF, which has dropped 4-of-6 games, played six of their final eight games on the road. USF, which was ranked nationally in the NABC Poll as high as 19th and received votes in each of the past two weeks, averaged 67.0 points per game but allow just 69.2 which is third in the league.

Under the guidance of reigning NSIC Coach of the Year Chris Johnson, the Cougars opened the season with a pair of nonconference and two conference home wins. USF turned back U-Mary, 64-60, and 71-68 in overtime. Then, they recorded 68-55 and 87-76 decisions over Upper Iowa at the SC before the four straight road games at MSU and Wayne State resulted in a 2-2 mark. Then, USF, playing without starting guard Jack Thompson, drops a pair to Augustana, which dealt them a blow in trying to advance to the NSIC Tourney.

Aside from Pal, USF is received 11.7 points per game from sophomore guard Jack Thompson, who has the team's season high with 27 points. Chase Grinde is coming off a game when he had 18 points for his 33rd double-digit scoring game of his career. Redshirt freshman Jake Kettner has reached double-digits three times. Marco Coudreau reached double-digits for the first time at USF on Saturday against Augustana.   

Series Breakdown - Cougars trail Mustangs, 21-14

USF will meet SMSU for the 36th and 37th  time with the Mustangs owning a 21-14 lead in a series that dates to 1968-69.  USF-SMSU are tied at 8-8 in conference games since USF joined the NSIC in 2012-13. SMSU leads the series 15-2 in games played in Marshall with USF's lone victory coming last season on Dec. 1, 2018.  USF has a 12-5 lead in games at the Stewart Center.

In their most recent meeting, USF took an 84-69 victory in Marshall, Minn., on Dec. 21,2019.  Jack Thompson scored 18 points and after a tight first half, USF had an 11-0 run midway through the second half to gain a six-point advantage (48-42, 13:20, 2nd half) and never relinquished the lead. USF also recorded  a 74-56 win on Nov. 30, 2019. On his birthday and during Thanksgiving weekend, USF HC Chris Johnson picked up the 200th win of his career as the Cougars recorded a 74-56 decision over Southwest Minnesota State at the Stewart Center. Leading the way for USF was redshirt sophomore forward Chase Grinde who had 19 points, seven rebounds and an assist, steal and block in 35 minutes on the floor. The Spring Grove, Minn., native hit 7-of-8 field goals and his only three-point shot. Grinde, who had his 10th career double digit scoring game, was also 4-of-6 at the foul line. USF also had double digits from three others which included junior guard Will Lybaek, who had 14 points for his fourth double digit game of the season. He was 5-of-8 from the floor. USF had career-highs from both freshman guard Jack Thompson and sophomore guard Troy Houghton who both scored 10 points. USF trailed early 8-2 but rallied back to within 32-30 at halftime. In the second half, USF dominated by outscoring their travel partners, 44-24, as they improved their home mark against SMSU to 12-5 and cut the all-time series to 21-13. The Cougars, which hit 12-of-20 shots for 60 percent in the second half, made 23-of-46 shots for 50 percent. While they were just 3-of-13 on three-pointers, the Cougars converted 25-of-33 free throws for 75.8 percent while owning a 41-19 advantage on the boards. USF's dominance on the boards was led by Grinde, Slater and Teathloach Pal, who had a game-high 13 boards along with eight points, a steal and block. 

Despite 29 points from Trevon Evans, USF fell to SMSU, 79-75 on Dec. 30, 2018. USF trailed 36-35 at halftime and was outscored, 43-40, in the second half by the Mustangs, which was led by senior Ryan Bargeman with 31 points, seven rebounds and five assists. SMSU used an 11-to-8 edge in made three-pointers and a 14-13 margin at the foul line to slip past USF. The Cougars, which owned a 41-32 edge on the boards, was hurt by turnovers, especially in the second half. USF had just one in the opening 20 minutes of play but then committed 13 in the second half. USF made 27-of-58 field goals for 46.6 percent and knocked in 8-of-19 shots from three-point range for 42.1 percent but hit only 13-of-21 foul shots for 61.9 percent. As for SMSU, they were 27-of-66 from the field for 40.9 percent but made 11-of-30 shots from three-point range while hammering home 14-of-17 free throws. 

In the first game last year, USF took a 94-72 decision on Dec. 1 2018 in Marshall, Minn. Led by a career-high 27 points from Milan Surlic, who would earn NSIC Player of the Week honors two days later, and 22 points from Trevon Evans and 21 from Drew Guebert, USF ended a 15-game losing streak to the Mustangs in Marshall, Minn. USF hit 56.4 percent from the field on 31-of-55 shooting and made 10-of-19 for 52.6 percent from three-point range. Additionally, they hit 22-of-27 free throws for 81.5 percent.

The Cougars opened up a 45-33 halftime lead and outscored SMSU, 49-39, in the second half. The Cougars, which led for 37:08 of the game, built its biggest lead of 24 points (80-56) with 7:40 to play in the second half. Surlic hit 9-of-15 field goals, including a career-best 4-of-7 from three-point range, while making all five of his free throws to score 27 points in 33 minutes. Surlic, who had his second 20-point game of the season, added four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Guebert made 6-of-10 field goals and 8-of-10 foul shots while grabbing five rebounds with a season-high five assists. Evans made 9-of-17 field goals against SMSU with 4-of-7 from three-point range. He added four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.

Led by Guebert's career-high 36 points and 10 rebounds, USF knocked off SMSU, 91-85 in overtime on Nov. 25, 2017 at the Stewart Center. However in the second match up in the 2017-18 season, SMSU recorded an 86-57 win at the R/A Facility. USF is 11-5 in games at the Stewart Center. SMSU has a 15-1 at the R/A Facility in Marshall.  

The teams met in the NSIC Tournament on Feb. 26, 2017 as SMSU registered a 79-68 victory in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals on Feb. 26, 2017 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. Guebert led USF with 19 points as he made four treys. On Nov. 28, 2016, SMSU defeated USF, 74-72 in Marshall, Minn. Guebert had 26 points and five rebounds for USF while Ryan Bruggeman added 15 points and Carter Kirk had a double double. On Dec. 16, 2016, USF dropped an 87-86 decision to SMSU at the Stewart Center, despite 27 points from Mack Johnson. USF led 86-83 with 1:21 to play after two foul shots by Zach Wessels, who had 16 on the night, but the Mustangs closed with four straight points, including a game-winning lay-up by Ryan Bruggeman with 10 seconds to play. 

On Dec. 8, 2015 at the Stewart Center, USF rallied from a 13-point deficit to pick up a 78-72 victory as Jared Mayes had 23 points and seven rebounds. in the second game of the 2015-16 season, (Dec. 19, 2015),  SMSU edged USF, 62-60 at the RA Facility in Marshall, Minn.  Mitch Weg and Bruggeman had 10 points. In 2014-15, USF and SMSU split a pair of games, each winning on its home floor. Down one in the final seconds at the Stewart Center, Charles Ward, who scored 23 points, hit a three from the left corner to give USF a 69-67 win over SMSU on Dec. 20, 2014.

Earlier, SMSU took a 72-68 win  on Dec. 2 at Marshall, Minn. In the series, the two teams have played five overtime games, with USF winning twice. The Cougars won the Nov. 25, 2017 game at the Stewart Center and registered 87-83 OT decision on Nov. 30, 2013, at the Stewart Center. USF won three straight in the series with victories in 1976-77, 1980-81 and 1983-84. SMSU won seven straight in 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1998-99, 2007, 2008 and 2012. USF's largest margin of victory was 32 points, 85-53, in the 1969-70 season at Sioux Falls.