Men’s Basketball Off To Upper Iowa and Winona State This Weekend

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men's basketball team (11-4, 7-2 NSIC) gets back in action this weekend with an NSIC road trip. The program takes on Upper Iowa (9-10, 2-8 NSIC) on Friday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m. at Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette, Iowa and Winona State (10-6, 5-5 NSIC) on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 6 p.m. at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minn.

Scouting Upper Iowa

Upper Iowa was swept at home last weekend by Sioux Falls (77-72) on Jan. 5 and Southwest Minnesota State (86-84) on Jan. 6
The program has lost three in a row and five of the last seven.
The team also has a record of 2-4 in home contests this season.
Carson Parker leads the club with his average of 16.8 points per game.
He is shooting 49.5 percent from the field, 36 percent from three-point range and 89.3 percent from the free throw line.
Parker is also pulling down 6.0 rebounds per game and leads the team with his 109 assists (5.73 per game).
Dennis Austin is second on the team with his average of 12.7 points per game.
Austin is shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 71.8 percent from the free throw line.
He also leads the team with his 23 steals.
Joe Smoldt picks up 12.1 points per game and leads the team with his 50 made threes and is a 41.7 percent shooter from three-point range.
Smoldt also is second on the team with his 22 steals.
Kam Rowan is also averaging in double figures at 10.7 points per game.
Rowan is second on the team with his 63 assists.
Munachiso Okonkwo leads the team in rebounds (140), rebounds per game (7.4), blocked shots (31) and field goal percentage (63.3) in only 19.6 minutes per game.
Okonkwo is also averaging 9.6 points per game.
Quentin Blaue sports an average of 6.2 points per game and is second on the team with his 34 made threes.
The Peacocks are averaging 79.2 points per game, while shooting 47.1 percent from the field, 36.9 percent from three-point range and 75.3 percent from the foul line.
Upper Iowa is coached by Brooks McKowen, who is in his fifth season with the program

Scouting Winona State

Winona State swept the team's two home games over the weekend over Southwest Minnesota State (W, 78-78) on Jan. 5 and over Sioux Falls (W, 72-70) on Jan. 6.
The program has won two in a row and are 8-1 in home games this season.
Winona State has also won each of their last six home games.
The team will take on Minnesota Duluth on Friday, Jan. 12, before welcoming in St. Cloud State.
Tommy Gathje leads the team with his average of 12.0 points per game, while shooting 50.8 percent from the field.
Mason Domask is putting up 11.9 points per game plus hitting his shots from the field at a 53.3 percent clip and knocking down 52.3 percent of his three-point attempts.
Carey Jeffs totals 11.8 points per game and leads the team with his 85 rebounds and 10 blocks.
He is second on the team with 18 steals.
Devin Whitelow records 9.7 points per game and is second on the team with 41 assists.
Caleb Wagner is the team leader in assists (72) and steals (23) plus is averaging 9.6 points per game.
The Warriors are averaging 77.13 points per game, while shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 40.5 percent from three-point range and 74.1 percent from the foul line.
The team is coached by Todd Eisenr, who is in his third season with the program and 20th season as a collegiate head coach.

Prior Meetings

SCSU is 16-6 all-time against the Peacocks since the first game of the series in 1951-52
The teams played twice last season with the Huskies defeating Upper Iowa 92-89 at home (1/13/17) and falling to the Peacocks by an 81-61 score in the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. (2/26/17).
In the home victory, Gage Davis had 26 points and five rebounds.
Scottie Stone had 22 points.
Trevon Marshall recorded 17 points and six assists.
In the loss in the tournament, Jon Averkamp led the charge with 25 points.
He also had seven rebounds.
Davis put up 10 points and 11 rebounds
Stone and Brindley Theisen both had 11 points.
The Huskies are 92-45 all-time against Winona State since the start of the series in 1922-23.
The program defeated the Warriors by an 88-65 score last season at Halenbeck Hall (1/14/17)
Davis had 29 points and nine rebounds.
Stone totaled 27 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Averkamp picked up 15 points and eight rebounds.
Andy Foley had nine points and six assists.

Listen to The Game
The games will be aired live on Granite City Sports (1390 AM) with J.W. Cox on the call. All SCSU games can also be heard online at www.1390granitecitysports.com

The majority of the SCSU games can also be heard on the KVSC Sports Stream

Live Stats/ Live Video Anyone?
Upper Iowa is running live stats / live video on their website for the game this Friday.

Winona State is running live stats / live video on their website for the game this Saturday.

Read This Week's Game Notes
A complete collection of interesting game notes, stats, rosters and records is available weekly in the SCSU Basketball Notes Package.

Notables

The Huskies picked up a pair of conference home wins last weekend in earning a 77-72 win over Bemidji State on Jan. 5 and a 71-55 victory over Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 6.
The team trailed Bemidji State by as much as 13 points in the first half and didn't take control and get the lead back for good until a made three from junior Gage Davis with 38 seconds remaining in the game.
The team was able to clamp down defensively and hold BSU without a field goal over the last 3:40 of the contest.
Senior Jon Averkamp led the team with his 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting.
He also had eight rebounds, a block and a steal.
Averkamp became the 41st player in school history with 1000 points with his first basket against the Beavers.
Davis chipped in 18 points and eight rebounds.
Junior Brindley Theisen recorded 12 points and five rebounds.
Junior Sean Smith led the team with his nine rebounds and tied for the squad lead with four assists.
He also had eight points and a steal.
Junior Jace Kitchen totaled eight points and four rebounds.
Davis led the team with a season-high 26 points against Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 6.
He also had five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Averkamp was steady with 18 points, eight rebounds and a team-high six assists.
Smith had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
His 14 rebounds were one off his career high of 15 boards against Mayville State (11/17/17).
He also tied his career-high with six blocks plus had three steals.
Theisen scored nine points.
It was only his fourth game this season under double figures.
Junior Adam Heede-Andersen had a career-high six rebounds along with five assists against UMC.
The team shot 50.9 percent from the field (29-for-57) in the contest against the Golden Eagles.
It was the seventh time this season that SCSU has shot 50 percent or better from the field.
The program held a 36-33 advantage in rebounding in the contest against UMC and are 10-1 when they win the battle of the boards.
SCSU improved their record to 11-1 when scoring 69 or more points.
St. Cloud State ranks in the top half of the conference in assist-turnover ratio (1.55 – 2nd), assists per game (16.7 – 2nd), blocked shots (3.9 – 4th), defensive rebounds per game (26.40 – 4th), fewest turnovers (161 – 6th), field goal percentage defense (44.0 – 7th), offensive rebounds per game (10.87 – 1st), rebounding margin (5.3 – 3rd), scoring defense (68.3 – 3rd), scoring margin (8.5 – 4th), steals per game (6.9 – 1st), total assists (250 – 5th), total blocks (59 – 5th), total steals (103 – 5th), turnover margin (3.0 – 1st), turnovers forced per game (13.73 – 3rd), turnovers per game (10.7 – 8th) and win-loss percentage (73.3 -4th)
Averkamp has led the team in scoring in 12 games and is fifth in the NSIC in scoring at 20.3 points per game.
He is also second in field goal percentage (60.4) shooting (125-207), which is even more impressive since he has taken the seventh-most shots in the league through the first eight weeks of the season.
Averkamp leads the conference in offensive rebounding (2.87) and is ninth overall in rebounding (7.0).
He leads the team with his 57.1 three-point percentage.
Smith is second in rebounds per game (9.3), blocked shots a contest (2.60) and defensive rebounds per game (6.93)
Smith is also fourth in the league in steals (1.60).
He has reached double figures in rebounds in seven games including five double-doubles.
Smith is also averaging in double figures on the season at 11.4 points per game.
His 39 blocks represent 66.1 percent of the team's blocked shots this season (39-of-59).
Theisen is third on the team with his average of 12.3 points per game.
He has scored in double figures in 11 of the 15 games
Theisen is seventh in the league in three-point field goals per game (2.33), fifth in three-point attempts (96) plus seventh in a total three-pointers made (31).
Heede-Andersen is eighth in the league in assists per game (3.9), 11th in total assists (58) plus 10th in assists to turnover ratio (2.00).
He is also tied second on the team in steals (15).
Six players on the have played in all 15 games this season with three (Averkamp, Theisen and Smith) starting all of them.

Up Next

The Huskies next return home to Halenbeck Hall to host Northern State on Friday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. and MSU Moorhead on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 6 p.m.
The program is 6-2 at Halenbeck Hall this season and went 13-4 in home games last season.
St. Cloud State is 39-16 at Halenbeck Hall since the start of the 2014-15 season.
The program is 28-14 all-time against Northern State in a series that started in 1959-60.
The program lost both contests to the Wolves last season.
The team fell to NSU by an 82-73 score on the road (1/20/17).
Gage Davis had 25 points and five rebounds.
Scottie Stone totaled 15 points.
Jon Averkamp recorded 11 points and five rebounds.
Mark Hall had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The team lost the return home game to Northern State by a 75-64 score in the home regular season finale (2/18/17).
Andy Foley had 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Davis chipped in 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Stone totaled 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Hall had 11 points, three rebounds and four assists.
The Huskies are 81-45 all-time against MSU Moorhead in a series that started in 1932-33.
The team has lost eight straight games to the Dragons including both games a season ago.
The team's last victory over MSU Moorhead was a 75-67 home win on Feb. 15, 2013.
The program lost to the Dragons by an 87-82 score on the road last season (1/21/17).
Davis had 29 points and 12 rebounds.
Stone put up 21 points and four assists.
Averkamp totaled 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The team fell to MSU Moorhead by a 104-97 score at home last season (2/17/17).
The game was the last time that SCSU has allowed 100 or more points in a game.
Davis had 35 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Stone totaled 15 points and eight rebounds.
Averkamp scored a career-high 27 points plus had six rebounds.
Hall has 11 points and five assists.