Huskies set for battles with NSU, MSU-Moorhead

Friday, January 25

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

Northern State University

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

1/24/2019 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – With the final month of the season looming, things are starting to heat up for the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team. Friday and Saturday, the Huskies are set for one of the biggest Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) weekends of the season, as they host league-leading Northern State University and Minnesota State University-Moorhead this upcoming Friday and Saturday.

The series could be one of the biggest of the season for St. Cloud State, as Northern State, MSU-Moorhead and the Huskies make up the top-3 teams in the NSIC North Division. For the second consecutive season, the Wolves are the top team in the NSIC North with an 10-2 record in conference play. The Dragons are a surprising team in the NSIC this season, as they are tied with St. Cloud State for second place in the league with a 8-4 record in NSIC play.

Fans who cannot attend the game in person can follow along via live stats, video and WJON's live radio broadcast. Score updates can also be found on St. Cloud State men's basketball official Twitter page (@SCSUmensbball).

Here are the five things to know before this weekend's NSIC North showdown:

68-61 – There is still a bitter taste in St. Cloud State's mouth after the way the 2017-18 season ended. Northern State ended the Huskies season in grueling fashion, as the No. 4 team in the country took down St. Cloud State 68-61 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. In fact, the Huskies led through the majority of the game and held a 53-47 lead with 8:53 remaining. However, Northern State's strong three-point and free throw shooting eventually clinched the 68-61 win, even though St. Cloud State trailed by just two points with 23 seconds remaining in regulation.

45 – Senior guard Brindley Theisen (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Cathedral) may very well be the next Husky to make history, as he is just 45 points away from breaking the 1000 point milestone. If he scores 45 points or more this weekend, Theisen would become the 42^nd player in program history to reach the historic milestone and join teammate Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) as the only current players from St. Cloud State on the list.

10/13 – Theisen isn't the only player from St. Cloud State who could make history this weekend. Davis and Sean Smith (Seville, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) are both on pace to break school records in the upcoming games. Davis is 11 shots away from breaking another one of Dan Hagen's records, this time in career field goals made (843), and is one steal away from breaking the 100 steal mark, making him the first Husky in program history with 2000+points, 800+ rebounds, 300+ assists and 100+ steals. Smith is on pace to break Andrew Bernstetter's program record for career blocks (174). In just two seasons with the Huskies, Smith has already racked up 159 blocks and already holds the record for single season blocks (88) and single game blocks (8).

1/1 – If there's two things Northern State is good at as a team, it's scoring a lot of points while playing really good defense. The Wolves are the top ranked team in the NSIC in both scoring offense and scoring defensive in NSIC play this season, as they've scored a whopping 1078 points while holding opponents to just 891. In short, Northern State averages 82.9 points per game and allow its NSIC opponents to score just 68.5 points per game.

82.3 – MSU-Moorhead is no stranger to scoring either. The Dragons rank third in the NSIC in scoring, as they average 82.3 points per game against conference opponents. However, defensively, MSU-Moorhead ranks 13^th in the conference this season. While the Dragons have scored 987 points, they've also surrendered 997, accounting for their 8-4 record.

Bonus number:

200 – Jumping back to Brindley Theisen, this won't be the first time the senior has made history this season. In the Huskies 107-91 loss to Concordia-St. Paul last weekend, Theisen became just the sixth player in program history to make 200 three-point field goals in his career. He also surpassed former Husky Alex Carlson as sixth all-time in the category with 207 made three-pointers in his career.

Another bonus number:

2 – The Wolves have just two student-athletes who rank in the top-10 in the NSIC in any statistical category this season. Senior guard Ian Smith ranks in the top-10 in three statistical categories, including assists and assist to turnover ratio. Through 12 NSIC games, Smith has racked up 71 assists for a 5.5 assists per game average while committing just 28 turnovers. Those numbers give him an assist to turnover ratio of 2.5, while ranks fifth in the conference. Joining him on that list is teammate Andrew Kallman, who ranks sixth in the NSIC with assist to turnover ratio of 2.4.