Men's basketball to face Minnesota State in nonconference play

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University basketball team could not have asked for a better start to this week. On Tuesday, St. Cloud State earned its first win of the season in resounding fashion, scoring over 100 points to take down Oak Hills Christian College. On Saturday, the Huskies look to keep the good times rolling, as they take on Minnesota State University – Mankato in a nonconference contest at 6 p.m. in Mankato, Minnesota.

Two perennial powers of men's basketball, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State will face each other twice this season, a tradition that started when the two teams joined the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) in 2008. Saturday's tilt will be in nonconference play before the two teams meet in a NSIC crossover showdown in mid-January.

Live stats and video will be available for Saturday afternoon's game, and fans can always listen to the live radio broadcast on WJON 1390. Score updates will also be made on the team's official twitter page (@SCSUmensbball).

Here are the five things to know before Saturday's match up:

1-1 – The Huskies and Mavericks split the series last year, as the road team was victorious in both meetings. In the nonconference opener, Minnesota State downed St. Cloud State in overtime 80-77, but the Huskies got their revenge later in the season, as they earned their own key OT NSIC victory 77-74 in Mankato, Minnesota.

3 – Unlike St. Cloud State, the Mavericks return three of their five starters from a 2018-19 team that, like the Huskies, made an appearance in the NCAA Region. In fact, former All-American Juwan McCloud is the only nonstarter not returning for Minnesota State, as Cameron Kirksey, Kevin Krieger and Jamal Nixon are all back this year. Kirksey and Krieger were big problems for St. Cloud State in 2018-19, as they scored a combined 83 points with 35 rebounds in two games against the Huskies last season.
2 – On the flip side, the Huskies return just two players who saw action against Minnesota State last season. Seniors Trevon Marshall (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) and Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) put in significant minutes against the Mavericks last season and started at least one game in the series. Marshall, in fact, played a key role in St. Cloud State's 77-74 OT victory, as he racked up nine points on 4-5 shooting with two big time second half steals to spur the team to victory.

0-2 – Neither the Huskies nor Mavericks got off to a hot start this season, as both teams opened 2019-20 with 0-2 records. Minnesota State opened the season with a tough 78-71 OT loss to (RV) Washburn before dropping its second game of the season to #10 Missouri Southern 74-69.

126 – St. Cloud State is coming off its most dominant offensive performance of the season, as the team defeated Oak Hills Christian College 126-48 for its first win of 2019-20. Eight Huskies scored in double-digits in the victory, including Ilya Tyrtyshnik (Kyiv, Ukraine / Kyiv Specialized School #49), Andrija Blatancic (Bergan, Norway / Academy of Arts), Onwuka, Caleb Donaldson (Bloomington, Ill. / Bloomington), Ethan Schuemer (Lombard, Ill. / Willowbrook), Oliver Ehrnvall (Uppsala, Sweden / Celsiusskolan), Tyler Marsh (Nelson, New Zealand, Waimea) and Jailen Moore (Redondo Beach, Calif. / Redondo Union). The 126 points ranks second all-time in program history in single-game scoring and the most points St. Cloud State has scored in a game since the team scored 111 against Iowa Wesleyan in 2017-18.

Men's basketball to face Minnesota State in nonconference play

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Players Mentioned

Andrija Blatancic

Caleb Donaldson

Oliver Ehrnvall

Tyler Marsh

Trevon Marshall

Jailen Moore

Diamond Onwuka

Ethan Schuemer

Ilya Tyrtyshnik

Saint Cloud State University Athletics