Huskies close out regular season at home with BSU, UMC

Friday, February 22

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

Bemidji State University

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

2/21/2019 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – It all comes down to this. After four months, the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team's regular season will come to a close this upcoming Friday and Saturday. The Huskies are set to host Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota-Crookston in its final Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) games of the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

There will be a lot going on for St. Cloud State, as the team looks to solidify its No. 2 ranking the NSIC overall standings as well as the No. 4 ranking in the NCAA Central Region. Thanks to their 65-62 win over No. 18 Northern State University last weekend, the Huskies moved from No. 7 in the NCAA Central Regional preliminary ranking to No. 4 in the first official regional poll of the 2018-19 season. More importantly, St. Cloud State solidified its place as the No. 2 team in the conference this year and has a chance to take a share of the conference title with a little help from the Wolves. If Northern State drops both games to Mary and Minot State and the Huskies sweep Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston, St. Cloud State could earn a share of the conference title, its first since the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.

Of course, the Huskies need to sweep the Beavers and Golden Eagles, who gave St. Cloud State all it could handle earlier this season. In fact, Minnesota-Crookston beat the Huskies in early January 76-57 before St. Cloud State rebounded with a 107-101 double overtime win over Bemidji State the next day.

The Huskies will additionally honor their seniors before Saturday's game against the Golden Eagles. Fans who cannot attend the festivities 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's a special senior edition of the five things to know before this weekend's games:

241 – Senior guard Brindley Theisen (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Cathedral) has made 241 threes entering the final regular season weekend of his career as a Husky. That number currently ranks fourth all-time in St. Cloud State men's basketball program history, and Theisen is just five three-pointers away from passing Brett Putz to move to third all-time in made threes. The senior also ranks in the top-10 in career three-point shooting percentage (.443), attempted threes (544) and career-games played (121).

4.1 – For the past four years, senior guard Adam Heede-Andersen (Copenhagen, Denmark / Stenhus Gymansium) has proved to be one the most efficient guards in the NSIC. In both 2017-18 and 2018-19, Heede-Andersen ranked in the top-3 in the conference in assist to turnover ratio, including this year's mark of 4.1. In 20 NSIC games this season, Heede-Andersen has dished out 61 assists and committed just 15 turnovers, resulting in his 4.1 ratio. He also has the lowest turnover rate a game this season, as Heede-Andersen is averaging just .8 turnovers per game, the lowest number in the conference.

13 – Jace Kitchen (Dekalb, Ill. / Dekalb) may be the secret ingredient to St. Cloud State's success this season. The Huskies are 13-0 when Kitchen scored 12 or more points in a single game, and are 2-0 when he tallies at least 20. In fact, Kitchen was one of the primary reasons the Huskies beat the Beavers in overtime earlier this season, as his 20 points helped the team tie the game and take a late lead in the second half.

7 – Senior Ryan Wynn (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) has set career-highs in seven different categories in his third and final season with St. Cloud State. In the Huskies win over Minot State earlier this season, Wynn tallied career-highs in points, minutes played, field goals made, field goals attempts, free throws made, free throw attempts and rebounds and tied his career-high in steals.

3 – Forward Sean Smith (Seville, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) will graduate as the greatest shot blocker in St. Cloud State men's basketball history. Smith holds all three of the Huskies records in the category, including single-game blocks (8), single-season blocks (100) and career blocks (188). More impressively, it took Smith less than two years to break Andrew Bernstetter's record for career-blocks, which he set in four years with St. Cloud State.

Bonus number:

38/65/13/2 – Again, these are not coordinates to the long-lost city of Cibola. These are the number of double-doubles, 20-point, 30-point and 40-point games Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) has tallied throughout his career as a Husky. In 113 games for St. Cloud State, Davis has scored at least 20 points in 65 of those games, meaning Davis has scored at least that many points in 58% of the games he's played in, and has 38 double-doubles in his career. Additionally, Davis has scored 30+ points 13 times throughout his career and is the only player in St. Cloud State history to score 40+ points twice both in the same season and in a career. However, there may be an even more impressive number than any listed above. Davis has been held under 10 points just four times in his career: twice as a freshman, once as a sophomore and once as a junior.