Men's basketball looks to end January on high note

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University men's basketball team has hit a few road bumps and snags the past few weeks. The Huskies suffered their first 0-2 weekend in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play January 24-25, as they fell to Northern State and MSU-Moorhead in Divisional play. This weekend, St. Cloud State looks to right the ship as it faces Upper Iowa University and Winona State in another NSIC road weekend.

The two games are crucial to the Huskies in terms of NSIC standings. Currently, St. Cloud State sits in fourth place in the North Division with an even 7-7 record. Though the Peacocks and Warriors hail from the South Division, a sweep could help the Huskies secure their place in the top-four or drop them below .500 in conference play for the first time since 2015-16.

Tip off against Upper Iowa is currently scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday in Fayette, Iowa, while the game against Winona State is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start in Winona, Minnesota. Live stats, video and WJON's live radio broadcast will be available for this weekend's road games, and score updates will be made to the team's official Twitter page (@SCSUmensbball).

Here are the five things to know before this weekend's series:

3 – St. Cloud State is looking to snap its three-game losing skid this weekend, the team's longest losing streak against conference opponents since the aforementioned 2015-16 season. In fact, the Huskies haven't dropped more than two NSIC games in a row in five years, having lost a combined 19 conference games in that time span.

17.3 – First year guard Anthony Roberts (Chicago, Ill. / Oak Park) is having himself a month in January, as he's put together quite the impressive stat line. In eight games, Roberts is averaging an impressive 17.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting an impressive .538 mark from the floor. Additionally, the freshman has scored in double-digits in all eight games for St. Cloud State this month and recorded career highs in points (29), rebounds (13), assists (4), field goals made (11) and field goal attempts (18).

871 – Thanks to his outstanding senior season, guard Trevon Marshall (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston) eclipsed the 800 career points mark and now have 871 points in his career. How impressive is Marshall's final season of scoring though? Entering his fourth and final year with the Huskies, Marshall averaged roughly 5.5 points per game and scored about 151 points a season. This year? Marshall has nearly doubled that mark, as he's already scored 417 points through 20 games

6 – Oliver Ehrnvall (Uppsala, Sweden / Manhattan) seems to have secured his spot as a starter, as he's started six of St. Cloud State's eight games in January. The senior from Sweden returned to the starting line up on January 10 after serving as the first man off the bench for the majority of the first half of the season, often coming in as a sub for fellow international senior Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy).
.182 à .714 – Upper Iowa has put together one of the best turnarounds in the NSIC this season, improving from one of the worst teams in the conference to one of the best. Last season, the Peacocks posted a 4-18 (.182) record in NSIC play and earned the honor of facing St. Cloud State in the opening round of the conference tournament as the second worst team from the NSIC South. This season: completely different story. Upper Iowa may be the surprise team of the season, as it's gone 10-4 (.714) in its first 14 conference games with wins over Minnesota State, Northern State and Sioux Falls.

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Players Mentioned

Oliver Ehrnvall

Trevon Marshall

Diamond Onwuka

Anthony Roberts

Saint Cloud State University Athletics