St. Cloud State
8-8,6-6NSIC
University of Minnesota Duluth
6-7,5-7NSIC
Men’s basketball hosts Duluth in final regular season series
2/18/2021 12:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
ST. CLOUD, MINN. - It all comes down to this for the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team. After two months of practices and games in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play, the Huskies have reached the final weekend of the 2020-21 playoff season. St. Cloud State's final opponent of the regular season: the team's conference rival the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Naturally, it wouldn't be a regular season finale if there weren't major playoff implications on the line. After last weekend's road sweep over Minnesota-Crookston, the Huskies currently sit in third place in the NSIC North Division standings, meaning if the season ended today, they would be playing in the NSIC / Sanford Health Conference Tournament next weekend. A sweep against Minnesota-Duluth could solidify St. Cloud State's place in the conference standings and the conference tournament.
Friday's tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall, and Saturday's game is slated to start at 2 p.m. At this time, St. Cloud State is allowing family members of the home and visiting teams to attend sporting events at a limit of 150 people. All communications and protocols will be sent from the University to attending family members no later than 24 hours prior to competition.
Fans who cannot physically sit in the stands can follow the team in a multitude of ways. Live stats and video will be available, as will two radio broadcasts on RadioX and WJON 1390. Score updates will also be made to the team's official Twitter account (scsuhuskies_mbb) when possible.
Here are the five things to know before Friday's 6 p.m. tip:
1 - The Huskies will honor one senior prior to Saturday's game: Ilya Tyrtyshnik (Kyiv, Ukraine / Kyiv Specialized School #49). The guard is the lone senior on St. Cloud State's roster this season, though his year was cut short due to an injury suffered against Minot State. In two seasons with the Huskies, Tyrtyshnik played and started 32 games of his Huskies career, scoring 341 points with 107 rebounds, 39 assists, nine blocks and 30 steals. He scored a career-high 26 against Concordia-St. Paul in January of 2020, and recorded career highs in rebounds, assists and steals his junior seasons.
12.8 / 6.5 - Freshman forward Josh Tomasi (Melbourne, Australia / Western Colorado) has come to life in the last five games for St. Cloud State, averaging 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds in that time span. His best weekend of the season came last weekend, when the Huskies swept Minnesota-Crookston by scores of 74-70 and 78-59. Tomasi scored 16 points and tallied seven rebounds back-to-back nights while shooting over .500 from the floor against the Golden Eagles.
14 - St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth have met 14 times dating back to the 2013-14 season, with the Huskies holding an 8-6 advantage in those meetings. St. Cloud State is especially good in Halenbeck Hall. Since 2013-14, the Huskies have hosted the Bulldogs seven times in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and have posted a 5-2 record in those seven games. Last season, St. Cloud State handed upstart Minnesota-Duluth a particularly devastating loss right before Christmas, as the Huskies defeated their rival 76-65.
10.6 / 13.0 - St. Cloud State will have to be careful with the ball this weekend, as the Bulldogs are one of the top turnover forcing teams in the NSIC this season. Minnesota-Duluth currently forces 13.0 turnovers a game while committing just 10.6 of its own. That margin currently ranks fourth in the NSIC, while the Bulldogs assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.19 ranks sixth.
3 - This weekend's series will feature three of the top scorers in the NSIC: the Huskies Anthony Roberts (Chicago, Ill. / Oak Park) and Caleb Donaldson (Bloomington, Ill. / Bloomington) and Minnesota-Duluth's Drew Blair. Through 14 games this season, Roberts ranks third in the NSIC in scoring thanks to this 21.1 points per game average, while Blair is right behind him in fourth, as he is averaging 18.5 points through 11 games in 2020-21. Donaldson is no scoring slouch, as he is averaging 16.8 points per game, which ranks 10th in the NSIC.
