St. Cloud State Men's Basketball Playoff Game Moved to Tues. Feb. 21, Huskies Gear Up to Face Cougars

Tuesday, February 21

Sioux Falls, S.D.

5:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Sioux Falls

Photo by: Justyce Porter

St. Cloud State Men's Basketball Playoff Game Moved to Tues. Feb. 21, Huskies Gear Up to Face Cougars

2/20/2023 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

NSIC Network Varsity Network App Live Stats - USF NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament

Huskies to take on USF for first round of NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The St. Cloud State men's basketball team gears up for the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament. Due to the projected winter storm, the game between St. Cloud and Sioux Falls has been moved from Wednesday, Feb. 22 to Tuesday, Feb. 21. The Huskies will travel to Sioux Falls, SD tomorrow (Feb. 21) to take on the University of Sioux Falls.

Tuesday's game is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Stewart Center in Sioux Falls, SD. The NSIC Network will provide the game stream while Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of Huskies Basketball, will provide live audio coverage on the Varsity Network App. Live stats will be available on the Sioux Falls men's basketball schedule page.

A Look Back
The Huskies closed their regular season dropping to Bemidji State and rebounding back against Minnesota Crookston. Against Bemidji State, the first period ended with the Huskies entering the locker room down 51-40 after a strong offensive showing by Bemidji State. Halfway through the first, SCSU went on a 7-2 run to tie the game up at 20. From there, the Beavers would pull away increasing the point margin into the double-digits. During the second half, the Huskies could not close the point margin as the Beavers held a double-digit lead the entire half. St. Cloud would fall 99-81 to BSU.

Against Minnesota Crookston, the Huskies set the pace of the game right out of the gate. SCSU's defense held UMC to just three points for six minutes. St. Cloud lead would increase by 20, 36-16, at the 6:11 mark. The half ended with the Huskies up 49-24 over Minnesota Crookston with SCSU's defense holding UMC to just a .250 from the field. In the second half, St. Cloud continued their pursuit, increasing the lead by 40, 73-33. The point deficit would be too much for Minnesota Crookston as the Huskies closed the regular season with a 90-64 victory.

St. Cloud State Huskies
The Huskies closed the regular season with a 10-17 overall record, 7-15 in conference play. With their win against Minnesota Crookston and UMary losing last weekend, the Huskies earned the tiebreaker jumping to the number sixth spot in the north division earning them a spot in the conference playoffs. St. Cloud is set to play Sioux Falls who is the number three seed in the south. The two teams will meet for a rematch as they met earlier in the season back on Jan. 21 at Sioux Falls where the Huskies fell 83-73 to the Cougars.

Matthew Willert has been the Huskies leading scorer this season as the junior forward averages 14.2 points per game with 4.1 rebounds. Luke Taylor averages 12.9 points per game with 4.7 rebounds. Ryan Bagley has 143 assists on the season which ranks him second in the conference for assists averaging 5.3 per game. Additionally, Bagley has the fourth best assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 2.8.

Sioux Falls Cougars
Sioux Falls closed their regular season 18-10 overall, 13-9 in conference play. In their last four matchups, USF defeated Winona State and Augustana while falling to Wayne State and Upper Iowa. USF, WSC, and UIU each ended the season 13-9 in conference play in the south, however Wayne State earned the top spot with their wins over UIU and USF while Upper Iowa earned the second seed with wins over USF which places Sioux Falls in the three seed.

The Cougars are led by graduate guard Matt Cartwright who averages 21.9 points per game with 4.4 rebounds. Additionally, Cartwright ranks second in the conference for scoring. Junior guard Jack Thompson averages 9.4 points per game with 4.9 rebounds while redshirt sophomore forward Noah Puetz averages 8.9 points with 5.2 rebounds.

More information on the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament can be found here.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State men's basketball, stay tuned on scsuhuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.