What's Up?: The Minnesota State men's basketball team (2-4, 1-1 NSIC) opens a four-game homestand this weekend with a pair of 8 p.m., contests against Concordia and St. Cloud State.  

Minnesota State History: The 2011-12 season marks the 90th campaign as a varsity sport for Minnesota State men’s basketball. The Mavericks are 1,182-826 (.589) in 2,008 games since the program’s inception in the 1920-21 season. MSU capped its 33rd and final season as a member of the NCC in 2008 and owned a 283-267 (.515) record in 550 league games played. In the NSIC, MSU owns a 51-13  record (.800) to go with a pair of regular-season championships.
    
The Mavericks have also made seven previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament, going 12-9 (.571) in those trips.

A Little Bit About Concordia: Concordia suffered a home sweep last weekend, falling to  Northern State, 85-70, and U-Mary, 67-64 and are 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the NSIC.
  
Senior guards – and twin brothers – Peter and Kenny Olafeso led CU in scoring, both averaging 18 points per game.  Peter is also hauling in seven rebounds a game and has passed out a team-high 22 assists on the year while Kenny is shooting 63.1 percent from the floor and averaging 5.5 rebounds per game.  Senior forward Brent Barz leads the team in rebounding averaging 8.3 per game to go with 10 points per contest.

As a team, the Golden Bears are averaging 81 points per game while allowing 77.7.  As a team, CU is shooting 45.1 percent from the floor and averaging 37.0 rebounds per game, 2.3 rebounds less than its opponents are averaging.  

Concordia is coached by Kelly Boe who is in his sixth season with Concordia and owns a 105-73 record.

Inside the Series:  Minnesota State leads the all-time series, 12-4, and head coach Matt Margenthaler owns a 10-2 record against the Golden Bears...Last year, Concordia split with MSU with each team winning on the road...Sophomore post Connor O'Brien leads MSU in scoring in two career games against CU averaging 11 points and eight rebounds per game while shooting 61.5 percent from the floor...Senior guard Stephen Kirschbaum is averaging two points in five career games...Sophomore guard Jimmy Whitehead has played in two games against CU averaging 1.0 points per game...Sophomores Alex Hanks and Travis Meinders have yet to play against Concordia.
 
A Little Bit About St. Cloud State:  St. Cloud State enters the weekend with a 6-0 record and are 2-0 in the NSIC after defeating U-Mary (78-55) and Northern State (94-84) last weekend.  The Huskies play at Southwest Minnesota State Friday evening prior to traveling to MSU Saturday.

A quartet of Huskies are averaging double figures led by sophomore forward Tim Bergstraser who is averaging 14.8 points per game and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest.  Senior guard Brett Putz is averaging 14.2 points per game while junior forward Theo Rothstein is averaging 14.0 points.  Junior guard Shaun Jensen rounds out the Huskies in double figures with 11.7 points per contest.

As a team, SCSU is averaging 79.3 points per game while giving up 65.  The Huskies are shooting 50.3 percent from the field and own a +5.5 rebounding margin on its opponents (33.0-27.5).

SCSU is coached by Kevin Schlagel who is in his 14th season with the program and owns a 272-118.

Inside the Series:  St. Cloud State leads the all-time series, 87-79...Head coach Matt Margenthaler owns a 10-12 record against the Huskies and the two teams split the series last year with each team winning on its home court...Sophomore post Connor O'Brien leads all active Mavericks in scoring and rebounding against the Huskies, averaging 10.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in two games while sophomore guard Jimmy Whitehead is averaging six points in two career games...Senior guard Stephen Kirschbaum is averaging 2.6 points and sophomores Alex Hanks and Travis Meinders have yet to play a game in their career against SCSU.

To view the livestats this weekend, click HERE

To listen to the games online, click HERE

To view the games online, click HERE

To listen to the game over the air in the Greater Mankato Area, tune into AM 1230 KYSM The Fan Mankato

To view the complete notes, click HERE