What's Up: The sixth-ranked Minnesota State men's basketball team (22-3, 18-3 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) concludes the regular season portion of its schedule this weekend as it travels to Southwest Minnesota State Saturday evening for an 8 p.m., contest.

One for the Thumb: By virtue of MSU's 77-73 victory over Bemidji State last weekend, the Mavericks clinched a share of their fifth league title in the past six years. As members of the North Central Conference, the Mavericks won titles in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08. Last season, MSU won the NSIC crown outright and this year they have claimed at least a share of the title.
Seniors Marcus Hill, Taylor Morrow and Joe Drapcho along with juniors Mike Bisenius, Stephen Kirschbaum and Mitch Grundman (all of which who redshirted as freshmen in 2007-08) have all been a part of three championship teams during their time at Minnesota State.

Scouting The Mustangs: Southwest Minnesota State enters the weekend with a 12-13, including a 9-12 mark in the NSIC, where the Mustangs find themselves alone in eighth-place.

Last weekend, SMSU split a pair of road games as it fell 84-66 at Bemidji State and earned a 79-67 win at Minnesota Duluth.

Senior Scott Roehl leads the team in scoring and rebounding at 15.0 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per contest. Sophomore guard Jordan Miller is second in scoring at 13.9 points per game.

As a team, SMSU is averaging 71.3 points per game while allowing 70.0. They are shooting 45.7 percent from the floor and 74.1 percent from the free throw line. As a team, MSU is outrebounding its opponents by a +5.2 margin.

Scott Bigler is in his second season with the program and owns a career record as 29-25 with the program.

Inside The Series: Minnesota State leads the all-time series, 31-11, which includes a 84-76 Maverick win earlier this year in Mankato...In that victory, senior wing Jefferson Mason recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds in 38 minutes of action while senior guard Marcus Hill added 19 points and senior Taylor Morrow added 13 points...Minnesota State head coach Matt Margenthaler is 9-5 in his career against the Mustangs and is 4-2 in the RA Facility against the Mustangs...Mason leads the Mavericks in scoring against the Mustangs averaging 17 points per game while shooting 56.1 percent from the floor in four career games...During that span, Mason has 17 steals against SMSU...Seniors Joe Drapcho and Marcus Hill have each played in eight career games against the Mustangs.

Minnesota State History: The 2010-11 season marks the 89th campaign as a varsity sport for Minnesota State men’s basketball. The Mavericks are 1,175-820 (.592) in 1,985 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 47-12 record (.797). The Mavericks have also made seven previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament, going 8-8 (.500) in those trips.

On the Air: Fans can follow Minnesota State men's basketball all season long on the Radio Mankato family of stations. Tune into AM 1230 KYSM The Fan Mankato Saturday at 7:40 Friday to catch the pregame show with MSU Hall of Famer Casey Lloyd.

Former MSU standout Kory Kettner will add commentary to home and select road broadcasts. Fans can also listen to the games on the World Wide Web at HERE

To view the complete version of the game notes, click HERE