PREVIEWING TONIGHT'S GAME
•The No. 4 seeded Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team (25-8) continues play tonight at the NCAA?Central Region Tournament in Maryville, Missouri, facing No. 8 seed, the Minnesota State University Mavericks (23-9), starting at 7:30 p.m. at Bearcat Arena.
•SMSU is making its second straight NCAA?Tournament appearance and fifth overall in team history.
•The winner of Sunday's game will play on Tuesday, March 13, at 7 p.m. in the region championship game versus the winner of No. 2 Northern State and No. 6 St. Cloud State.
 
                QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
•Southwest Minnesota State advanced to tonight's semifinal game with an 81-77 win over No. 5 seed Missouri Southern.
•SMSU jumped out to a 25-4 lead and later led 31-10 with nine minutes left in the first half.
•MSSU rallied and cut the SMSU lead to 46-35 at halftime.
•SMSU led for the remainder of the game, but MSSU cut the deficit to 79-77 with 19 seconds remaining.
•SMSU's Turner Moen would seal the win with two free throws with four seconds remaining.
•Minnesota State advanced to tonight's game after recording a 60-50 victory over No. 1 seed and defending national champion Northwest Missouri State.
 
    SERIES HISTORY VS. MINNESOTA STATE
•Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota State meet for the 59th time with MSU leading 41-17.
•The two teams first met during the 1969-70 season.
•The two teams split two games during the regular season with each team winning on their home court.
•SMSU has won three of the last four and four of the last six in the series.
•Tonight is the second time the two teams have played in the NCAA Tournament. SMSU earned a 77-69 win in Marshall in the quarterfinals of the 2009 NCAA Central Region Tournament.
•SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 7-13 all-time versus MSU.
 
                SMSU ALL-TIME IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
•SMSU is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history since moving to Division II?in 1996.
•SMSU is 9-4 in 13 all-time tournament games.
•SMSU has appeared in three region championship games winning titles in both 2001 and 2009. 
SMSU all-time in the NCAA Tournament
March 9, 2001 – W, Winona State, 88-77
March 10, 2001 – W, Fort Hays State, 82-63
March 11, 2001 – W, St. Cloud State, 67-65 – Region Championship
March 21, 2001 – L, Kentucky Wesleyan, 85-66 – NCAA Elite Eight
March 14, 2009 – W, Northern State, 69-47
March 15, 2009 – W, Minnesota State, 77-69
March 17, 2009 – W, Augustana, 73-60 – Region Championship
March 25, 2009 – L, Cal Poly Pomona, 79-74 – NCAA Elite Eight
March 10, 2012 – L, MSU Moorhead, 82-66
March 11, 2017 – W, Arkansas Tech, 93-82
March 12, 2017 – W, East Central, 74-70
March 14, 2017 – L, NW Missouri State, 55-52 – Region Championship
March 10, 2018 – W, Missouri Southern, 81-77
 
    SMSU HEAD COACH BRAD BIGLER
•Brad Bigler, the all-time wins leader in program history, is in his ninth season as head coach and has compiled an overall record of 161-109, including 112-84 in conference play.
•Bigler became the all-time wins leader on Dec. 2, 2017, passing Greg Stemen (141, 2001-09).
•The 2012-13 and 2016-17 NSIC Coach of the Year, Bigler--heading into the 2018 NCAA Tournament--has led SMSU to six winning seasons, including one 28-win season, one 24-win season and two 19-win seasons.
•SMSU won NSIC tournament titles in 2012 and 2017 and also won the NSIC South Division championship in both 2016-2017 and 2017-18. 
•SMSU's 11th head coach, Bigler spent six seasons (2003-09) as an assistant coach at SMSU, including the last three as associate head coach.
 
    MUSTANG TIP-OFF TIDBITS
•Seniors Turner Moen and Carter Kirk are both tied for first in team history with 123 games played, joining Ryan Krome, Andrew Peschong (2006-10) and Kevin Andrews (2006-10).
•Ryan Bruggeman has moved into eighth place in the program's career scoring list with 1,383. He needs 15 points to tie Joey Bartlett for seventh and 16 points to match Scott Koenen for sixth.
•Michael Lee has made 78 3-pointers this season moving into ninth in team single-season history.
•SMSU committed 13 turnovers in last night's win over MSSU. Prior to last night, SMSU had committed 11 or less turnovers in its previous 11 game games.
•SMSU is shooting 49 percent from the field this season which ranks tied for third in team history. Seven of the top nine shooting teams in program history have come under the direction of head coach Brad Bigler.
•SMSU has made eight or more 3-pointers in 17 of its last 23 games.
•SMSU finished with 12 home victories this season. It's the first time since 2013-14 that SMSU has reached double figures in home wins.
•SMSU is 20-2 when opponents shoot less than 50 percent from the field. 
•SMSU has shot 50 percent or higher in 12 games this season. Last season, SMSU shot 50 percent or higher in 15 games.
 
    KIRK SETS TWO SMSU REBOUND RECORDS
•Senior Carter Kirk became the program's career rebound leader during SMSU's win versus Augustana on Feb. 24. Kirk has pulled down 878 in his career, surpassing Frank Belmont, who recorded 848 from 1971-75. 
•Kirk's 878 career rebounds rank 11th among active players in Division II.
•Kirk also broke the school single-season rebound record in SMSU's win over St. Cloud State on Feb. 26. Kirk has 328 rebounds this season, moving past Juan Mitchell, who held the record of 313 set in 1986-87.
 
    BRUGGEMAN SETS SINGLE-SEASON ASSISTS MARK
•Junior Ryan Bruggeman has dished out a school record 207 assists this season breaking the previous record of 185 set by Marques Pena in 2000-01. Bruggeman finished with 166 assists last season and had 126 during the 2015-16 season.
•Bruggeman's 6.3 assists per game this season ranks first in team single-season history.
 
    MORE BRUGGEMAN IN SINGLE-SEASON RECORD BOOK
•Junior Ryan Bruggeman has made 167 free throws this season setting a new school single-season record.
•The previous mark was 148 set by Scott Koenen in 2000-01.
 
    BRUGGEMAN SETS SMSU ASSISTS AND FREE THROWS MADE RECORDS AND MORE
•Ryan Bruggeman broke the program's career assist record on Jan. 19 at Concordia-St. Paul and now has amassed 499 assists in 95 games, breaking the previous record of 396 held by Vinard Birch (2010-14).
•Bruggeman's 499 career assists currently ranks 14th among all active Division II players.
•Bruggeman also now ranks tied for first in team history in free throws made with 381. He is currently tied with Scott Koenen (1998-2001).
•Bruggeman also ranks first in team history in assists average, first in free throws made, second in steals, fourth in free throw pct. and eighth in scoring.
 
    DOUBLE CENTURY CLUB FOR JUST THE SECOND TIME
•For just the second time in team history, SMSU features a pair of players who have dished out 100 or more assists in a single-season.
•Ryan Bruggeman (207) and Turner Moen (103) have both reached 100 assists this season.
•The only other time SMSU featured two players with 100 more assists in one season came in 1985-86, when Tom Bowens (106) and Juan Mitchell (105) both reached the mark.
 
                20-WIN SEASONS IN TEAM HISTORY
•The 25 victories this season ranks as the fourth highest in team history.
•SMSU has recorded back-to-back 20-win seasons for just the second time in program history and has a total of six 20-win seasons in team history.
•The last time SMSU won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons came during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 campaigns.
•SMSU has a combined 53 victories the last two seasons which is the best two-year combined wins total in team history.