THIS WEEK - Southwest Minnesota State University (15-12, 12-8 NSIC) concludes the regular season this weekend with a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road games.  SMSU faces the Concordia University -St. Paul (9-15, 7-13 NSIC) on Friday, Feb. 22, with tip-off slated for 8 p.m., before taking on No. 9 Minnesota State University, Mankato (20-4, 16-4 NSIC) on Saturday, Feb. 23, with game time set for 6 p.m.  SMSU begins the weekend fifth in the NSIC South Division standings and tied for sixth overall.  CU currently sits in a tie for seventh in the NSIC South and tied for 12th overall, while MSU is tied for first in the NSIC South and tied for first overall.   

SMSU is currently one game behind Upper Iowa for the fourth seed in the NSIC South.  The top four seeds in each division will host a first round game in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament starting on Feb. 27.  SMSU holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over UIU, meaning if the two teams finish tied in the conference, SMSU will earn the No. 4 seed and face the No. 5 seed from the NSIC North.  The entire 16-team NSIC tournament bracket can be found on page 20.

Concordia begins the weekend ranked second in the country in free throw pct. (78.8) and 21st in turnovers per game.  Minnesota State is ninth in the country in rebound margin (+9.4), 13th in scoring margin, 19th in assist/turnover ratio and 26th in field goal pct.

SOUTH VS. NORTH COMPLETE - Southwest Minnesota State finished the season with a final record of 6-2 versus NSIC North teams.  The NSIC South dominated play in the regular season, finishing with a 47-17 record versus North Division teams with all eight NSIC South teams recording a .500 or better record in inter-division play.  Six of the NSIC South teams had records of 6-2 or better.

RANKED OPPONENTS - Southwest Minnesota State is 0-3 this season versus Top 25 teams, following losses to then-No. 21 Minnesota State, Mankato on Dec. 14, then-No. 24 Northwest Missouri State on Nov. 25 and then-No. 25 Winona State on Jan. 26.  SMSU's last win over a Top 25 team was on Feb. 11, 2012, at No. 24 St. Cloud State 85-69.

LAST TIME OUT - Southwest Minnesota State split its final two regular season home games this past weekend, defeating Wayne State 87-69, before losing 92-82 to Augustana.  Matt Zager led SMSU with a career-high 25 points on 10 of 10 shooting in the win over Wayne State, while Nick Smith added 19 points and 10 rebounds.  In the loss to Augustana, Lavione West scored a career-high 23 points on 10 of 13 shooting to pace the Mustangs.  Zager added 21 points with four 3-pointers.

ZAGER SETS SCHOOL SINGLE-GAME RECORD - Junior guard Matt Zager set a school record connecting on 10 of 10 shots from the field in SMSU's win over Wayne State on Feb. 15.  The previous record was 9 of 9 set by Courtney Brown on Dec. 3, 1992, and Scott Koenen on Jan. 20, 2001.

>SMSU Release
>NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament Bracket

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