THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team (2-0) continues non-conference play on Wednesday with a match-up at Northern State University (2-0) in Aberdeen, S.D., with tip-off slated for 8 p.m. at Wachs Arena. Despite both teams being members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, Wednesday's game will count as a non-conference game. The teams will play once in conference play on Jan. 16 in Marshall. Following Wednesday's game, SMSU will have its regular season home opener on Friday night taking on NAIA University of Jamestown (N.D.) starting at 6 p.m.

    RADIO - Wednesday's game will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik handling play-by-play and Anthony Rohlik serving as analyst.

    SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and Northern State meet for the 85th time on Wednesday with NSU leading 56-28 in a series that started during the 1972-73 season. The last time the two teams played a non-conference game, outside either an NSIC tournament or NCAA tournament game, occurred during the 1990-91 season, when Wolves earned a 93-63 victory during the NSU Holiday Tournament. NSU leads 32-8 in games played in Aberdeen, but SMSU has won two of the last three games played at Wachs Arena. SMSU has won the last three in the series and six of the last seven since March 14, 2009. SMSU won the only meeting last season, 77-43 in Marshall on Jan. 3, 2014. NSU's lone victory since 2009 came on Jan. 15, 2011, in Aberdeen. SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 5-1 versus Northern State. A game-by-game listing of the series is located on page 15.

    ABOUT NORTHERN STATE - The Wolves are 2-0 on the season after recording victories over Missouri Southern State (74-69) and Pittsburg State (75-68) last weekend at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. Senior forward Seth Bachand averaged 13.5 ppg and 11.0 rpg in the two games and shot 69 percent from the field. Junior guard Skye Warwick averaged 12.5 ppg and made five 3-pointers, while Sophomore center Carter Evans averaged 11.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg. NSU is averaging 74.5 ppg, shooting 47.4 percent from the field, 34.4 percent from 3-point range and 61.5 percent from the free throw line. NSU opponents are averaging 68.5 ppg and shooting 39.8 percent from the field. NSU head coach Paul Sather is in his fifth season with a record of 65-49. He spent five seasons as head coach at Black Hills State (2005-10).  

    MUSTANGS OPEN SEASON WITH TWO VICTORIES - Southwest Minnesota State opened the season last weekend with two victories at the Great American Conference/NSIC Challenge in Bartlesville, Okla. SMSU opened with a 76-70 win over East Central (Okla.) on Friday night, before defeating Arkansas Tech 93-78 on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore forward Joey Bartlett led SMSU in the win over ECU with a career-high 26 points on 9 of 17 shooting with four 3-pointers. Redshirt freshman guard MJ Delmore added 16 points with four 3-pointers. SMSU made 12 of 24 3-point attempts in the victory and shot 51 percent from the field. In the win overt ATU, senior guard Travis Meinders scored a career-high 19 points with five 3-pointers, while Bartlett recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore forward Mitch Weg scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed six rebounds. SMSU connected on 13 of 21 from 3-point range and shot 60 percent in the game.