THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team (3-1) continues its six-game homestand in the R/A Facility this Friday and Saturday facing a pair of region opponents from the state of Michigan. SMSU will battle Michigan Tech University (1-0) on Friday starting at 8 p.m., before taking on Northern Michigan University (1-2) on Saturday with tip-off slated for 6 p.m. The two games will be part of four men's games that will occur during the weekend. Wayne State will take on Northern Michigan on Friday at 6 p.m., before facing Michigan Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m.
    Southwest Minnesota State will open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Tuesday, Dec. 2, hosting the University of Sioux Falls.

    SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and Michigan Tech will face each other for the 28th time with MTU leading 20-7 in a series that started in 1969-70. The two teams were members of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference from 1969-80. The teams have split 14 all-time games played in Marshall, with MTU winning the last meeting on Nov. 15, 2012, which was played in the PE Gym. The Huskies have won the last four games in the series, including 86-64 last season in Houghton, Mich. SMSU's last win in the series came during the 1987-88 season. SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 0-3 all-time versus Michigan Tech.
    Southwest Minnesota State and Northern Michigan meet for just the third time with each team winning on the other teams court. NMU won the first meeting, 96-94, in Marshall during the 1986-87 season, before SMSU earned a 68-53 win last season in Marquette, Mich. SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 1-0 all-time versus Northern Michigan.
    A game-by-game listing of each series is located on page 17.

    ABOUT MICHIGAN TECH - The Huskies, the 2014-15 preseason pick to win the North Division of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, opened the season on Saturday with a 60-58 road win over Minnesota Duluth. Senior guard Ben Stelzer led the Huskies with a game-high 28 points with 18 in the opening half. He finished the game making 10 of 17 shots with seven 3-pointers. Junior forward Luke Heller scored 10 points on 5 of 10 shooting. The Huskies finished the game shooting 44 percent, held a 33-28 rebound advantage and committed just eight turnovers.
    MTU returns 13 letterwinners from last season's team that finished 24-8 and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Midwest Region Tournament. It was MTU's second straight NCAA tournament appearance. Stelzer, the 2014-15 GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, averaged 17.8 ppg and ranked fourth nationally in 3-pointers made last season. Michigan Tech head coach Kevin Luke is in his 21st season with a record of 362-218. He is a four-time GLIAC Coach of the Year and was the 2002-03 NABC National Coach of the Year. The Huskies have had seven 20-win seasons under Luke.  

    ABOUT NORTHERN MICHIGAN - The Wildcats begin the week 1-2 and will play host to Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday night before taking on Wayne State in Marshall on Friday night. NMU is coming off a 77-45 home victory over Finlandia (Mich.) last Wednesday night. The Wildcats held a 52-29 rebound advantage and shot 46 percent from the field. Freshman guard Jordan Perez leads a balanced Wildcat offense with 8.7 ppg with four 3-pointers. Larry Taylor is averaging 8.0 ppg and leads the team with 4.0 rpg. Freshman forward Alex Sorenson (7.3) and freshman forward Kenny Williams (7.0) also both average seven or more points per game entering the week. NMU is averaging 61.7 ppg, shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 26.5 percent from 3-point range and 62.2 percent from the free throw line. NMU opponents are averaging 70.3 ppg and shooting 49 percent from the field. Northern Michigan head coach Bill Sall is in his second season with a record of 6-23. He spent 11 seasons as head coach at Ferris State (Mich.) from 2002-2013, compiling a record of 171-145.  

    JAMESTOWN RECAP - Southwest Minnesota State connected on 16 3-pointers—its highest total in six years—and went on to cruise to a 100-71 victory over the University of Jamestown (N.D.) in non-conference last Friday night at the R/A Facility. SMSU's Turner Moen scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists and had two steals to lead the Mustangs. Moen made 7 of 8 shots and was 5 of 6 from 3-point range. SMSU had six players reach double figures in scoring and shot 60 percent (38 of 63) from the field, including a blistering 16 of 30 from 3-point range. Cole Martin (15), Travis Meinders (14), Carter Kirk (12), Mitch Weg (12) and MJ Delmore (12) all scored double figures for the Mustangs. SMSU finished the game holding a 35-24 rebound advantage and committed a season-low 11 turnovers. The game marked the first time SMSU made 15 or more 3-pointers in a game since making 15 versus Humboldt State (Calif.) on Nov. 8, 2008. It was also SMSU's first 100-point game since losing 104-103 in triple overtime at Concordia-St. Paul on Feb. 13, 2010. The last time SMSU reached triple digits in regulation was in a 103-52 win over Humboldt State on Nov. 8, 2008.