THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University (18-11) men's basketball team continues play in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Sunday, March 2, taking on Wayne State College (9-18) with tip-off set for 8:30 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. SMSU, the No. 3 seed in the NSIC South Division, opened the tournament on Wednesday with an 82-65 win over No. 6 seed from the North Division the University of Mary. Wayne State, the No. 7 seed in the South, upset the No. 2 seed in the North, Bemidji State 88-76 on Wednesday. The winner of Sunday night's game advances to the semifinals on Monday night at 8:30 to face either S1 Minnesota State or S5 Augustana. The championship game will be Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. The entire 16-team NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament bracket can be found on page 19. Southwest Minnesota State has defeated Wayne State twice this season, earning an 80-61 victory in Marshall on Dec. 7 and winning on a last-second shot in Wayne, Neb., on Jan. 24, 58-56.
SMSU IN THE NSIC TOURNAMENT - Southwest Minnesota State is 15-12 in the NSIC tournament since the event began in 2000 following Wednesday's win over U-Mary. The Mustangs are 8-2 at home, 1-5 on the road and 6-5 in neutral sites games in the tournament. SMSU has advanced to the semifinals eight times and played in five championship games (2001, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012), including winning its lone tournament championship in 2012. A complete listing of each of SMSU's NSIC tournament games is listed on page 19.
NCAA REGION RANKINGS - SMSU was ranked ninth in the first NCAA Division II Central Region rankings released on Feb. 19 by the NCAA national committee, but was not ranked among the top 10 in this week's poll. The top eight teams in the 41-team region advance to the NCAA region tournament on Mar. 15-18. Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the NSIC, MIAA and GAC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots are awarded on an at-large basis.
SENIORS PULLING THEIR WEIGHT...AND THEN SOME - Southwest Minnesota State's four have played vital roles during their outstanding four-year careers and the numbers back it up. SMSU seniors
Vinard Birch,
William Giddings,
Nick Smith and
Matt Zager enter Sunday's game having combined to play in 449 career games, grab 1,619 rebounds and score 4,001 points during their careers.
MUSTANG QUICK HITTERS -
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Joey Bartlett tied a career-high with seven rebounds in Wednesday's win over U-Mary. He also scored 17 points - his highest total since scoring 20 versus Northern State on Jan. 3.
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Vinard Birch has scored 10 or more points in 13 of the last 16 games.
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Shaun Condon is shooting 46.1 percent from 3-point range (47 of 102), which ranks as the second highest in program single-season history. Matt Fletcher holds the record of 48 percent (84 of 175) in 2005-06.
•SMSU ranks 26th in Division II in field goal pct. (49.3), 60th in rebound margin (+4.1), 69th in steals (185), 80th in scoring defense (71.0) and 88th in total blocks (91).
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Matt Zager ranks 14th on the SMSU all-time scoring list with 1,083 points and became the 19th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points earlier this season versus Bemidji State on Jan. 31. He also ranks seventh in school history with 123 steals and 10th in field goal pct. (51.2). Zager finished the NSIC season ranked ninth in field goal pct., 10th in 3-point field goal pct. and 15th in steals.
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Vinard Birch - the program's all-time assists leader with 394 in 114 career games - ranks tied for fifth in school history in steals (124) and 10th in free throws made (234). He finished third in the NSIC in assists, seventh in assist/turnover ratio and ninth in steals. Birch begins the week ranked 56th in Division II in assists (122).
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Nick Smith ranks 10th on the SMSU all-time scoring list with 1,180 points. He became the 18th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points during SMSU's win over MSU Moorhead on Jan. 4. He currently ranks 59th in Division II with 46 blocked shots and is ranked eighth among active Division II players with 167 career blocked shots. Smith finished ranked fourth in the NSIC in blocked shots, sixth in rebounding and 15th in field goal pct.
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Mitch Weg ranked 11th in the NSIC in rebounding.
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Shaun Condon ranked eighth in the NSIC in 3-point field goal pct.
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William Giddings ranks second in school history in career 3-point field goal pct. (42.1).
•SMSU has held a lead at halftime in 16 of 29 games.
•SMSU has held a rebound advantage in 22 of 29 games.
•SMSU has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 18 of 29 games.
•SMSU has shot 60 percent or higher in a half eight times this season.
•SMSU has shot 70 percent or higher in the second half four times this season.
•Opponents have shot 50 percent or higher from the field nine times in 29 games. Only four teams shot 50 percent or better from the field all of last season versus SMSU.
BIRCH AND SMITH NAMED ALL-NSIC SECOND TEAM - Seniors
Vinard Birch and
Nick Smith were both been named second team All-NSIC as selected by the league's 16 head coaches on Thursday. Birch has started all 29 games this season and leads the team in scoring (11.6), assists (125) and steals (38). In NSIC games only, he finished third in the conference in assists (101), seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.87) and ninth in steals (32). Birch was named the 2011-12 NSIC Defensive Player of the Year. Smith has started all 29 games this season and leads the team in rebounding (7.2) and blocked shots (46) and is second in both scoring (11.3) and field goal pct. (53.5). In NSIC play, Smith finished fourth in the conference in blocked shots (34), sixth in rebounding (7.7) and 15th in field goal pct. (51.7). Smith was also named second team All-NSIC in 2011-12.
