THIS WEEKEND - The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team (9-5, 5-3 NSIC) returns to the road this weekend with a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games. SMSU will face Upper Iowa University (8-6, 4-4 NSIC) on Friday, Jan. 9, with game time set for 8 p.m. at Dorman Gym, before taking on Winona State (5-7, 2-6 NSIC) on Saturday, Jan. 10, starting at 6 p.m. at McCown Gym. SMSU begins the weekend third in the NSIC South Division standings and fifth overall. SMSU will return home in two weeks to face Northern State on Jan. 16 and MSU Moorhead on Jan. 17.

    RADIO - Both games 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 Upper Iowa meet for the 20th time with SMSU leading 16-3 in a series dating back to 1979-80. SMSU leads 5-2 in games played in Fayette, including winning the last three games. UIU's last home win came on Dec. 18, 2010. UIU was won the last two games played between the team, winning both in Marshall. SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 8-2 versus Upper Iowa.  
    Southwest Minnesota State and Winona State meet for the 101st time in a series dating back to 1968-69 with WSU leading, 65-35. WSU holds a 37-10 advantage in games played in Winona, including winning the last 14 games played at McCown Gym. SMSU's last victory versus WSU in Winona occurred during the 2001-02 season. WSU has won 22 of the last 26 meetings overall, but SMSU has won the last two meetings, recording its first two-game winning streak in the series since 2001-02. SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 4-8 versus Winona State.
    A game-by-game listing of both series is located on page 17-18.

    LAST TIME SMSU VS. UIU - Upper Iowa held off a furious rally attempt by Southwest Minnesota State to earn a 78-74 victory on Dec. 4 in Marshall. The big difference in the game proved to be turnovers, as Upper Iowa forced Southwest Minnesota State into 17, which led to 23 points. UIU committed just eight turnovers, leading to 11 SMSU points. Bo Pagel led the Peacocks with a game-high 19 points, while Jordan Hay came off the bench to score 18 points and grab six rebounds. SMSU was led by Turner Moen, who poured in a team-high 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Mitch Weg came off the bench to score 16 points and grab nine rebounds. Cole Martin recorded a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while Joey Bartlett added nine points and 11 rebounds. UIU, which led for a majority of the game, held a 75-65 lead with 1:32 left in the game, before SMSU scored nine straight points in just over a minute to cut the deficit to 75-74 with 27 seconds remaining. SMSU fouled UIU's Grant Lang with 22 seconds left, but after Lang made the first free throw, he missed the second, but was able to track down his own rebound and SMSU was forced to foul Pagel with 18 seconds on the clock. Pagel made both free throw attempts to seal the win. The box score from this game is located on page 19.

    LAST TIME SMSU VS. WSU - Mitch Weg scored a layup following an offensive rebound with 18 seconds remaining to lift SMSU to a thrilling 61-60 victory over Winona State on Dec. 3 in Marshall. WSU's Conrad Masberg gave the Warriors a 60-59 lead with 50 seconds remaining before SMSU rallied with Weg's field goal. Following four timeouts, WSU had one final chance with three seconds remaining, but SMSU's Turner Moen stripped Riley Bambenek with one second left to secure the victory. SMSU used a balanced scoring attack with three players scoring 10 points each. Joey Bartlett scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, with Weg scoring 10 points and seven rebounds and Cole Martin also adding 10 points. WSU was led by Masberg's 11 points and nine rebounds, while Kyle Bauman added 11 points. The box score from this game is located on page 20.

    GAMEDAY STORYLINES -
•SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is one win shy of tying Pierre duCharme (1981-90) for second on the career victories list at SMSU with 93.
•Sophomore Joey Bartlett ranks 11th in the NSIC in scoring with 15.3 ppg.
•Sophomore Mitch Weg ranks eighth in the NSIC in rebounding with 6.3 rpg and is sixth in free throw pct. (93.5).
•Redshirt freshman MJ Delmore leads the NSIC in free throw pct. (1.000), making all 19 attempts.
•SMSU has made 10 or more 3-pointers in six games this season after reaching double figures just twice last season.
•SMSU has shot 50 percent or higher from the field in eight of 14 games.
•SMSU has shot 50 percent or higher from the field in 16 of the 28 halves this season.
•SMSU has held a rebound advantage in eight of 14 games.
•SMSU has held a lead or has been tied at halftime in 11 of 14 games.
•The SMSU 2014-15 roster features three seniors, three sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and seven true freshmen