THIS WEEK - The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team (12-16, 8-14 NSIC) opens play in the first round of the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 25, taking on St. Cloud State University (17-11, 13-9 NSIC) with tip-off set for 8 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minn. SMSU enters the tournament as the NSIC South No. 6 seed, while St. Cloud State is the NSIC North No. 3 seed.
    The winner of Wednesday night's game will play on Sunday, March 1, at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., at 2:30 p.m. versus the winner of S2 Minnesota State and N7 Minnesota Crookston. The entire 16-team tournament bracket can be found on page 20. This is the third straight season the NSIC tournament--established in 2000--has been a 16-team format.
    Wednesday night will be the second meeting between SMSU and St. Cloud State this season, with SCSU earning a 76-55 victory in Marshall on Jan. 30. SCSU has won the last three games in the series and has won the only meeting between the two teams in the NSIC tournament.

    SMSU IN THE NSIC TOURNAMENT - Southwest Minnesota State is 16-13 all-time in the NSIC tournament since the event began in 2000. The Mustangs are 8-2 at home, 1-5 on the road and 7-6 in neutral sites games all-time in the tournament. SMSU has advanced to the semifinals nine times and played in five championship games (2001, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012), including winning its lone tournament championship in 2012.
    SMSU's only road win in the NSIC tournament came in the quarterfinals of the 2010 tournament when the No. 8 seeded Mustangs upset top-seeded Minnesota State, 80-78.
    Last season, SMSU defeated U-Mary, 82-65 in the first round, defeated Wayne State, 68-45 in the quarterfinals, before losing to Minnesota State, 68-57 in the semifinals. A complete listing of SMSU's NSIC tournament games is listed on page 19.
 
    RADIO - Wednesday's game will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik handling play-by-play.

    SERIES HISTORY - Southwest Minnesota State and St. Cloud State meet for the 58th time in a series that started during the 1969-70 season. SCSU leads the series 38-19 and has won the last three games in the series, including 76-55 earlier this season in Marshall on Jan. 30. SMSU's last win in the series came on Feb. 11, 2012, in St. Cloud. The teams have met once in the NSIC tournament with SCSU earning a last-second 68-67 victory in the championship game on March 7, 2010, in St. Cloud. SCSU holds a 7-5 series lead since joining the NSIC in 2008-09, including one victory in the NSIC tournament championship game in 2010. SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 3-7 versus SCSU.  
       A game-by-game listing of the series is located on page 18.

    LAST TIME SMSU VS. ST. CLOUD STATE - St. Cloud State shot 56 percent from the field in the second half and held Southwest Minnesota State to a season-low 55 points in earning a 76-55 victory on Jan. 30 in Marshall. Scottie Stone led the Huskies with 15 points, while Connor Niehaus added 13 points and seven rebounds. SCSU leading scorer Jordan Poydras was held to 12 points on 4 of 15 shooting, but dished out a game-high seven assists.  Cole Martin paced the Mustangs with 20 points, connecting on a career-tying five 3-point field goals, while Carter Kirk added nine points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds. SMSU leading scorer Joey Bartlett made just 1 of 12 field goals and finished with three points. SMSU closed the night shooting 37 percent (20 of 53) from the field and made just seven of 17 free throw attempts. SCSU finished the game shooting 48 percent (31 of 65) from the field, including 9 of 28 from 3-point range. The box score from this game is located on page 17.

    GAMEDAY STORYLINES -
•SMSU opened the season with a 9-4 record, including 5-2 NSIC, but has lost 12 of its last 15 games since Jan. 3.
•SMSU has connected on 243 3-pointers which currently ranks sixth in program history and is the highest total since the 2006-07 team made 250 3-pointers. The team's 39.5 percent 3-point shooting currently ranks fifth in school history.
•SMSU is shooting 47.5 percent from the field this season which currently ranks seventh highest in program history.
•SMSU shot less than 40 percent from the field in both games last weekend. It was the first time all season the team shot less than 40 percent in back-to-back games.
•Concordia-St. Paul shot 60.7 percent from the field last Friday, the highest by an SMSU opponent this season.
•Minnesota State's 45 rebounds on Saturday was the highest allowed by SMSU this season.
•This season was just the second (2004-05) in the 19 seasons of the R/A Facility that SMSU finished with a losing record at home.
•SMSU has used six different starting line-ups this season.
•SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is second on the career victories list at SMSU with 95. Greg Stemen (2001-09) is the all-time leader with 141 victories.
•SMSU has made 10 or more 3-pointers in 11 games this season after reaching double figures just twice all of last season.
•SMSU has shot 50 percent or higher from the field in 13 of 28 games.
•SMSU has shot 50 percent or higher from the field in 26 of the 56 halves played this season.
•The SMSU 2014-15 roster features three seniors, three sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and seven true freshmen.