The Winona State men's basketball team looks to build upon its unbeaten home record when it hosts Upper Iowa at 4 p.m. Saturday in McCown Gymnasium for the final game of the 2015 calendar year.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS: The Warriors earned its first road win of the season in a 59-50 victory at Concordia-St. Paul Friday. WSU then battled back from 20 points down in the second half to fall one point short in a 78-77 defeat at Minnesota State.

HOME SWEET HOME: Few teams have proven tougher to beat in their home gym than the Warriors recently. The Warriors are 16-2 in McCown Gymnasium dating back to the beginning of last season, and have shot an impressive 51 percent at home during that span while holding opponents to 41 percent. In home games this year, WSU is shooting an even better 55 percent while limiting opponents to 42 percent.

PEACOCK REMATCH: WSU squares off with Upper Iowa for the second time this season. In a 79-74 loss in Fayette last month, Mark Blacklock led WSU with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting as five Warriors finished in double figures. Josh Mongan and Tommy Gathje scored 11, while Isaiah Gray and Riley Bambenek added 10.  WSU shot slightly better than UIU for the game, claiming a 49.2-49.0 percent margin.

ABOUT THE PEACOCKS: UIU is in its third year under head coach Brooks McKowen, who holds a 38-35 record at the institution. Three Peacocks currently average double figures in points per game, led by Jimmy Roth's 12.0. Josh Weeber adds 11.1, while Luke Lenhart puts up 10.5. Carson Parker and Jordan Hay are just shy of double figures, at 9.9 and 9.8, respectively. UIU has the sixth-ranked scoring offense (80.4 ppg) in the league but the worst scoring defense (82.7).

STARTING CONSISTENCY: After churning out seven different starting lineups last season, the Warriors have sent on the court the same starting five in every game so far this season. 

SHARP SHOOTING: The Warriors are statistically one of the most efficient shooting team in the NSIC. Entering last weekend's games, WSU was  #1 in the league in field goal percentage. The Warriors dipped slightly this week to fourth at 47.8 percent. On the flip side however, WSU's opponents have shot the ball well also, as the Warriors rank 13th in field goal percentage defense at .460. The Warriors also rank  fourth in the 3-point field goal percentage at .401.

BAUMAN SHOWING RANGE: Junior post Kyle Bauman has showed off his long-range abilities this season, hitting 9-of-12 3-pointers on the year and eight in the past four games. Bauman was a perfect 3-for-3 against SMSU on Dec. 4 and has hit 6-of-7 3-pointers at home this year.

CREDIT TO MONGAN: The Warriors have enjoyed the return of point guard Josh Mongan. After missing all but two games last season due to injury, the junior has bounced back in tremendous fashion, leading the NSIC in assist to turnover ratio at 7.5. Mongan has dished out 29 assists on the season with just four turnovers. That's considerably better than MSU's Snoop Visor's 6.5 ratio and Augie's Jordan Spencer's 4.1 average.

REBOUNDING RIGHT: WSU ranks 2nd in the NSIC this season in rebounding defense, giving up just 30.4 per game. That's behind only SMSU's mark of 29.5.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES: The Warriors have recorded two double-doubles this season. The first came from Kyle Bauman in the season opener against Wisconsin Lutheran, scoring 21 points with 12 rebounds. Mark Blacklock added another with a 10-point, 10-rebound performance at CSU San Bernardino. Riley Bambenek came up just shy of his first of the season last Saturday at Minnesota State, scoring 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds.