This Week's Men's Basketball Storylines: WHAT'S AT STAKE: The Winona State men's basketball team opens NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament play Wednesday, traveling to Minnesota Duluth to face the Bulldogs at 7 p.m. in Romano Gym. The Warriors earned the No. 5 seed in the NSIC South Division, while UMD is the No. 4 seed in the North. The winner of this game heads to The Pentagon in Sioux Falls for a 5:30 p.m. matchup against the winner of Wednesday's game between south No. 1 Augustana and north No. 8 Bemidji State.
MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 95th meeting in series history between the Warriors and Bulldogs, with UMD claiming a 91-33 advantage. The Warriors have had the upper hand in the recent series history, winning 11 of the past 13 meetings, but UMD beat the Warriors 76-63 in Romano Gym earlier this month.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota Duluth enters the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament winners of three straight and four of its past five. Last weekend the Bulldogs recorded wins over U-Mary (63-60) and Minot State (83-80). UMD finished the conference season with a 12-10 record, and a 15-13 overall mark. The squad has four players averaging double figures, led by Brett Ervin, whose 18.5 ppg ranks fourth in the NSIC. Pierre Newton adds 13.7 per game, while Brendon Pineda scores 11 ppg and Taylor Lavery adds 10.9. UMD has the fourth-ranked scoring defense in the league at 69.4 points per game, and is tied atop the free throw percentage charts, making just over 76 percent of their attempts. A stat differential between the two teams comes in the form of blocked shots, as WSU leads the NSIC with 4.2 blocks per game (109 total) while UMD is last at just 1.4 blocks per game (38 total).
THE BIG UPSET: The Winona State men's basketball team enters the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament riding a wave of momentum. After recording its biggest win of the season at the time a couple weeks ago beating rival Minnesota State 68-66 on the road to capture its first road win of the season, the Warriors came up even bigger last weekend in the regular season finale. The Warriors dropped No. 2 Augustana 75-72, ending its 19-game winning streak and denying the Vikings an overall NSIC championship, a distinction they ended up sharing with MSU Moorhead.
WAGNER'S THREE SHOW: Redshirt freshman Tim Wagner turned in the best performance of his career when his team needed it most, coming up with six clutch 3-pointers to sink No. 2 Augustana in the season finale in McCown Gym. Wagner was 6-of-9 from 3-point range, including a clutch 5-of-5 in the second half, to prevent the Vikings from mounting a successful comeback. Wagner finished with a career-high 20 points overall. Wagner leads WSU with 55 3s on the season and is making the shots at a 42.3 percent clip.
WINNING ON THE ROAD: While the Warriors assembled an impressive 13-2 mark at home this season, the road has been a much different story. The Warriors lost their first nine road games of the season, however WSU ended the drought in a big way two weekends ago with a big 68-66 win over rival Minnesota State at the Taylor Center. WSU will look to ride that momentum into postseason play.
NO BAMBENEK, NO PROBLEM?: The Warriors have had to take the court largely without sophomore guard Riley Bambenek, who's been hampered by an injury. Despite playing just 26 minutes combined in four games, the Warriors have posted a 3-1 record and have shot better than 50 percent in three of the four games. WSU will undoubtedly hope for a healthy Bambenek as postseason play begins, however.
