WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State men's basketball team opens a five-game homestand in McCown Gymnasium this weekend with a pair of conference matchups.
The Warriors host Minnesota State Mankato on Friday night at 8 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. tilt against Concordia St. Paul on Saturday.
Both games will be televised live on HBC25.
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SCOUTING MANKATO: The Mavericks (5-2, 2-0 NSIC) enter the weekend in second place in the NSIC South, one game behind Sioux Falls. Mankato holds conference wins over Wayne State and Augustana thus far. The Mavericks rank fourth in the NSIC in scoring offense (83.9 ppg), but are in the middle of the pack in scoring defense (75.4 ppg). The Mavericks are the best shooting team in the league at a 50% clip from the field and a 42.7% mark from three-point range. Winona's perimeter defense has only allowed a 32.3% effort by opponents this season. Charlie Brown leads Mankato offense with 19.1 ppg, while Kevin Krieger (16.6 ppg) is shooting 56.9% from the field.
SCOUTING CSP: The Golden Bears (1-7, 0-2 NSIC) travel to Upper Iowa on Friday before concluding the weekend in Winona. CSP ranks last in the league in scoring average (69 ppg), but has hung in ballgames by allowing just 74.4 ppg to opponents. The Golden Bears have also struggled from the charity stripe, shooting an NSIC-worst 65.6 percent from the line. CSP's 15.8 turnovers per contest are the highest in the conference. The Golden Bears' leading scorer, Bryndan Matthews, ranks 12th in the NSIC with 17.3 ppg.
LAST WEEKEND: The Warriors dropped a pair of road NSIC contests to open the month of December. WSU led at halftime of both contests only to see Sioux Falls and SMSU storm back for wins. USF outscored Winona in the second half, 49-31, while SMSU edged the Warriors on their home court. Winona trailed by as many as eight points in the waning minutes at SMSU, and cut the deficit to one possession, but couldn't overcome the Mustangs. Mason Domask scored a career-high 20 points at USF while Tommy Gathje led Winona at SMSU with 16 points.
DOWNTOWN: The Warriors enter the weekend ranked second in the NSIC in three-point shooting (42.3%). Forward Tommy Gathje is shooting a league-best 53.8% from beyond the arc. WSU has knocked down at least nine three-pointers in five straight games, and six of seven overall this year.
WELL-BALANCED ATTACK: Winona's lone senior, Corey Jeffs, leads the Warrior offense with 14.1 ppg. In total, WSU has five players averaging double digits in the scoring column this season. Tommy Gathje (13.6), Devin Whitelow (12.6), Mason Domask (12.1) and Connor Flack (10.9) round out the scoring leaders. A total of five Warriors have scored in double digits in four of the last five games. WSU's 80.7 ppg are up from last year's scoring average (72.0) which ranked 14th in the league.
DAZZLING DEBUT: Freshman guard Devin Whitelow has impressed early on in his rookie season. The Peoria, Illinois native has scored in double digits in four of seven games this year, and has been the Warriors' leading offensive facilitator. He dished out a career-best eight assists at SMSU last Saturday, and ranks fourth in the NSIC in assists/game (5.1). Whitelow leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (12.0), having only coughed up three turnovers this season.
