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The Northern State men's basketball team looks to get back on track this weekend as the Wolves host a pair of NSIC contests. Minnesota Duluth comes to town for an 8 p.m. contest Friday and then St. Cloud State comes to Wachs Arena for a 7:00 tip Saturday night. Northern has lost four of its last five games.

About the Bulldogs
Minnesota Duluth is led by second-year Head Coach Matt Bowen. The Bulldogs rank on the lower end of most statistical categories in the conference. UMD is 12th in points scored per game with 72.8 and is 11th in defense, allowing 77.7 points per game. The Bulldogs rank third in the league in free throw percentage, shooting 77.4 percent from the line. Duluth is seventh in the NSIC in blocked shots with three per game and is sixth in turnover margin at .50. The Bulldogs' 1.03 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks ninth in the league.

UMD has three of the top-14 scorers in the league, led by Jordan Reetz's 18.3 per game which ranks fourth. Peter Crawford is eighth (16.7) and Reece Zoelle ranks 14th (14.5). Zoelle is also 10th in the NSIC in rebounding with 6.4 per game. Reetz ranks 12th with 1.88 three-pointers made per game during conference play. All three are also in the top-15 in the league in minutes played per game. Crawford ranks third averaging 35.06 minutes played per game while Zoelle is fifth (33.94) and Reetz is 14th (30.88).

About the Huskies
St. Cloud State ranks fourth in the league averaging 82.5 points per game and is allowing 73.9 per game which ranks seventh in the NSIC. The Huskies are rugged on defense as they rank third in the league with 3.88 blocks per game and are second in the league averaging nine steals per game. SCSU is fourth averaging 13.63 assists per game during league play and is first in the NSIC in turnover margin at 5.38 and is second with a 1.35 assist-to-turnover ratio. The Huskies rank fifth in three-pointers per game with 8.19.

Matt Craggs leads the Huskies during NSIC play averaging 15.1 points per game which ranks 12th in the conference. Craggs also ranks sixth in the league averaging 7.6 rebounds per game. Kevin Levandoski is seventh in the NSIC with 3.69 assists per game and is number one in steals with 2.56 a contest. Damarius Cruz ranks fifth in thefts with 1.88 per game. Cruz is also fifth with 2.19 three-pointers made per game and hits 45 percent from deep which ranks 10th.

Northern Notes
Tydan Storrusten leads the Wolves in NSIC play averaging 12.6 points per contest. Storrusten is also seventh in the league with 3.7 assists per game. Seth Bachand is third in the conference shooting 61.53 percent from the field. Bachand is also eighth in blocked shots per game at 1.19. Trent Zomer is fifth in the league with 1.44 blocks per game. Skye Warwick leads the league by making 2.88 three-pointers per game and is eighth in three-point percentage (46.5 percent).

Northern is 4-3 against the Bulldogs under Head Coach Paul Sather and is looking for its first victory over SCSU during the Sather era (0-7). The Wolves split their meetings earlier this season with UMD and SCSU. Northern lost at St. Cloud 79-71 and defeated Duluth 80-78 two weekends ago. Four Wolves (Jared Hannigan, 15, Warwick, 12, Bachand and Storrusten, 10) scored in double figures against St. Cloud in the first meeting. Bachand and Carter Evans led Northern with 13 points each in the win over UMD. The 13 points set a new career-high for Evans.