The University of Minnesota Duluth will be back at Romano Gym for its next four games, and the Bulldogs will try to make up ground in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division this weekend when a pair of league rivals visit Duluth.
UMD (7-9, 5-7 NSIC) sought a pair of season sweeps against another pair of NSIC North foess on a road swing through North Dakota last weekend, but the Bulldogs were only able to complete one, defeating Minot State University while falling to the University of Mary. Friday night, the Beavers opened up an early nine-point lead against UMD, but the Bulldogs chipped away and eventually took a halftime lead of 43-38 to the locker room. UMD led the rest of the way, with senior guard
Peter Crawford starring for UMD, tossing in 24 points on the night.
Saturday night started with a pair of teams that could not miss in the early going, with UMD shooting 62.5 percent in the opening half, but the Bulldogs cooled significantly in the second half and saw U-Mary pull away. Senior guard
Jordan Reetz had 18 points in the first half and finished with 22 for the game to lead the Bulldogs. Junior guards
Reece Zoelle and
Junior Coleman each had big weekends for UMD. Zoelle had 34 points between the two games while Coleman added 29. Next weekend, the Bulldogs return home to Romano Gym, where they are 6-1 on the year, and begin a four-game home-stand.
UMD will be seeing a lot of this weekend's opponents in the weeks to come, as they play host to Minnesota State University-Moorhead and Northern State this week and travel to Moorhead and Aberdeen, S.D. in just two weeks.
About the Dragons
MSU-Moorhead (12-4, 8-4 NSIC) began the season 9-0 but is 3-3 since the turn of the calendar to 2014. Junior center Urbane Bingham leads the Dragons with 12.3 points per outing, ranking him in the top 25 in the NSIC. Senior guard Tarrell Clark is hauling in 7.1 rebounds per game, good for sixth in the league. MSU-Moorhead has six players averaging seven or more points per game and three averaging double figures. The Dragons rank second in the conference averaging 85.2 points per game and their 69.8 point opponents' scoring average is third-lowest in the league.
The Bulldogs are 75-37 all-time against Moorhead, including a 74-66 victory on Feb. 16, 2013 last season.
About the Wolves
Northern State (13-5, 8-4 NSIC) has, like UMD, enjoyed most of its success at home: 8-1 in Aberdeen but just 4-3 on the road. Junior forward Seth Bachand ranks in the top 20 in the conference with 12.5 points per game but is just one of four Wolves averaging 11+ points per outing. Bachand also falls into second-place shooting 63.0 percent from the floor (80-of-127). Sophomore guard Skye Warwick, putting up 11.4 PPG, shoots the lights out from beyond the arc: 53-of-115 for 46.1 percent on the season. If Northern State has an Achilles' heel, it's free throws: the Wolves rank 12th in the league, shooting just 70.1 percent from the charity stripe.
UMD knocked off Northern State 72-65 on Feb. 15, 2013 and leads the all-time series 37-30.
Head coach
Matt Bowen and his staff will have a new look on the sideline as it is Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend. Fans are encouraged to donate to the cause at the American Cancer Society website, available
here.
The action begins on Friday night with the Bulldogs and Dragons tipping off at 8:00 p.m., following the women's contest. Saturday's match-up is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.
