The University of Minnesota Duluth makes its long-awaited return to Romano Gymnasium after five games in the last two weeks on the road. The Bulldogs will play host to Northern State University and the No. 14-ranked Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

UMD (5-4, 2-1 NSIC) rides a two-game winning streak back to Romano Gym after sweeping a weekend NSIC series against the University of Minnesota-Crookston and Bemidji State University in dominant fashion with a 14.5-point average margin of victory.

Senior center Brett Ervin brought home NSIC North Division Player of the Week honors averaging 29.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 69.4 percent from the floor in leading UMD to a pair of victories over Minnesota-Crookston & Bemidji State. He netted a season-high 33 and shot 14-of-19 from the floor including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc as UMD beat Bemidji 79-66 Saturday. He also scored a team-high 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting with four rebounds, two assists, and one block in an exhibition against the Division-I Green Bay Phoenix on Monday.

FREE THROWS
• UMD shot 53.1 percent last week, raising their season average to 47.3 percent while also scoring 72.5 points per game and allowing 58.0, a much more substantial margin than their season averages of 68.9 to 63.9
• With his big weekend, Ervin now sits just 72 points away from cracking the top-25 all-time at UMD with 1,169 career points. Senior guard Reece Zoelle, now with 962 career points, inched ever closer to the 1,000 career point mark.
• Junior transfers Brendon Pineda (12.7 PPG/5.3 reb) and Pierre Newton (12.4 PPG/6.3 reb) have each made a major impact on the Bulldogs so far this season and each has shot over 50.0 percent from the field. Pineda, the team leader, has shot 58.9 percent (12th-best in the NSIC). Newton is shooting 51.5 percent for the Bulldogs, while his 6.3 rebounds per game rank 14th in the conference.

SCOUTING THE WOLVES (Friday, Dec. 12, 8:00 p.m.) - Live Stats/Video
• Northern State (8-1, 2-1 NSIC) has won three in a row after dropping its only game of the young season against MSU-Moorhead in the conference opener. The Wolves and Bulldogs have not played any similar opponents this season. UMD owns a 38-31 all-time record against Northern State, defeating the Wolves 88-80 last time out on Feb. 7, 2014.
• Senior forward Seth Bachand ranks 14th in the NSIC averaging 14.3 points per game so far this season while also leading the conference hauling down 9.3 rebounds per contest. He also ranks second in the league with a 69.2 percent shooting average though he has yet to take a shot from beyond the arc this season.
• Sophomore Darin Peterka (12.4 ppg) and junior Skye Warwick (11.7 ppg) are also averaging double digits while starting for the Wolves, while Peterka also averages 3.1 assists per contest. Tydan Storrusten averages 10.2 points off the bench for Northern State.

SCOUTING THE DRAGONS (Saturday, Dec. 13, 6:00 p.m.) - Live Stats/Video
• No. 14 MSU-Moorhead (11-0, 3-0 NSIC) has started its season has won each of its games by at least eight points this season, but its +23.7 margin of victory is greatly increased by an 111-40 victory over NCAA III Presentation College on Dec. 2. The Bulldogs own a 76-38 all-time record against Moorhead, including a 70-67 victory on Feb. 8, 2014 last season.
• Senior Jordan Riewer and sophomore Aaron Lien lead the Dragons in scoring so far this season, averaging 15.0 and 13.0 points per game so far this season. They're each shooting an identical 56.4 percent from the floor, with Riewer actually better from beyond the arc, 33-of-58 (56.9 percent), compared to 22-of-43 (51.2 percent) inside. Reiwer is also second in the NSIC, averaging 5.5 assists per outing.
• Rebounding has been a team effort for Moorhead. Lien averages 5.4 boards per game to lead the way, but seven players average at least three boards and all but one player average two or more.

The Bulldogs and Wolves will take to the Romano Gym floor at 8:00 p.m. Friday night, following the women's contest.