The University of Minnesota Duluth will look to secure the fourth seed in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division and a home playoff game for the first time since the 2005-06 season this weekend with a scheduled game against its next closest competitor on Saturday evening at Romano Gym.
UMD (13-13, 10-10 NSIC) simply can wrap up home-court advantage in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament next Wednesday night with one win or one loss by Minot State University. (In baseball terms, UMD's "magic number" is one). The Bulldogs will look for a season split with the University of Mary on Friday night but, regardless of the outcome, can wrap up playoff positioning before Saturday's season finale with help from St. Cloud State University against the Beavers. If Minot wins and UMD loses, the Bulldogs can still take it outright on Saturday by defeating the Beavers. If both teams lose Friday and the Minot State defeats the Bulldogs Saturday, the teams will go to a tiebreaker involving the win-loss records against teams above them in the standings (UMD is 2-4, Minot State is 1-4 currently with a presumed additional loss to SCSU) which would give the Bulldogs the edge. If UMD loses both games and the Beavers win both games, then Minot State secures the fourth seed outright.
SENIOR SCOOPHead coach
Matt Bowen and the Bulldogs say goodbye to a pair of seniors at the end of this season, who will be honored on Senior Night this weekend - guard
Reece Zoelle and center
Brett Ervin. Zoelle has been a four-year rotation player for the Bulldogs and has appeared in all but two games since arriving at UMD. After an inconsistent start to his season, he is back to being a primary offensive threat in the second half. Earlier this year, he surpassed 1,000 career points, now with 1,079 as a Bulldog. Ervin returned from a medical redshirt last season and is posting career-highs of 18.2 points and 5.3 rebounds on the year. Currently tenth all-time at UMD with 1,479 career points, Ervin is a former two-time all-conference selection and was named the league's Freshman of the Year in 2010-11.
FREE THROWS• Ervin led the way for the Bulldogs last weekend, averaging 16.0 points and grabbing 5.5 rebounds per outing, while shooting 48.0 percent (12-of-25) from the floor and 5-of-10 from three-point range. He had five assists to just one turnover, and one steal on the weekend. He went 7-of-7 in the second half during UMD's comeback win over Northern State, including 4-of-4 from three-point range, scoring 18 points, while grabbing seven rebounds, adding four assists and one steal for the Bulldogs. He scored a team-high 14 points in Friday night's defeat by MSU-Moorhead, finishing 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from the floor.
• Zoelle continued his second-half resurgence for UMD last week, scoring 12.5 points per game, shooting 52.6 percent including 4-of-8 from three-point range, while hauling in 4.5 rebounds, and four assists off the bench for the Bulldogs. He scored 17 points during UMD's comeback win over Northern State, shooting 7-of-13 while grabbing five rebounds, adding three assists.
SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS (Friday, Feb. 20, 8:00 p.m.) -
Live Video/Stats
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U-Mary (8-16, 6-14 NSIC) enters the weekend riding a two-game winning streak, knocking off Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota-Crookston last weekend in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Marauders tripped up UMD 75-71 at home on January 24 earlier this season, improving their overall record against the Bulldogs to 5-7 in the all-time series.
• Junior forward Jaycob Velasco came off the bench to net 24 points against UMD, shooting 66 percent from the floor, including 2-of-4 from three-point range. Junior guard Marquealis Edwards had 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting while adding six assists.
• Edwards currently ranks no. 23 in the NSIC, averaging 13.0 points per game along with 5.8 rebounds in conference play. Sophomore forward Bryan Jefferson and senior forward Germain Decoste rank near the top of the NSIC for field goal percentage, with Jefferson hitting 56.1 percent and Decose 53.5 percent on the year.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS (Saturday, Feb. 21, 6:00 p.m.) -
Live Video/Stats
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Minot State (14-12, 9-11 NSIC) has won 5-of-7 games entering this weekend, surging back into the hunt for a top-four seed. The Bulldogs defeated the Beavers 60-56 on the road on January 23 earlier this year and are 3-3 all-time against Minot.
• Senior guard Everett Robinson and junior guard Michael Pelo each netted 14 points against UMD, with Pelo dropping 4-of-11 threes on his only shots of the game. Robinson grabbed 10 rebounds, eight on the defensive end, against UMD.
• Robinson ranks in the top-15 of the NSIC averaging 14.0 points in conference play. He's fourth in the conference with 7.1 rebounds per outing, while senior forward Lamont Prosser is averaging 5.5 boards while shooting a team-high 56.1 percent on the year (ninth-best in the NSIC). Robinson is not far behind at 54.7 percent.
COACHES VS. CANCER WEEKENDUMD will be supporting the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Coaches vs. Cancer movement this weekend. For more information on the organization,
click here.
The Bulldogs and Marauders will take the Romano Gym court at 8:00 p.m. on Friday night, following the women's contest.
