THE OPENING TIP: The University of Minnesota Duluth welcomes the local school kids on Tuesday for Education Day on the UMD campus. The Bulldogs play Northern Michigan University at 2:00 p.m. UMD will attempt to break its five-game losing skid to close out the first half of the season.

SCOUTING REPORT ON NORTHERN MICHIGAN: The Wildcats have not lost since it started conference play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference. The Wildcats, coached by Bill Sall who is in his fifth season coaching the Wildcats, are 8-3 overall and rank 51st in the nation in blocked shots per game.
Myles Howard is part of the wrecking crew. Howard is posting 1.8 blocks per game, good for 48th in Division II. Naba Echols and Isaiah Johnson are both scoring 17 points a game for NMU. 

THE SERIES: UMD is deadlocked with NMU in 68 career meetings. The Bulldogs had a one-game advantage last year before they loss 71-67 in Marquette, Minn. UMD last beat NMU in 2015-16 at home 79-67.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and their opponents this weekend stack up in the NSIC standings and in the National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) and the D2SIDA media polls.
TEAM        CONF        NABC        D2SIDA
UMD          T-14th          NR              NR
NMU           T-1st           NR              NR

THE BROADCAST: Both games this weekend will be carried live through a video stream and is available at:
portal.stretchinternet.com/umd/

LAST TIME OUT: UMD had no luck at ending its four-game losing streak as St. Cloud State University upended the Bulldogs 80-68 at Halenback Hall. It was a career night for sophomore forward Brandon Myer and a three-point clinic by senior forward Jake Wilson. 
One game removed from tying his career high, Myer blasted the Huskies for 30 points. The Superior, Wis., native was scorching hot from the floor as he hit 11 of his 13 shots Myer's 30-point effort was the first 30-plus point game since Pierre Newton posted 42 points on Jan. 30, 2016.
Wilson was a sparking 6-of-7 from downtown and added 20 points and his six three pointers were the most by a Bulldog since Feb. 7, 2014 when Reece Zoelle nailed eight long-range makes.
The Huskies never trailed on the night after they grabbed the game's first bucket. UMD fought back numerous times throughout, cutting the lead down to five points on four different occasions. 

LOCKED IN AT THE CHARITY STRIPE: The Bulldogs have been doing an excellence job at drawing contact and getting to the line. They have been to the foul line 18 more times and 30 times in the second half. UMD is hitting 81.3 percent of its free throws, which is the fourth best percentage in the division II landscape. More importantly, they are 116-135 (85.9) in the second half.
The Bulldogs have relied on three players to take the majority of its free throws. Brandon Myer is knocking down 87.5 percent (28-of-32). Trevor Entwisle is 33-of-38 and Logan Rohrscheib has the most makes and attempts (37-of-43) while hitting 86 percent from the line.

SECOND HALF WOES: No mix has provided a cure to the second half struggles. For the first half, the Bulldogs have only been outscored by 20 points and they are shooting 46 percent in the half. 
The final 20 minutes have been problematic. They have only outscored teams twice (Michigan Tech and SMSU) in the second half and they have shot 36 percent compared to the opponents' 48 percent.

MYER IS ON FIRE: Double figures in seven of the last eight games and six or more rebounds in six of those outings, Brandon Myer has given UMD everything he has got. He has led the team in scoring three times including the last two games. The Superior, Wis. native has posted UMD's only double-double this season. Myer set a personal collegiate best with 30 points against the Huskies and is shooting a blazing 67.9 percent from the floor the last two game.

THE DISTRIBUTOR: No one last year for UMD averaged at least three assists per game but Trevor Entwisle is doing so this season. The Neenah, Wis., native has a Bulldog season-high six assists versus the Cougars. Entwisle is dishing out 3.2 assists per contest and has a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

IT'S RAINING THREES: Not one, not two ... Jake Wilson nailed six threes in the previous outing St. Cloud State. The senior out of Zimmerman Minn., doubled his season makes on the season going six-of-seven from long distance. Wilson started the first half a perfect 5-for-5 and finished with 20 points, tying a season high.

GETTING PRODUCTION FROM THE BENCH: The Bulldog bench has scored 24 percent of the team's points this season. The bench has outscored the opposition's bench 146-105. Jake Wilson and Luke Harris are leading the UMD bench with 9.3 and 9.1 points per game, respectively. Harris is on a streak of double-digits points the last five games.

WELCOME TO THE LINEUP, MAMADOU: The transfer from Anoka-Ramsey C.C. was thrown into the starting five the last three games including his first career start as a Bulldog against Southwest Minnesota State. Mamadou Ngom has totaled 30 minutes per game and, on a per game basis, compiled 5.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals. 

CHECK YOUR POCKETS: Brandon Myer and Trevor Entwisle are the only two players on the Bulldogs who are averaging a steal per contest. Myer has 11 steals and Entwisle is behind with 10.

NO EXTRA POSSESSIONS: Limiting turnovers has been a specialty in the past under the direction of Matt Bowen. His teams have ranked among the best at not turning the ball over and this year is no exception. UMD is second in the NSIC in fewest turnovers per game (9.9), which is eighth in the Division II landscape. Northwest Missouri State is first with 8.0 per contest. It has recorded the ninth fewest turnovers on the year, only coughing up the ball 89 times in nine games.

PLAYING SMART: The Bulldogs have committed 154 fouls on the year which is the third fewest fouls by any NSIC team, trailing SCSU and U-Mary. Only 42 other teams in Division II have fewer fouls then UMD.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: Coach Bowen for the second straight season will have to direct a very youthful squad from the sidelines. Only two seniors (Kyle Schalow and Jake Wilson) are on the roster with a combined nine freshmen and sophomores. The five sophomores tallied an average of 19 minutes during their freshmen seasons. Four sophomores pace the Bulldogs in points this season. The underclassmen have accounted for 434 points on the season or 69 percent.

GET IN THERE, ROOK: Two freshman have cracked minutes thus far in the 2017-18 campaign. Xavier Cummings played two games and made his first appearance versus Michigan Tech on Nov. 22. Jake Paper made his collegiate debut last Saturday against SCSU. Paper played five minutes and pulled down a rebound.

CONFERENCE COACHES CORNER: On Oct. 26, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference 2017-18 Preseason Coaches' Poll slated UMD to a 13th-place finish. The Bulldogs, which finished eighth in the North Division and a 15th overall a season ago, received 46 points in the poll. The Bulldogs were picked to finish sixth in the North Division ahead of Minnesota Crookston and U-Mary.
Northern State University, who claimed preseason favorites in the North Division, topped out in the overall poll with 213 points slightly edging Southwest Minnesota State University, who was picked to finish first in the south.
St. Cloud State University junior guard Gage Davis was the North Division Preseason Player of the Year. SMSU junior guard Ryan Bruggeman was named the South Division Preseason Player of the Year.

NEW DOGS ON THE BLOCK: The Bulldogs bring in four freshmen (Jimmy Vollbrecht, Xavier Cummings, Adam Smith and Jake Paper) and a junior college transfer (Mamadou Ngom) to join the 2017-18 roster and the 11 returners from a season ago.

BOWEN'S BITS: Entering his sixth season in 2017, head coach Matt Bowen looks to take the next step to bringing the University of Minnesota Duluth to the top of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Armed with a lineup of experienced underclassman and vital leaders, the Bulldogs are set to improve upon the 2016-17 season.
Bowen is no stranger to turning a program around, having taken a perennial Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference underdog in Bemidji State University to a championship level that has not been repeated since he left the program to take over as UMD head coach in the summer of 2012. Bowen, just the third head coach for the Bulldogs since the mid-1980's, succeeded Gary Holquist, who stepped down in April 2012 to take the role of UMD's Athletic Development Director.
Under Bowen, UMD produced its first NABC All-Region selection since 2008-09 in Brett Ervin ('15) during the 2014-15 season as well as NABC Honors Court selection Jake Harder ('16) that season and All-NSIC guard Jordan Reetz ('14) the previous year. Along with an influx of young talent, the future seems bright for the Bulldogs under Bowen's guidance.
Bowen completed his turnaround of Bemidji State in his sixth and most productive year with the program, guiding the Beavers to a school record 22-9 overall mark which included an NSIC regular season championship and the program's second NCAA II playoff berth in the team's 91-year history. In addition to receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll for the first-time ever, Bowen also produced the 2011-12 NSIC and NCAA II Player of the Year in James Ellisor. 
Prior to his appointment in Bemidji, Bowen spent 15 years on the staffs of three NCAA I institutions, working under the likes of Homer Drew (Valparaiso University), Gene Bartow (University of Alabama-Birmingham) and Bob Knight (Indiana University). 
A native of River Falls, Wisconsin, Bowen graduated from Indiana University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in health, physical education and recreation and earned a Master's degree in health education from Alabama-Birmingham four years later. His father, Rick, was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls from 1986-2006 and retired as that school's athletic director in 2010.

ON TAP: The Bulldogs enjoy an 11-day break before hitting the court again on Friday, Dec. 30 against the University of Mary. Game time against the Marauders as schedule for 6:00 p.m.