THE OPENING TIP: A chance to bring a little momentum into the new year, the University of Minnesota Duluth will attempt to sweep the North Dakota road trip swing to wrap up 2017. The Bulldogs, who defeated Northern Michigan University in their previous appearance, will travel first to Bismarck, N.D., to take on the University of Mary Saturday, Jan. 30 at 6:00 p.m. On New Year's Eve day, they venture over farther west to battle Minot State University at 4:00 p.m.

SCOUTING REPORT ON U-MARY: The Marauders are on a five-game losing streak and have lost each NSIC contest thus far. U-Mary's last win came on Nov. 28 when it upended Yellowstone Christian College 92-55.
The Marauders are coached by Joe Kittell, who is in his third season with the program. Keith Hunter leads the team with 15.0 points. Matthew Kreklow leads U-Mary in rebounds and blocks. The Marauders give up the second most points in the NSIC and have the second worst point differential margin. They sport the league's worst field goal percentage defense and rebounding team as well.

SCOUTING REPORT ON MINOT STATE: The Beavers have lost only one in 12 games this season and have the 15th best winning percent in Division II. One reason is their stellar defense. MISU has given up 65.7 points a game which is the 22nd best defense in the land and second in the conference.
Minot State is directed by sixth-year head coach Matt Murken. Murken has a dynamic scorer in Tyler Rudolph who is putting up 22.7 points a game, which is third in the NSIC. He is also the team's leading rebounder. Luis Ricci Maia has 6.7 assists per game which ranks 13th in the nation.

THE SERIES: UMD and U-Mary will meet for the 18th time on Saturday with the Bulldogs leading the all-time series 10-7. Last year, the Marauders forced a split after it loss by two at Romano.
Minot State holds a 7-4 advantage over UMD as the two teams will meet for the 12th time. The Beavers took the season series last year and have been victorious the last four draws. The Bulldogs last victory came on the 2014-15 regular season finale on Feb. 21 when they won 83-80 at Romano. 

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        NSIC        NABC        D2SIDA
UMD         T-14th         NR               NR
Mary         T-16th          NR              NR
Minot         T-3rd           RV               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: A trio of sophomores helped the University of Minnesota Duluth snap the five-game winning streak of Northern Michigan University on Dec. 19 after an 87-82 win at Romano Gymnasium.
Logan Rohrscheib, Luke Harris and Brandon Myer combined for 66 points as the Bulldogs claimed its first victory at home since Jan. 3, 2016, kicking to the side a six-game home skid. 
Rohrscheib had 21 points, Harris added 13 points on top of his six rebounds and Myer led the way for UMD knocking down a career-high 32 points and 13 rebounds for his double-double. The Wildcats had four players on double figures including Isaiah Johnson who had a team-high 18 points.
The Bulldogs shot 48 percent overall while holding the NMU to 45 percent. The Wildcats had 16 more shot attempts but didn't get to the line nearly enough as their counterparts.
Northern Michigan erased the Bulldogs' biggest lead of the night of seven in the first half to tie the game at 39 heading into the half. NMU slowly turned the game into their favor and led by as much of six with a little over nine minutes to go. That's when UMD mounted its comeback. The Wildcats got foul happy and put the Bulldogs into the double bonus for the rest of the game. UMD hit six of its eight shots in the last nine minutes and got to the line 16 times, making 13. 

LOCKED IN AT THE CHARITY STRIPE: The Bulldogs have been doing an excellence job at drawing contact and getting to the line. UMD is hitting 80.6 percent of its free throws, which is the fourth best percentage in the division II landscape. More importantly, they are 136-160 (85.0) in the second half and 86.7 percent under five minutes in crunch time.
The Bulldogs have relied on three players to take the majority of its free throws. Brandon Myer is knocking down 88.0 percent (44-of-50). Trevor Entwisle is 36-of-42 and Logan Rohrscheib has the most makes and attempts (49-of-56) while hitting 86 percent from the line.
UMD got to the line 45 times against Northern Michigan, almost reaching the program record of 48 set back on Nov. 30, 1998. As a team, it made 35 of those attempts, which was one short of tying the school record also set on that same date against the University of Minnesota Crookston.

RAZZLE DAZZLE: The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference bestowed Brandon Myer with NSIC North Division Player of the Week for his outstanding contributions.
The Superior, Wis. native averaged 31.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and a block per game while shooting a robust 75.0 percent on the floor, hitting 21 of his 28 shots. He created new career highs in consecutive outings as his back-to-back 30-point efforts for the Bulldogs since Ryan Rasmussen posted 30 and 32 back on Jan. 20-21, 2012.
His 32 points was the most since Newton put up 42 points when he won weekly award back on Feb. 1, 2016. 

HE'S ON FIRE: Double figures in eight of the last nine games and six or more rebounds in seven of those outings, Brandon Myer has given UMD everything he has got. He has led the team in scoring the last three times. The Superior, Wis. native has posted UMD's only two double-doubles this season. 
Myer set a personal collegiate best with 32 points against the Wildcats and is shooting a blazing 67.4 percent from the floor the last three games. During that stretch, Myer has dialed in 27.7 points and 9.3 rebounds.

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 503 points on the season or 70 percent.

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 3.3 assists per contest and has a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He has at least three assists in the last five games. 

IT'S RAINING THREES: Not one, not two ... Jake Wilson nailed six threes in the outing at 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. Wilson is hitting a team-high 43.3 percent from behind the arc.

GETTING PRODUCTION FROM THE BENCH: The Bulldog bench has scored 25 percent of the team's points this season. The bench has outscored the opposition's bench 182-152. Jake Wilson and Luke Harris are leading the UMD bench with 9.1 and 8.5 points per game, respectively. 

CHECK YOUR POCKETS: Brandon Myer and Trevor Entwisle are the only two players on the Bulldogs who are averaging at least a steal per contest. Myer has 12 steals and Entwisle is behind with 10. Myer and Entwisle have 44.5 percent of the squad's steals this season.

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 eighth fewest turnovers on the year, only coughing up the ball 99 times in 10 games. No other team in the NSIC has turned the ball over fewer times than the Bulldogs.

PLAYING SMART: The Bulldogs have committed 173 fouls on the year which is the third fewest fouls by any NSIC team, trailing SCSU and U-Mary. Only 60 other teams in Division II have fewer fouls then UMD.

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 against SCSU on Dec. 16. Paper also played last Tuesday and tabbed four rebounds and an assist.

CONFERENCE COACHES CORNER: The NSIC 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 will return to Romano Gymnasium to start off the new year next weekend. UMD opens 2018 versus the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday, Jan. 5.