THE OPENING TIP

The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team (16-8 overall, 12-6 NSIC) is set to host a pair of conference rematches in Romano this weekend as Mary and Minot State come to town. The Bulldogs will face the Marauders for White Out Night on Friday, Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m. before meeting Minot on Pink Out Night on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 3:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT

Looking for a fun way to start your weekend? Why not slay some Dragons? That's what UMD opted for last Friday- it sure seemed to work out pretty well. 

It was a rematch between two titans of the NSIC back on Feb. 3, MSU Moorhead having gotten the last laugh back on New Year's Day. And these Dragons had seemingly only gotten better since then, as they walked into this contest with a No. 19 national ranking. To top it all off, the Bulldogs found themselves on the road. 

There was a lot riding against this UMD squad- yet it played as if it couldn't have cared less about the odds.

Less than four minutes into the game, the Bulldogs had already developed an 11-4 lead. An 11-2 MSUM run would cut into these early efforts and leave the Dragons up 15-13 themselves with 14:17 to play. It was UMD's turn to go on another heater… and that is exactly what it did. The Bulldogs' run didn't follow some small subsect of a timeline in this case, though- the rest of the half belonged to UMD. The Bulldogs went into the break on a colossal 30-9 run, one that eventually saw them up almost 20 at a score of 43-24. 

Across the entire half, UMD had shot a resounding 19-32 from the field, all the while holding MSUM to just a 9-33 effort. 

The rest was essentially history. When Jack Middleton potted a three-ball to make it 52-30 with 17:35 remaining, UMD's lead stuck at 20+ for almost the entirety of the rest of the half. It was a a grip that tightened to as high as 30 at 82-52 with 5:57 to go. Ultimately, the Bulldogs walked out of Moorhead with a truly impressive 87-69 victory to add to the resume. 

Speaking of resume-building… look at Charlie Katona's numbers in this one. A career-high 30 points on 12-14 shooting from the field paired with nine rebounds and four assists. Not too shabby.

Joining Katona in the double-digit club were Middleton (17 on 7-11 shooting), Joshua Brown (15 on 5-6 shooting) and Drew Blair (12 on 5-10 shooting). 

Next on the agenda: a trip to Aberdeen to take on Northern State.

Rarely will you see a first half like the one that was on hand in this one back on Feb. 4. Headlining the first 20 minutes were absolutely herculean offensive efforts from both Blair and Brown. Blair finished the half with 18 points on 7-12 shooting overall and a whopping 4-5 effort from deep. Brown had 14 points on 3-6 shooting from three. All-told, these two combined for 32 of UMD's 44 first half points. It wasn't quite enough for the Bulldogs to enter halftime with a lead- NSU ended up leading 49-44 at the break- but UMD was still right within reach. 

Unfortunately, the final frame just didn't end up going the Bulldogs' way. When a Sam Masten jumper made it 70-60 NSU with 9:33 to play, the Wolves ended up holding a double-digit lead the rest of the way. When the final buzzer sounded, the score was 87-69 Northern.

Fittingly, Blair and Brown finished the game tied at the top of UMD's scoring charts with 22 points a pop. Blair's came on 9-16 shooting, Brown's on a 6-13 effort. Speaking of Brown, the junior guard paired those tallies with 13 rebounds, securing him a double-double on the night. Andrews was the other Bulldog to hit double-figures, closing with 10 points on a 5-7 shooting effort. 

RANKINGS ROUNDUP

UMD did not receive votes in the newest NABC or D2SIDA Poll. The Bulldogs did bump up a spot from No. 9 to No. 8 in the D2SIDA's Regional Rankings. 

STATS STATUS REPORT

Blair continues to lead UMD in the scoring department with an average of 19.9 points a game. The redshirt-senior guard also averages a team-high in assists with 2.3 a night. Katona is second in the scoring race with 12.9 points a contest on 55.1% shooting from the field. Brown isn't far behind with 12 points per game of his own. Closing out the list of double-figure averagers is Austin Andrews, who's scoring 11.5 points a night on a 56.9% shooting clip. The junior forward is tops on the team in rebounding with 6.1 boards a night.

As a team, UMD is 29th in the country (second in the NSIC) in overall field goal percentage, working at an efficiency rate of 48.5%. The Bulldogs' average offensive output of 80.5 points a game is top 50 nationally, landing at No. 42 (second in the NSIC). 

NEARING THE MILLENNIUM MARK

It's shaping up to be a special season for Andrews.

The junior guard is already far from a stranger to major accolades this year, having reached the 500 career rebounds mark back on Jan. 21. Now, entering a fresh weekend of contests on home turf in Romano, yet another career touchstone is right within reach. 

With 14 more points added to his name across last weekend, Andrews now sits at 976 points scored across his tenure as a Bulldog, just 24 shy of reaching the coveted 1000 mark. He's got four total games left this season to pull it off. With a season average of 11.5 points a game… well, let's just say it's certainly something to keep an eye on down the stretch. 

CATCHING UP WITH: MARY (11-11 OVERALL, 7-11 NSIC)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

UMD's journey out to Bismark back on Dec. 10 ended up being a pretty fruitful one for the Bulldogs.

There's no fruit without labor, though. And for much of the first half, the Marauders really made the Bulldogs work for every inch. The opening frame saw ten total lead changes, with both teams often only being able to develop leads as high as four before losing them again. Mary found itself in such a spot when it was up four at a score of 24-20 with 9:53 left in the half. That's when UMD decided to buck the trend a little bit- the Bulldogs broke off on a massive 20-5 run from this point until halftime to snatch a firm grip over the contest. Just like that, UMD held a double-digit lead, something that was unfathomable for either team for much of the first half, at a score of 40-29. 

The lowest the Bulldog lead would fall to in the second half was 10 at a score of 43-33 with 17:11 remaining. But when UMD went up 14 once more at 47-33 with 14:59 left on the clock, it wouldn't lead by less than 12 the rest of that runtime. In fact, the Bulldogs' lead would blossom to as high as 23 at 67-44 by the 6:06 mark. UMD would eventually score a dominant 72-56 road victory, one where they held the Marauders to just 19-55 shooting on the day.

Andrews had been absolutely massive for the Bulldogs in this one. He closed with a double double of 23 points (on 10-14 shooting) and 13 rebounds. Blair also crossed into double figures with 15 points, also grabbing seven rebounds in the process. Mary had been led by Treyton Mattern's 15 points and Kam Warrens' 12 points on 4-8 shooting. Gertautas Urbonavicius led the Marauders in rebounds with nine.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Mary was left with a 6-3 record after its loss to UMD. Since that game, the Marauders have found themselves on a below-.500 stretch of 5-8. Most recently, Mary settled for a split in last weekend's set of home contests, defeating Crookston 84-77 before losing to Bemidji State 90-71.

Ultimately, this leaves Mary's overall record at exactly 11-11. However, with all of that 5-8 span coming in NSIC play, the Marauders' in-conference mark is 7-11. 

Mary's efforts to finish the season firmly above the .500 line will rely heavily on a trifecta of scorers. It starts with Warrens, who's averaging a team-high 13.1 points to go along with a rebounds per game mark of 5.9 that also leads the squad. Next is Mattern, who averages 11.7 points a night while leading the team in average assists with 3.1. Last but not least is Zyon Smith, who chips in 11 points a contest. 

CATCHING UP WITH: MINOT STATE (10-12 OVERALL, 7-11 NSIC)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS 

Much as it ended up doing in North Dakota a day later, UMD made the most of its trip to Minot on Dec. 9.

And it kicked off with a hot start from the Bulldogs. A 14-13 advantage quickly ballooned to a 30-17 affair with 8:11 left to play in the first half. But just as it seemed as UMD was starting to run away with this one, Minot responded in grand fashion. The Beavers would close the first half on a momentous 24-12 run to trim the Bulldogs' lead all the way down to just one at 42-41 heading into the break.

How would UMD respond to such a hot streak? Pretty well. Minot would take a 44-43 lead at the very start of the second half, but it'd last all of 39 seconds. The Bulldogs proceeded to score nine unanswered points to take a 52-44 lead of their own just over three minutes into the frame. But the game was far from over- the Beavers just kept working. Minot was even able to tie the score up again at one point at 59-59. Other than that, it was the Bulldogs that were holding on to marginal leads that Minot continued to challenge. It was a Middleton jumper to make the score 67-62 UMD with 9:48 on the clock that ultimately sparked an escape from this holding pattern into something a little more reliable. And once a Mattie Thompson and-one extended the Bulldog lead to 12 at 77-65 with 7:10 remaining, it'd stay in double figures until the final buzzer. UMD was able to ride a strong closing 10 minutes to an eventual 95-82 victory.

Blair and Andrews had monster offensive nights for the Bulldogs in Minot. Blair closed with a team-leading 23 points on 8-14 shooting. The redshirt-senior guard also had six rebounds and four assists in the game. Andrews was just a step behind with 20 points of his own. The thing is… that 20-point performance came without the junior forward missing a single shot. He went 8-8 from the field on the game, the first perfect shooting effort of his entire career. 

There were two other Bulldogs that finished in double-figures that evening. Lincoln Meister tallied a 13-point effort that tied his season-best mark. The junior guard did it on 3-3 shooting and a 7-8 effort from the charity stripe. Rounding out the list was Joshua Strong, who put up 12 points on a 5-9 shooting effort. 

As a team, UMD shot a combined 34-51 (66.7%) from the field in this one. To their credit, though, the Beavers had done pretty well offensively, too. Minot finished the night with a 29-57 shooting mark, a field goal percentage of 50.9%.

It was an effort from the Beavers that had been led by Cam'ron Dunfee, who put up 19 points while going 6-12 from the floor. Three other Minot players tallied double-digits in scoring, those being Khari Broadway (14 points on 5-9 shooting), Dylan Gichaba (24 points on 6-10 shooting) and Connor Hollenbeck (12 on points 5-10 shooting). Hollenbeck led the squad in rebounds on the night with seven.  

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Minot's loss to UMD left it with an even mark of 4-4 on the season to that point. The Beavers' efforts since then have left them just below the .500 line, the group riding a 6-8 stretch into this rematch with the Bulldogs. This past weekend, Minot lost to Bemidji State 71-65 before defeating Crookston by a whopping score of 87-53 to finish its homestand with a split. All of this has left the Beavers with an overall record of 10-12 and an NSIC mark of 7-11. 

Much like with its travel partner in Mary, Minot's aspirations of finishing the season in the green will be largely decided by the play of its three strongest scorers. Broadway leads the Beavers in points per game with 13.1 a night while also leading the team in average assists with 2.5 a game. Dunfee is second on the squad in average offensive output with 10.9 points a game. Jaxon Gunville isn't all that far behind, averaging 10.7 a game. 

Elsewhere on the statsheet, it's Hollenbeck that's led Minot in rebounds a game so far this season with 5.9 boards a night. 

THE BROADCASTS

Can't make it to Romano this weekend? We've got you covered. Follow all the action live through the NSIC Network by clicking the links below:

vs Mary (Friday, Feb. 10 @ 5:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3YBfFYg

vs Minot State (Saturday, Feb. 11 @ 3:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3x984oj

UP NEXT

UMD will close out regular season play next week with a healthy mix of home and away contests. It all starts with a trip to Crookston to square off against the Golden Eagles on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. The Bulldogs then finish the season in Romano with a contest against Bemidji State on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m.