The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team is set to face the University of Jamestown and Northern State University for the second time this season. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. tomorrow against Jamestown, with Northern State to follow on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. 

FOUR MATCHES REMAIN: The Bulldogs currently trail Jamestown and Northern State for first place in the North Division. With two wins this weekend, UMD could hold an undisputed first place into the final two matchups next week.
The 2025-26 NSIC Basketball Tournament is a twelve-team tournament and will be seeded using overall conference win percentage. (22-games).
 
OPENING DOMINANCE: The Bulldogs opened the 2025-26 campaign on the road in the GAC/NSIC Challenge, where they earned two back-to-back wins over East Central University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University last weekend. This marked their second straight 2-0 start to the season. After that, they returned home to earn a home opener victory over the College of St. Scholastica, with an overwhelming 89-58 score inside Romano Gymnasium.
 
HANSON HEATING UP: Kole has eight double-digit games in the past eight outings. He tallied a career high 32 points against St. Cloud State to go along with 22 points against Minnesota State Mankato, 16 against Winona State, 28 against Concordia-St. Paul, 13 against Wayne State, 28 against Augustana, 14 against UMary, and 23 against Minot State.
 
SIWEK ON THE RISE: After being chosen as the NSIC's Player to Watch for the Bulldogs, redshirt junior Caleb Siwek has gotten off to the best start in his career. He has earned six straight games in the double-digit points category with 34 points on opening day against East Central, 20 points against Southeastern Oklahoma,  21 points against St. Scholastica, 12 points against Michigan Tech, 22 points against Lake Superior State, and 23 points against Bemidji State. He also tallied 28 points against Minnesota State University Moorhead. 
 
A COLOSSAL OUTING FOR PAULSON: In a narrow loss to the conference newcomer, the University of Jamestown, Noah Paulson earned 28 points of the team's 70 while shooting 61.5% (8-13) from the field, 91.7% (11-12) in free throws, and making his only three-pointer for his best outing so far. 
 
COACH WIECK'S 8TH SEASON: Head Coach Justin Wieck enters his eighth season at the helm of UMD men's basketball. Since taking over the program in 2018, he has led the team to three NCAA II Tournament berths, all of which happened back-to-back, with one going all the way to the Elite Eight in the 2023-24 season. Wieck has an overall record of 142-58 with 99-43 in conference play.
 
NSIC LEADERS: The Bulldogs, as a unit, are the third best in scoring defense (72.6 avg/g) in the NSIC, fifth in scoring margin (4.3), fourth in rebounding margin (2.5), first in combined opponent rebounds (33.0), first in turnover margin (2.54), and fifth in steals (7.38 avg/g).
 
LAST MATCH: UMD fell in the final seconds to Minot State University, dropping to 9-9 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) competition.
 
Leading the effort for the Bulldogs with over 20 points was Kole Hanson (23) and Caleb Siwek (22). As the leading scorer, Hanson tallied 70% (7-10) from the field, 66.7% (2-3) beyond the arc, and 87.5% (7-8) from the free-throw line.
 
Entering the match, UMD got out to a 4-0 lead two minutes in off the effort of Hanson and Noah Paulson. With 15:31 remaining on the clock, Minot had completed a 12-5 scoring run to take the lead for the first time at 12-9. The Bulldogs responded with a 13-9 scoring over the next five minutes, taking a 22-21 lead off the efforts of Nick Katona (7), Paulson (3), Mattie Thompson (2), and Siwek (1).
 
That marked the last time UMD was in command of the lead before the halftime break as Minot forced a 28-20 run, overpowering a colossal 11 points from Hanson to take a 49-42 lead into halftime.
 
Starting the last half, the Bulldogs found room for a 9-6 scoring run in the first five minutes. By the 8:24 mark, UMD reclaimed a lead on a 15-10 run off the efforts of Siwek (10), Katona (3), and Paulson (2). MSU continued to hold off UMD 75-74, scoring 10 points with under five minutes to go.
 
Hanson (4) and Siwek (2) tried to keep pace with the Beavers' eight points but continued to trail 83-80 with 60 seconds remaining. A three-point play by Jackson Fowlkes tied the game at 83 with 12 seconds remaining. It looked to force overtime, but a final-second jumper by Deuce Benjamin sealed the Bulldog loss at 85-83.
 
Overall, UMD hit 64.4% (29-45) from the field, 38.9% (7-18) beyond the arc, and 75% (18-24) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs dominated points off turnovers with 28 to the Beavers' 18.
 
MORE ON THE JIMMIES: This marks the second matchup with Jamestown since they joined the NSIC. Overall, Jamestown has started 12-12 with a 10-8 conference record. 
 
The Jamestown offense is led by Anthony Walters, who has 463 points this season with an average of 19.3 points per game. 
 
EARLIER AGAINST JAMESTOWN: UMD fell short in its first historic Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) matchup with the University of Jamestown, falling 71-70 with two time-expiring free throws.
 
Noah Paulson led the scoring effort for UMD by double digits with a career-high 28 points, going 61.5% (8-13) from the field, 91.7% (11-12) from the free throw line, and making his lone three-point shot. He also tallied one assist, one block, and seven rebounds (four offensive) to round out a dominant outing. Following behind was Kole Hanson with 13 points.
 
The first half saw the two teams score evenly for the first four minutes until a free throw from Mattie Thompson started a 5-0 scoring run to push the Bulldogs to an 11-6 lead. After that, the Jimmies chipped the lead away on an 11-4 scoring run until the 10-minute mark, which broke past UMD for the duration of the half. In the final ten minutes of the half, Jamestown pulled away by double digits on a 24-13 run. The largest factor hampering the Bulldog scoring effort in the first half was three-pointers, where the team only made one of 12 attempts (8.3%).
 
The first five minutes of the second half saw Paulson, Jackson Fowlkes, Mattie Thompson, and Nick Katona combine for a 14-5 scoring run to get within three points of the Jimmies at 43-40. The rest of the half saw a 27-24 run by the Bulldogs to tie the game with just under two minutes to go. A three-pointer from Hanson with a minute remaining looked to be the game decider, but a foul by Peyton Rogers in the final seconds gave Ford Okehi the game-winning free throws with time expired.
 
Overall, the team shot 37.7% (23-61) from the field, 29.4% (5-17) beyond the arc, and 79.2% (19-24) from the free throw line. The team suffered from one of its lowest three-point shooting rates in the first half, only making one of twelve attempts. The team earned 35 rebounds to the Jimmies' 37, with Paulson and Katona each earning seven.
 
MORE ON THE WOLVES: Northern State has started the season with a 10-14 overall record but 10-8 in NSIC competition. Since 2014, the Wolves own the advantage with a 14-12 record over the Bulldogs. However, in the last five matchups, UMD has won all five including a 79-62 win earlier this season.
 
Joshua Book is the total points leader for the Wolves with 347 points. He is currently shooting 40.5% from the field, 28.1% beyond the arc, and 90.6% from the free throw line.
 
EARLIER AGAINST NSU: The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team forced a 79-62 victory on the road over Northern State University in their fourth Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) matchup.
 
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was Kole Hanson, who earned a total of 21 points for his second over-20-point game this season. Hanson shot an overall 50% (6-12) from the field and 50% (3-6) beyond the arc with a perfect six-for-six in free throws. Following close behind was Jackson Fowlkes with 16 points and Noah Paulson with 10.
 
After Paulson put up the first layup of the match over a minute in, the Bulldogs found themselves trailing 11-7 after the first five minutes. UMD would take the lead on an unanswered eight-point run between Hanson, Paulson, and Mattie Thompson to take a 15-11 lead. This put the Bulldogs over the Wolves for the duration, as the final ten minutes saw UMD pull ahead by double digits on a 29-19 scoring run. This run was headlined by a colossal nine-point effort from Hanson and two six-point efforts from Nick Katona and Daniel Molhoek.
 
Entering the second half with a 44-30 lead, the Bulldogs continued to hold off the Wolves with a near equal 18-19 scoring run that put the score at 62-49 with 9:59 to go. In that time, Fowlkes led the way with 13 of UMD's 18-point effort. Over the next five minutes, the Bulldogs pulled further ahead, scoring 14 points to Northern State's seven. With 4:05 remaining, an 8-3 run by the Wolves proved not enough as the score settled in the Bulldogs' favor at 79-62.
 
UMD in total shot 45.6% (26-57) from the field and 38.5% (10-26) from the three-point line. They clobbered the paint with 30 points, along with 22 points off turnovers. Northern State was held to only 12 points in the paint and five points off turnovers. The
Bulldogs out-rebounded the Wolves 45 to 29, with Caleb Siwek leading the effort with eight rebounds.
 
NSIC REINSTITUTES NORTH/SOUTH DIVISION: With the reestablishment of a two-division system, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team has been selected as the favorites to win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) North Division.
 
In the NSIC's annual preseason poll, UMD has been ranked as the favorite to win the North Division, receiving 47 points, with the next closest team being Minnesota State University Moorhead with 43 points. Overall, the team finds itself in a tie for fifth with Augustana University, earning an identical 174 points. They both trail Concordia University St. Paul in fourth (176), Minnesota State University Mankato in third (189), St. Cloud State University in second (194), and Southwestern Minnesota State University as the favorites (219).
 
The conference spent the last two seasons with a single division structure where the Bulldogs combined for a 33-11 record in conference play. In the last five seasons of the dual division structure, UMD has had four top-three finishes in the conference, including a North Division win in the 2021-22 season.