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THIS WEEK: Minot State heads out on US Highway 2 for a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games, playing Friday at Minnesota Crookston (8 p.m.) and Saturday at Bemidji State (4 p.m.)

RECORDS: MISU is 1-6 overall and 0-3 in the NSIC. UMC is 3-4 overall and 0-3 in conference. BSU enters the weekend at 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken begins his first season at the helm of the Beavers. He is 1-6 with Minot State and is 47-22 overall. UMC is coached by Jeff Oseth who is in his 11th season and is 47-220 with the school and overall. BSU head coach Mike Boschee is in his first season with Bemidji State and is 4-3 overall and is 119-118 overall.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: The game is broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live audio can be accessed online at kcjb.com. MSU provides live video and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: Minot State, Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State were not ranked in the latest NABC Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: The Beavers fell 66-62 in nonconference play Tuesday against Jamestown College at the MSU Dome. Minnesota Crookston dropped both NSIC games over the weekend, losing 66-61 at Minnesota Duluth and 79-51 at St. Cloud State. Bemidji split two games, losing 68-60 at SCSU and topping Duluth 66-55.

OVERALL SERIES: Minot State and UM Crookston are meeting for the first time as members of NCAA Division II. The Beavers trail the series 1-0 with BSU as DII members and are 2-7 against Bemidji State overall.

NOTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Minnesota Crookston is sitting in sixth overall in the conference in field goal percentage, hitting 47.2 percent of its shots on the season. But, the Golden Eagles are second-to-last in the conference in scoring per game, averaging just 63.6 points per game… UMC has hit just 17 3-pointers on the season, shooting 23.3 percent on the season, while taking by far the fewest in the conference with just 73 attempts… Brandon Burns is averaging 15.9 points per game, seventh in the NSIC. He has hit 48 field  goals in seven games… UMC has a player from nine different states and one foreign country on its roster… Minnesota Crookston can field a front line of three guys over 6-feet-8 as Abdou Niang and Broderick Schmidt are both 6-10 and Tomas Parker stands 6-8… Niang is tied for ninth in the conference in rebounding, pulling down an average of 6.9 per game… The Golden Eagles have struggled with turnovers, averaging 18.7 per game and have the league's worst assist-to-turnover ratio at 0.53.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Bemidji State nearly set a school record with a 122-61 win over Finlandia on the road Nov. 21. The Beavers fell just two points short of the school record 124 points scored against Minnesota Duluth in 2009. The Duluth game is the only game in which BSU lost while scoring in the 100s, dropping a 126-124 thriller… The Beavers have only had seven players start this season as Zach Noreen, Mason Walters and Dermaine Crockrell have started every game. Jason Edwards and Michael Farrinton have split times as well as Sean Jones and Lance Rongstad… The two Beavers have a shared opponent this season during the nonconference schedule, both losing to No. 5 ranked Metro State (Colo). BSU fell 67-41, while Minot State dropped a 75-54 decision… BSU, the conference's fourth best scoring team at 73.4, have three players averaging in double figures. Dermaine Crockrell leads the team with a 13.9 per game average, while Zach Noreen (12.7 ppg.) and Mason Walters (12.4 ppg.) are averaging at least 10 per game.

MISU STRETCHES ITS LIVE COVERAGE: Minot State University, in conjunction with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live video feeds for all home contest, all away NSIC games and select nonconference away games. Stretch Internet is an industry leader is live streaming video and offers live chat and On Demand replay video for select games. Log on to msubeavers.com/stayconnected for more information and to view live video.

HI-LINE SERIES: Minot State will play two of the three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams on US Highway 2 this weekend as MISU, Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji join Minnesota Duluth along what is called the “Hi-line.” The MISU Beavers are no stranger to the highway as Minot State has played Montana State-Northern in Havre, Mont., for many years. After the Duluth game, Minot State will have played all of the NCAA Division II teams on US Highway 2. The only NCAA Division I team on the route is Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., while NCAA Division II teams Northern Michigan (Marquette, Mich.) and Michigan Tech (Houghton, Mich.) are just off the highway.

ENRIQUEZ HEATING UP ON OFFENSE: Minot State's Anthony Enriquez (Sr., G, Tacoma, Wash.) started the 2012-13 a little slow, coming off the bench for the first five games. Enriquez, who sat out in 2011-12 while MISU transitioned from NAIA to NCAA Division II, has heated up over his past four games. He scored nine points off the bench at the University of Mary and added 12 points in a reserve role against Minnesota State-Moorhead. In the Beavers last two games, Enriquez started and hit for 19 and 11 against Northern State and Jamestown College respectively. He is currently the Beavers leading scorer at 9.6 per game.

BABY BEAVERS ARE CALLED KITS: Minot State has received solid play from its underclassmen this season. The Beavers have three sophomores and a true freshman logging significant minutes. Freshman Dominique McDonald (G, Raleigh, N.C.) has six starts on the season and is averaging 7.9 points per game and 25.7 minutes. Thomas Korf (So., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) has five starts on the season and has scored 7.3 per game. Adam Randall (So., G, Steele, N.D.), who has one start on the year, Dan Yale (Fr., G, Berthold, N.D.) and Matt Yale (So., G, Berthold, N.D.) have all seen regular minutes this season.

FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION: Minot State has had nine different players earn at least one start this season and only senior Josh Johnson (F, Lufkin, Texas) has started all seven games. MISU has used four different starting lineup combinations, with only one used more than twice. The Beavers group of Kelvin Fraser (Sr., F, Brooklyn, N.Y.), Isiah Gandy (Jr., G, West Palm Beach, Fla.), Josh Johnson, Dominique McDonald and Thomas Korf have made three starts together.