THIS WEEK: Minot State returns to the friendly confines of the MSU Dome to take on NSIC North Division rivals and fellow US Highway 2 schools Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston. Game times are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 8-10 overall and 4-8 in NSIC play, sitting in a tie for fifth place overall in the NSIC North Division with Bemidji State. BSU is 4-8 in league play and 6-11 overall. UMC comes into the weekend with a 6-12 overall mark and 2-10 in NSIC games.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fifth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 55-75 record during his first five seasons with Minot State and is 101-91 throughout his six-year head coaching career. Murken reached 100 career wins with a 67-56 win over Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 31, 2016. Mike Boschee is in his fifth season as head coach at Bemidji State where he has a 60-68 record with the Beavers. Boschee is 175-183 overall as a head coach. UMC's Dan Weisse is 16-56 overall in his third season.

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 – with Leif Bakken serving as the play-by-play announcer – and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: None of the three teams were ranked in the latest NABC Division II Top 25 poll or the D2SIDA Central Region Media Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State split a pair of NSIC road games, dropping an 81-66 decision at Minnesota State Friday before rebounding for a 74-70 win at Concordia-St. Paul. Tyler Rudolph continued to be a big presence all over the court, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds Friday and 24 and 9 Saturday. In Saturday's win over CSP, Russ Davis hit 6 of 8 3-pointers for 18 points and the Beavers got two huge 3s – one by Trevor Rothstein and one by Luis Ricci Maia – in the final two minutes of the game to earn the win. Bemidji State also split games at home on the weekend, falling 78-71 against Sioux Falls before upsetting Southwest Minnesota State – a team receiving votes nationally – 96-86 Saturday. Ben Best scored 17 in the loss Friday, while Jai'Vionne knocked down 25 in the win over SMSU. UMC fell twice to SMSU and USF at home as the Mustangs edged Crookston 77-74 Friday and USF escaped with a 69-60 win. Chase Knickerbocker had 23 points and eight rebounds Friday, while Connor Gamble scored 15 to lead UMC Saturday.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers trail Bemidji State by just a single game in the all-time series between the two teams with BSU up 8-7 overall. Minot State has an 18-5 lead over Minnesota Crookston dating back to both team's NAIA and NDCAC days. MSU is a perfect 8-0 against UMC since Minot State joined the league in 2012.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State swept both UMC and BSU on the season last year including two road games in February. Minot State held off UMC 71-63 in Crookston and then held on for an 81-79 win at Bemidji. MSU got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Tyler Rudolph, shooting 48 percent in the second half to pull away from the Golden Eagles. UMC was paced by Derrick Redd's 19. A night later MSU needed every point of Rudolph's 28, getting two key free throws from the then-sophomore forward late in the game. Rudolph was a perfect 10 for 10 from the line. BSU had four in double figures paced by William Harvey's 18.

NOTING THE BSU BEAVERS: Bemidji State has won three of its past four games after going a month without a win… BSU is just 1-5 overall away from Bemidji and 1-4 in NSIC games on the road… Jai'Vionne Green has scored an even 300 points on the season to lead the team with a 17.6 average. He also leads the squad with 33 3-pointers, hitting 53.2 percent of his triples… Ben Best's 13.1 points average and 4.4 rebounding average are both second on the team… Sharif Black is hitting 83.6 of his free throws, missing just 12 In 73 attempts… The Beavers have players with the last names Green, White and Black – the school's colors.

NOTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Minnesota Crookston has just one conference win since December, but it was an impressive 92-89 win over St. Cloud State who is currently second in the NSIC North… UMC's last three losses have been by a combined 14 points… Leading scorer Harrison Cleary has taken 130 more shots than second leading scorer Chase Knickerbocker. The duo both average double figures, scoring 20.0 and 11.1 points respectively… Kobe Critchley has one of the top assist-to-turnover ratios in the nation, dishing out 68 assists compared to just 21 turnovers.

TRIPLE RECORD: Minot State is well on its way to smashing its school record for 3-point field goal percentage. MSU has knocked down 41.7 percent from beyond the arc so far this season, three percentage points above the 2014-15 season where MSU hit 213 of 247 triples. MSU has 138 makes out of 331 attempts this year, paced by Russ Davis' outstanding 51 of 97 shooting. Davis is fourth in the NSIC at 52.6 percent. The Beavers are third as a team in the league and one of four teams hitting more than 40 percent per game.

CATCH A TIGER BY ITS TAIL: Tyler Rudolph continues to climb Minot State's all-time scoring list. He enters the weekend with 1,109 points, sitting in 13th overall. With a decent weekend, he will catch MSU Hall of Famer and former LSU head coach Dale Brown. Brown scored 1,140 points from 1953-1957.

ASSISTING OTHERS: Minot State's backcourt tandem of Luis Ricci Maia and Nathan Mertens continue to be one of the top guard combos in the league. Maia is tied for third in the NSIC in assists at 4.3, while Mertens is tied for 11th at 3.6 per game. The two are also in the top 15 in assist-to-ratio with Maia tied for sixth at 2.8 and Mertens 13th at 1.8.

BY THE NUMBERS

3: Players hitting over 40 percent from beyond the arc as Trevor Rothstein (48.1) and Tyler Rudolph (42.2) join Russ Davis who is knocking down 52.6.

27: Minot State's scoring margin in the first half as the Beavers have led at halftime or early in the second half in 16 of 18 games.

10.3: Turnovers per game as MSU has just 185 miscues in 18 games.