THIS WEEK: Minot State begins the second half of the season at home with a key NSIC North Division weekend matchup, playing host to Minnesota State University Moorhead (Friday, 8 p.m.) and Northern State (Saturday, 6 p.m.)

RECORDS: The Beavers are 7-7 overall and 3-5 in NSIC play, sitting in a tie for fourth place overall in the NSIC North Division. MSUM is second in the North with a 6-2 record and is 11-3 overall. NSU is just ahead of Minot State with a 5-3 conference mark and 9-5 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his fifth season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 54-72 record during his first five seasons with Minot State and is 100-88 throughout his six-year head coaching career. Murken reached 100 career wins with a 67-56 win over Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 31, 2016. Chad Walthall has put together an impressive run at MSUM, going 1152-43 in his six seasons with the Dragons. He is 268-121 overall. Paul Sather is in his seventh season as the head coach at Northern State, compiling a 113-75 record. He is 207-137 in his career after posting a 94-62 record in five seasons at Black Hills State.

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. MSU Moorhead is the fourth ranked team in D2SIDA Central Region Media Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State split a pair of NSIC road games just before the New Year, falling 82-71 at St. Cloud State before rallying for a 67-56 lead at Minnesota Duluth. Nathan Mertens led the Beavers with 17 points and five assists. On Saturday, MSU limited UMD to just 28 points in the second half to hold onto the halftime lead in a gritty win. Tyler Rudolph was nearly unstoppable with 26 points and 16 rebounds. Mertens had another solid night with 12 points. MSU Moorhead was held to 20 points under its season average as they fell 74-65 at home to Minnesota State Friday, but rebounded for a 74-60 win over Concordia-St. Paul. Aaron Lien paced MSUM Friday with 17, while Jon Doss had 19 in the win Saturday. NSU also split with MSU and CSP on the weekend, edging the Golden Bears 76-75 Friday before falling 90-85 against MSU. Ian Smith hit for 18 Friday and Mack Arvidson scored 22 Saturday. Logan Doyle finished with double figure rebounds both nights with 15 and 10 respectively.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers have struggled historically with both teams dating back to its NAIA days. MSU has yet to record a win against the pair since joining the NSIC as well. MSU trails MSUM 25-9 and NSU 34-7 all time.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State rallied late in both road games at Northern State and MSU Moorhead in December but couldn't pull out big road wins. The Beavers fell 91-87 at NSU and 96-87 at MSUM. Tyler Rudolph paced MSU with 27 points and 7 rebounds, while Nathaniel Moore added 20 points and seven rebounds at NSU. The Wolves countered with 23 from Logan Doyle as he hit 17 of 20 free throws in the win. Rudolph again had a big offensive night against MSU, finished with 26 points on 12 of 24 shooting, but he couldn't counter five Dragons in double figures. Aaron Lien finished with 19 points to pace MSUM.

NOTING THE DRAGONS: Minnesota State University Moorhead finally cooled off a touch as the Dragons finished with just 139 total points in two games last weekend while averaging 89.4 per game... Aaron Lien has turned into a consistent scorer who can hurt you in a lot of ways. He has missed just seven free throws all season and is shooting 54.8 percent from the field to get to his team-leading 17.1 scoring average… MSUM doesn't have a player with 20 turnovers yet this season, averaging just 8.3 per game… Tanner Kretchman and Ayob Ayob are just behind Lien in scorer at 16.1 per game as four players average in double figures… The Dragons shoot 78.0 percent from the free-throw line, missing just 61 in nearly 300 attempts.

NOTING THE WOLVES: Northern State is just about as good on offense as MSUM is, averaging 88.1 points per game, but has given up 81.5 per contest… The Wolves have an impressive plus-7.9 rebounding advantage, holding teams to just 29.7 per game… Mack Arvidson is the team's leading scorer at 19.1 per game, hitting 58 3-pointers on the season… Logan Doyle has heated up as of late and is fourth on the team in scoring at 13.3 per game and is one of the top rebounders in the league, averaging 8.9 per contest… NSU has outscored its opponent in every period including both overtime and double overtime.

RUDY WATCH: MSU junior Tyler Rudolph rolled past both milestones he was chasing this past weekend, becoming just the third player in school history to score 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds. He finished the weekend with 1,023 points and 525 boards. He is on pace to break both school records. He now trails MSU all-time leading scorer Paul Harrell by 803 points as Harrell tallied 1,826 during a brilliant career from 1977-80. On the rebounding side, he trails John Schaffer by 249. Schaffer pulled down 774 rebounds in his career spanning 1985-89.

MURKEN MILESTONE: Rudolph wasn't the only MSU individual chasing a milestone as Minot State head coach Matt Murken was just one win away from 100 in his career. He earned career win 100 in the 67-56 win at Minnesota Duluth. Murken has a 100-88 overall mark in seven season as a head coach.

BALANCE BASKETS: Minot State has five players averaging double figures scoring and another at just under 10 per game. Along with Tyler Rudolph's 19.9, Luis Ricci Maia averages 12.9, Nathan Mertens 11.3, Stevan Jovanovic 10.8 and Nathaniel Moore 10.4. Russ Davis is just outside at 9.3 per game.

GOING OUT WITH A BANG: Senior Nathan Mertens is making the most of his final season as he is second on the team in assists with 48 and has a solid 48-29 assist-to-turnover ratio. He is second in steals (12) and third on the team in scoring (11.3), while leading the Beavers in minutes with 33.9 per contest.

BY THE NUMBERS

4.4: Rebounds per game for redshirt freshman Trevor Rothstein who has 61 rebounds while playing just 19.6 minutes per game.

6: Wins this season at home for Minot State, going 6-1 so far. The Beavers have 17 home wins over the past two seasons going 17-5 overall at home and are 38-26 overall at home under head coach Matt Murken.

7: Teams averaging more than 80 points per game in the NSIC, including all three teams at the Dome this weekend. MSU is seventh at 80.2.