-- The Minot State men's basketball team looks to snap its two-game losing skid on the road at the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Gary Senske Court at Lysaker Gymnasium.
The Beavers dropped two games at St. Cloud State on Jan. 16-17 and are looking to bounce back from their second two-game losing skid of the season. Senior guard
joined us for his weekly press conference that you can watch by clicking the play button in the image above.
Minnesota Crookston has lost four straight (2 vs. MSUM, 2 vs. NSU). Crookston's (1-5) one win came in its second game against Concordia-St. Paul on Jan. 3, a four-point victory (84-80) over the Golden Bears.
GAME NOTES
WEEKEND MATCHUP
Minot State men's basketball travels to Crookston, Minn. to face the Golden Eagles of the University of Minnesota Crookston for a Friday-Saturday matchup. The game time for Friday's contest is 5:30 p.m. and the game time for Saturday's tip-off is 1:30 p.m., both are central time. In 2019-20, the Beavers and Golden Eagles split the two matchups with MSU rolling to a 92-61 win in the home contest at the MSU Dome on Jan. 26, 2019, led by 28 points from David Akibo, 19 points by
Kyle Beisch, 16 points from
Kody Dwyer, and 11 points from
Max Cody and
Aleksa Cucovic. The Beavers then fell by seven points (L, 68-61) at Crookston in the second matchup on Feb. 15, 2020.
The game can be watched live on the
NSIC Network.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
The NSIC / Sanford Health Men's & Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Championships are set to take place Thursday-Sunday, February 25-28 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The top teams from each division will make up the eight-team field for the 2021 tournament.
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND
MSU dropped both games at St. Cloud, falling in a tough two-point (80-78) contest on a buzzer-beater by Ryan Bagley on Saturday and on Sunday dropping the second game of the weekend by a lopsided 90-74 margin. Despite the two losses, there were some bright spots for the Beavers,
Kody Dwyer scored 20 points (10-13 FG),
Cam'ron Dunfee dropped 13 (5-7 FG), and
Max Cody inched to within nine points of 1,000 in the two-point loss with 16 points in Saturday's game. On Sunday, Cody would join an exclusive club with 12 points in the game and 1,003 for his career.
AGAINST THE GOLDEN EAGLES
The Beavers are 26-5 all-time against Minnesota Crookston but have lost the last game and split the series against the Golden Eagles last season. The longest win streak for MSU was from Nov. 3, 2008, to Jan. 25, 2020, a span of 16 games during that time. The Beavers are 14-4 against the Golden Eagles at home all-time and 12-1 on the road. The largest margin of victory goes to Minot State with a 33-point win (88-55) on Feb. 16, 2013. The Beavers have averaged just over 80 points per matchup with Minnesota Crookston.
1,000 POINT CLUB
Senior guard
Max Cody has scored 1,003 career-points after dropping 12 points, nine in the second half, on St. Cloud in Sunday's matchup on Jan. 17. Cody led the team in 2019-20 with 186 assists, he currently sits second all-time with 431 career-assists, looking to surpass Ryan Johnson (1993-03) who holds the school record with 549 career-assists. Cody scored 24 points in the second game at SMSU (1/9), which was three points shy of his career-high 27 recorded on Jan. 11, 2020, against Minnesota Duluth. Cody has scored in double-digits in five of the six games played so far this season. He is first on the team (15th in NSIC) in free-throw percentage 78.3% (18-23) with a minimum of 20 free-throws attempted through six games into the campaign.
FEEL THE BERN
Melvin Newbern has been hitting the glass hard for the Beavers so far this season. The guard/forward is leading the team with 8.0 rebounds per game for 48 total rebounds through six games played. Newbern scored the first nine points of Sunday's matchup at St. Cloud including three steals. Newbern has been in double-digits in rebounds in three of six games played this season and he has also shot over 40.0% during five of six games played.
HEATING UP
The first-year guard out of Minot High School,
Jaxon Gunville sank four straight three-pointers and finished with a team-high 17 points on Jan. 17. His three-point percentage is among the best in the NSIC, shooting .409 (9-22) from beyond the arc.
TURNING THEM OVER
The Beavers have been forcing turnovers at a high rate so far this year. So far Minot State has forced 78 turnovers and has forced its opponents into an offensive miscue in double-digits during five of its six games played this year, with a high of 17 turnovers forced occurred on Jan. 8 against Southwest Minnesota State.
About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.
