ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Friday, Concordia University (8-10, 5-6 NSIC) will host the 17th-ranked team in the nation, Augustana College (16-2, 9-2 NSIC) and a solid Wayne State (9-9, 6-5 NSIC) squad in an important weekend of Northern Sun men's basketball. The Vikings are currently ranked fourth in the NCAA Central Regional Rankings and are coming off a win over previously undefeated and the third-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks and are winners of 11 of their last 12 games while the Wildcats are 5-2 in their last seven games and 7-3 in their last 10 including a double-overtime loss and a four point loss at Winona State. The games will be available online free of charge: WEEKLY RELEASE - WATCH LIVE - LISTEN LIVE - LIVE STATS
While Augustana and Wayne State come into Gangelhoff Center for this weekend's 8:00 p.m. tip-offs on Friday and Saturday on hot streaks, Concordia enters the games having lost three of their last four on difficult back-to-back weekend road trips. The redeeming part of the dry spell was their win at Southwest Minnesota State, where they had only won once before. Aside from that, they have never won at Minnesota State or Northern State while U-Mary has not yet lost at home this season, giving that 1-3 record in the four game stretch a silver lining.
The good news is Concordia is returning home to Gangelhoff where they average 85.6 points per game and shoot 50.9% from the field and 45.9% from behind the arc.
The Golden Bears and Vikings met earlier in the season with Augustana handing Concordia their first loss as Augie moved to 4-0 and CU fell to 2-1. The game was never really close, either, as Augustana won 85-63 behind three players in double-figures led by Cody Schilling's 18 points. For Concordia, Craig Heiman moved into second in all-time scoring with 21 points on 9-16 shooting but no one else on the squad had more than Dan Vandervieren's seven points off the bench. Concordia shot just 38.1% in the loss and committed 20 turnovers. Defensively, they held Augie to 3-15 three-point shooting but only converted five their 17 attempts on offense and only forced 10 Viking turnovers.
The loss to Augustana gives CU three straight losses to the Vikings, all coming since head coach Kelly Boe took the reins of Concordia basketball in 2006-07. Prior to that, Concordia had won three straight games against Augie in a series that the Vikings lead 5-3 heading into the ninth meeting. In all three of the losses, Concordia has failed to reach 70 points.
The last time Concordia faced Wayne State was last season in Wayne, Neb. when Sammy Ricks went off for a career-high 27 points and five assists while playing 32 minutes of turnover-free basketball in an 81-74 win at Rice Auditorium. Concordia forced 20 Wildcat turnovers while committing only 14, a solid combination on the road to help offset Wayne's 77.3% (17-22) second half shooting effort.
That win gave Concordia their seventh in the last eight contests against Wayne State to improve their series record to 12-10 over the Wildcats. At Gangelhoff Center, the last meeting was in the 2008 NSIC Tournament First Round with CU's six game home winning streak against WSC snapped in a 75-72 season ending loss. They are 8-3 all-time against Wayne State at Gangelhoff and are 6-1 all-time against them under coach Boe.
This weekend's matchups are critical for Concordia as they face the No. 2 and No. 6 team in the NSIC Standings. Concordia currently sits in eighth, but are just a half game out of seventh (Upper Iowa, 6-6), a game out of sixth (Wayne, 6-5) and two games out of fifth (U-Mary, 7-4). Knocking off a couple teams ahead of them is the best way to start the climb as the race for NSIC Tournament pairings is underway.
(photo of Ricks courtesy Bob Cunningham, www.photoresourcemn.com)
