ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (2-11, 1-6 NSIC) hits the road to start 2018 as they travel to Wayne State (9-7, 4-4 NSIC) on Friday and Augustana (9-5, 4-4 NSIC) on Saturday in NSIC action.

LAST TIME OUT
After falling to Northern State 84-71 on Saturday, Concordia grabbed their first conference victory of the season with a 72-62 win over MSU Moorhead on New Year's Eve.

After outscoring the Wolves 43-36 in the first game of the weekend, the Golden Bears doubed down by outscoring the Dragons 39-31 after the break to pull away for the win. CSP found success from beyond the arc as they went a combined 17-41 (41.5%) from deep while hitting 55-122 (45.1%) overall from the floor. The Golden Bears also outrebounded their opponents 71-65 and collected 35 assists compared to 28 for their opponents.

Avan Ward made it three straight 20+ point efforts with 26 points against the Wolves and 20 against the Dragons while knocking down 18-33 (54.5%) from the floor and 9-16 (56.3%) from three-point range. Evan Wesenberg fell one rebound short of back-to-back double-double as he had 11 points and nine boards against NSU before putting up 10 points and 10 rebounds against MSUM. Ted Brown was efficient in his time on the floor with 9.5 points on 69.2% (9-13) shooting in 14.0 minutes per game.

WSC SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Friday night in the all-time series between Concordia and Wayne State, WSC holds a slight edge as they have claimed 20 wins and CSP has picked up 18 in the 38 meetings. Since a stretch from 2006-2011 that saw Concordia win nine of 10 meetings, the Wildcats have turned the momentum in their favor with 10 wins in the last 14. Interestingly, both teams hold nearly the same record on their home court as CSP has gone 12-8 in St. Paul while WSC has gone 12-6 in Wayne in the series.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
Back on Dec. 2 in the NSIC opening weekend, the Wildcats pulled away from Concordia to claim a 76-57 win. 

The 19 point margin swelled due to the difference in three-point shooting as the visiting Wildcats made 11 three-pointers while holding host Concordia to four on the night.

The seven three-point difference between the teams was a key factor in the 19 point final margin with WSC converting at 52.4 percent (11-21) from the arc to Concordia's 28.6 percent (4-14). In addition, the Wildcats were able to take care of the ball on offense with just six turnovers while forcing 14, leading to a 15-4 scoring margin. Concordia shot 40.0 percent (20-50) on the night and was able to get to the foul line 12 more times than Wayne State, making 13-21 to WSC's 7-9.

Three players scored in double-figures for Concordia with Avan Ward leading the charge with 13 points on 5-11 shooting including 3-6 from distance while adding three assists. Evan Wesenberg and Bryndan Matthews each added 12 points with Wesenberg shooting an efficient 5-8 from the field, collecting four rebounds with two assists and a steal. Matthews added five rebounds, just one off of Ted Brown's team high six boards.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
After a solid stretch of four wins in five games, the Wildcats have sputtered to three losses in their last four to drop their record to 9-7 on the season, including 4-4 in NSIC play.

The Wayne State offense has been fairly efficient throughout league play as their 47.4% from the floor, 40.4% from beyond the arc, and 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio all rank sixth in the league. Their defense doesnt't fall far behind as their 72.8 points allowed per game ranks seventh in the NSIC while their turnover margin of 0.5 ranks eighth.

Guard Kendall Jacks has been the go-to guy for the Wildcats this season with a team-best 14.4 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. Trevin Joseph joins Jacks in double figures with 11.6 points per game as the team's leading scorer off the bench. Four other players register in between 7.6 and 8.8 points per game in what has been a balanced offense this season.

MSUM SERIES HISTORY
On Saturday, the Golden Bears meet the Vikings for the 25th time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 5-19 in the previous 24 meetings. The Vikings have dominated the series in the recent past with 12 straight wins over Concordia dating back to CSP's 81-77 win on St. Paul on Jan. 3, 2012. In their 10 previous trips to Sioux Falls, the Golden Bears have claimed just one win over Augie with that win coming all the way back in 2004.

LAST MEETING VS MSUM
In the first meeting this season on Dec. 1, CSP led for much of the night but were unable to hang on as a huge surge down the stretch gave Augustana a 75-56 victory at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Leading by 14 with 12:22 to play, the Golden Bears saw the Vikings explode for a 40-7 run the rest of the way as their shots started to fall on the offensive end and they strung together some stops on the defensive end.
 
Concordia had three players tally double figures in scoring as Bryndan Matthews once again led the team. Matthews collected 14 points, seven assists, five boards and three steals in a full line while Cody Carlson scored a career-best 13 and Ted Brown had 11. Carlson connected on three from deep while chipping in five rebounds and Brown added four boards of his own. Avan Ward added eight points while no other player had more than three.

On the defensive end, the Golden Bears put together one of their best performances of the season as they held a high-powered Augie offense to 41.8% (23-55) on the night and 36.0% (9.25) from three-point range. On offense, CSP was held below 40.0% from the floor for the second game in a row as they connected on a season-low 36.5% (19-52) for the game, including a 33.3% mark after the break (33.3%). For the first time all season, Concordia was out-rebounded as the Vikings collected a 37-31 advantage on the glass.

ABOUT THE VIKINGS
Augustana entered New Year's Eve riding a three-game winning streak in NSIC action, but fell to their crosstown rivals Sioux Falls by a score of 70-61 to drop their record to 9-5 overall and 4-4 in league play. 

While the Vikings did manage to extend their lead to 36-29 with 11:33 remaining, the Cougars answered with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 36-all, the first of three ties over the next five minutes before USF used a 6-0 run to take a 51-46 lead with 4:35 left, drawing a timeout from the Augustana bench.

On the season, the Vikings have been a prolific offensive team with 81.0 points per game, good for fourth in the league. They have been especially deadly from beyond the arc as their 9.6 threes made per game are tops in the conference. Augie also ranks second in the league in assists, second in free throw percentage, and second in offensive rebounds per game as well.

NSIC LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have had several players rank near the top of the league in different statistical categories.

Bryndan Matthews has been impressive filling up the stat sheet as he has put up top-15 numbers in eight different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.5 rebounds per game rank fourth in the league (130th in the nation) while his 2.5 offensive boards per game rank fourth as well (135th in the nation) as well. The junior has also been the team's go-to scorer as his 16.8 points per game rank ninth while he also ranks second in minutes per game (35.9) and 13th in assists per game (3.3)

In addition, Ted Brown ranks inside the top-10 in a few categories with his 62.3% shooting percentage (fourth) and 1.9 offensive rebounds per game (ninth).

NEARING 1,000
Junior Brydan Matthews has been a major contributor throughout his three seasons on campus and now finds himself closing in on becoming the 18th member of the 1,000 point club at Concordia. The Eagan native is just five points shy as he ranks 18th in program history with 995 points.