ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-1, 0-0 NSIC) opens up NSIC play on the road this weekend as they travel to Minnesota State (3-2, 0-0 NSIC) on Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off at Taylor Center.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, Concordia moved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 season with Friday's win over Georgian Court before falling to Florida Tech on Saturday in the Florida Tech Thanksgiving Tournament Championship.

The Golden Bears continued their hot shooting to start the season as they hit a combined 51.7% (61-118) from the floor and 47.4% (27-57) from three on the weekend. CSP also held a 76-36 edge in points in the paint, a 54-44 edge in rebounds, and a 52-22 edge in bench scoring in the two games.

Bryndan Matthews led the team with 21.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.5 steals while shooting 64.0% (16-25) from the field. Isaiah McKay added 20.0 points, 6.5 assists, 6.5 boards and 4.0 threes per game on 60.0% (15-25) shooting and 61.5% (8-13) from three-point range.

MSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are set to meet the Mavericks for the 31st time in series history on Saturday night. In the previous 30 meetings, CSP has gone 6-24 against MSU. The series has been tipped in favor of the Mavericks over the past few years as MSU has won 12 of the last 13 meetings dating back to the 2012-13 season. Minnesota State has been especially successful on their home court as they have gone 13-2 agsint Concordia in Mankato all-time. CSP's last win in Mankato  came all the way back on Dec. 9, 2011 in an 85-76 victory.

LAST MEETING VS MSU
Back on Jan. 23 in St. Paul, the Golden Bears were unable to dig their way out of an early hole as they fell to Minnesota State by a score of 95-66 at Gangelhoff Center.

Turnovers and three-point shooting buried the Golden Bears as the Mavericks outscored CSP 35-14 in points off of turnovers and 45-6 from beyond the arc to gain the decisive edge. MSU forced 23 Concordia turnovers compared to the 14 they committed.
 
From the field, Minnesota State finished 47.2% (34-72), including 53.6% (15-28) from three-point range, while the Golden Bears hit 41.0% (25-61) and 18.2% (2-11) from three.
 
Three different Concordia players scored in double figures on the night, led by Ted Brown's 13 points. Bryndan Matthews fell a rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists while Evan Wesenberg chipped in 11 points and five boards off the bench. Wesenberg added a pair of blocks as well.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
After falling to Northern State in the NCAA Central Region Championship to cap off a 24-10 season last year, Minnesota State is off to a 3-2 start in the 2018-19 season. 

The Mavericks picked up a split in the NSIC/MIAA Crossover Challenge to open the season before knocking off the Huskies 80-77 on the road in overtime in a non-conference meeting. Last weekend, MSU also traveled to Florida for a Thanksgiving tournament as they defeated Tampa on Friday before falling to the host school Eckerd on Saturday.

Much like the Golden Bears, the Mavericks have been a high scoring team so far this year with 81.6 points per game through five contests. MSU's offensive has been led by a big three of Cameron Kirksey (19.0 PPG), Kevin Krieger (18.8 PPG) and Carlos Anderson (14.8 PPG) while Juwan McCloud has chipped in a team-best 3.6 assists per game as well.

NCAA/NSIC LEADERS
Heading into conference play, the Golden Bears had several players rank near the top of the NSIC and the nation in different statistical categories.

Bryndan Matthews has been one of the top players in the country early on this season as he leads the conference and ranks ninth in NCAA DII in scoring (24.8)  while also leading the conference and ranking 15th in the nation in rebounding (10.0). Matthews also registers in at third in the NSIC and 18th in the nation in assists per game (6.6), second in the NSIC and 27th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (3.6), third in the NSIC and 27th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.7) and sixth in the NSIC and 29 in the nation in field goal percentage (63.8%) all in a nation-leading 40.8 minutes per game.
 
In addition, Isaiah McKay ranks inside the top-10 in the NSIC in seven categories and in the top-15 in 10 categories as well. McKay ranks just behind Matthews in scoring (23.8) to rank second in the league and 16th in the country while ranking second in the conference and 12th in the country in threes made per game (4.0), second in the conference and 31st in the country in defensive rebounds per game (6.8) and fifth in the conferencde and 68th in the country in assists per game (4.8) in his 36.8 minutes per game, good for second in the conference and 29th in the country.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
Senior Bryndan Matthews has been a major contributor throughout his four seasons on campus and is climbing the career ranks at Concordia. The Eagan native is up to fifh in scoring (1,391), third in rebounds (631), fourth in rebounds per game (6.9), fifth in field goals made (509), fifth in free throws made (314), ninth in assists (217) and 10th in steals (115) in his career at CSP.