ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (5-7, 3-5 NSIC) will look to continue their winning ways this weekend as they travel to Southwest Minnesota State (5-9, 2-6 NSIC) on Friday and Sioux Falls (11-3, 7-1 NSIC) on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears took care of business on their home court as they picked up a sweep of UMary and Minot State at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears put together dominant performances offensively in the second half of each game as they connected on 60.7% against the Marauders before hitting an even more efficient 64.3% after the break against the Beavers. Overall, CSP hit 51.4% (57-111) of their shots and 44.2% (19-43) of their three-point attempts.
 
The defense was also effective as the Golden Bears held their opponents to a combined 38.9% (42-108) from the floor and just 28.2% (11-39) from beyond the arc. Concordia also controlled play on the glass as they held a 73-56 edge in rebounding.
 
Lee Higgins played a big role on both ends of the court as he earned NSIC South Division Player of the Week honors after shooting an incredible 81.0% (17-21) from the floor and 87.5% (7-8) from three-point range to lead the team with 20.5 points per game. He hit 8-10 to finish with 20 points in the win over Mary before adding 21 points on 9-11 in the win over Minot State. The junior also chipped in 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 1.5 assists per game on the weekend.

SMSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter Friday night's contest with a record of 12-30 against Southwest Minnesota State. After winning just seven of the first 31 meetings in the all-time series, CSP has improved over recent years with five wins in the past 11 dating back to 2015, including wins in each of the past two contests. In 21 previous trips to Marshall, Concordia has gone 3-18.

LAST MEETING VS SMSU
In the meeting back on Dec. 7, CSP scored the first league victory for interim head coach Eric Johnson with a 75-70 win over Southwest Minnesota State at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia juniors Cody Carlson and Jordan Coblin were a handful as a guard-big combo, combining for 48 points led by Carlson's career-high 27 points. He was 10-of-16 shooting, was 3-of-4 from the arc and had seven rebounds. Coblin, meanwhile, flirted with a triple-double with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting (2-2 3FG), had eight assists, seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. He also drew nine fouls and got to the foul line eight times (7-8). 

Carlson had 16 of his 27 points in the first half on 6-of-8 shooting. The Golden Bears continued to lead by double-digits into the break, 43-33 in a half that featured four ties and four lead changes.

Concordia made 50 percent from the field (26-52) and from three-point distance (7-14) while holding SMSU to just 30 percent (9-30) from the arc and 36.8 percent (25-68) from the floor.

ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
After an incredible three-year run in which the Mustangs claimed two NSIC South Division titles and reached the NSIC Tournament championship three times, the Mustangs have gotten off to a slow start this season with a 5-9 record overall and a 2-6 record in league play.

SMSU returns to the R/A Facility after splitting a pair of road games last weekend, losing 64-61 to No. 24 Augustana, before snapping a two-game losing streak with a 62-59 victory over Wayne State. SMSU limited AU and WSC to a combined 31 percent (38 of 121) shooting in last weekend's games. Both teams shot less than 30 percent in the second half. 

Junior Kenny Byers leads the team in scoring (17.3), rebounding (8.6), assists (33), steals (18) and has recorded a team-high seven double-doubles. Byers ranks tied for third among all NSIC players with seven 10 or more rebound games this season, while his seven double-doubles ranks tied for third among all NSIC players and ninth nationally.

USF SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Cougars are meeting for the 25th time in the all-time series on Saturday as CSP enters with a 6-18 record against USF. Concordia's best stretch in the series came back in 2015-16 as they won three of four during that span, but the Cougars have won all seven meetings since then. The Golden Bears have gone 2-8 in 10 road contests with Sioux Falls.

LAST MEETING VS USF
Back on Dec. 6 in a game that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes in the first half, it was a 13-0 second half run that pushed visiting Sioux Falls past host Concordia in the Golden Bears' Northern Sun opener at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia junior guard Jordan Coblin led the squad with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while sophomore guard Noah Kannegiesser added 16 points in 30 minutes off the bench.

All seven Golden Bears converted at least one three-pointer on the night, but Concordia combined to shoot just 30.3 percent (10-33) from the arc. Concordia had late life as the Cougars were inefficient at the foul line, making just 52.7 percent (13-25) overall and 2-of-9 in the final 52 seconds.

Junior Cody Carlson was Concordia's third player in double-figures with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting while freshman George Scharlau added eight points and Shields finished with seven.

ABOUT THE COUGARS
Sioux Falls enters the weekend as the top team in the NSIC as they have compiled a record of 11-3 overall and 7-1 in NSIC action. The Cougars have been especially strong over the past few weeks with four consecutive wins, including a pair by a dozen or more points.

Perhaps their biggest win of the season so far came this past Saturday as they defeated their city rivals Augustana 65-59 to move into sole possession of first place. Freshman guard Jack Thompson scored 20 points with a career-best five three-pointers to lead USF to the victory with 2,371 fans in attendance at Sanford Pentagon.

Thompson is one of seven USF players to average at least 5.8 points per game and one of four to average at least 9.3 points as the Cougars feature an incredibly balanced attack. Austin Slater leads the way with 11.3 points to go along with 7.0 boards per game while Chase Grinde has put up 10.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game as well. Teathloach Pal has nearly averaged a double-double on the season with 10.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game on the year.

NSIC LEADERS
So far in the conference season, Concordia has been an efficient offensive squad as they rank fourth in the league in three-point percentage (40.1%) and fifth in field goal percentage (46.2%) while also ranking seventh in assists (13.1) and eighth in threes made (8.9). CSP has also been effective in wreaking havoc for their opponents as they rank fourth in steals per game (6.9) and seventh in blocks (2.8).
 
Individually, Jordan Coblin ranks in the top-20 of the league in eight different categories and in the top-10 in six of those categories. His 17.8 points per game rank ninth while his 5.1 assists per game rank third. He also sits in seventh in steals (1.4), 10th in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and fourth in minutes (33.8) on the season.
 
Cody Carlson also ranks near the top in several areas as he sits in seventh in field goal percentage (52.0%) as well as 13th in rebounding (6.1), putting him in the top-20 in both offensive and defensive rebounding. Carlos Barela ranks sixth in steals (1.4) while Jacob Shields ranks 10th in blocks (0.9).