ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (3-23, 2-17 NSIC) closes out the season this weekend as they travel to Winona State (14-9, 10-8 NSIC) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before hosting #15 Upper Iowa (22-4, 16-4 NSIC) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. on Senior Night.
 
SENIOR NIGHT
On Saturday night, Concordia's lone senior, Jack Stensgard, will be honored with a brief on-court ceremony prior to tip-off. Stensgard, who joined the Golden Bears from UW-River Falls, ranks fourth on the team with 6.9 points per game while his 3.1 assists rank second and his 3.1 rebounds rank third.
 
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
New this year to Golden Bears is online ticketing. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
 
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC men's and women's basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, the Golden Bears fell to #9 Augustana 88-72 on Friday and Wayne State 80-64 on Saturday.
 
In Friday's contest with the Vikings, the Golden Bears buried 8-12 (66.7%) from beyond the arc in the opening half to keep it within five points, but the Vikings continued to control play on the glass with a 16-4 edge in offensive rebounding and an 18-4 edge in second chance points.
 
The duo of Caden Hoffman and Ian Sluice shouldered the load from deep as Hoffman knocked down 6-10 from three-point range for a season-best 18 points while Sluice hit 6-10 from the floor and 4-8 from beyond the arc for a career-high 16 points. They were especially impressive in the opening 20 minutes as they combined to go 7-9 from three for 21 points before the break. Hoffman added six assists and four rebounds while Sluice pulled down a pair of boards.
 
In the loss on Saturday, another solid shooting performance in the opening half gave the Golden Bears a 41-40 lead at the break, but the Wildcats turned the tables after the break as they held CSP to just 23 points in the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Concordia had three different players score 14 points in the game as Jacob Everson, Jack Stensgard and Elijah Ormiston all reached that mark. Everson was an efficient 6-8 shooting and 2-2 from three-point range while pulling down a team-best six rebounds to go along with three assists. Stensgard was nearly as efficient as he connected on 5-7 overall and 2-3 from deep while also picking up three boards and three steals. George Scharlau chipped in eight points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.
 
WSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears head into this Thursday's meeting with Winona State with a record of 7-51 against the Warriors. WSU won the first 31 meetings from 1986-2008 before CSP registered their first win in the series. Concordia's best stretch in the series came from 2015-16 as they won three of four during that stretch, but Winona State has won nine of the last 10 since then. CSP has found more success on the road as they have gone 5-26 in Winona compared to 2-22 in St. Paul.
 
LAST MEETING VS WSU
Back on Dec. 2, CSP was done in by a last second game winner as an and-one layup with 4.4 seconds to play gave Winona State a 68-63 victory at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, including a 13 point deficit with 11:51 to play, the Golden Bears showed their resilience as they stormed back with an 18-3 run to take the lead in the closing minutes. WSU finished strong, however, as they scored the final seven points.
 
Marcus Skeete once again paced the Golden Bears as he played the role of creator on the night, flirting with a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 28 minutes of action. The double-double was his first of the season and his fourth of his career.
 
Jacob Everson matched Skeete for the team lead in scoring as he put up an efficient 13 points on 4-6 shooting and 3-4 from the floor. Elijah Ormiston added eight points and five boards on the night.
 
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State enters the final weekend of the regular season locked into a spot in the NSIC Tournament as their 10-8 mark in league play puts them in fourth in the NSIC South. WSU sits a half a game behind Wayne State in third and a game ahead of Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota State in a tie for fifth. Following a stretch of seven wins in nine games in January, the Warriors have dropped three of four since the calendar flipped to February.
 
The Warriors have been one of the top teams from beyond the arc in the NSIC as their 8.9 threes made per game rank second and their 35.8% three-point percentage ranks seventh. WSU also ranks second in turnover margin at +2.04 and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.27. Winona State also holds their opponents to 70.1 points per game, fourth best in the conference.
 
Alec Rosner has been the top scorer this season for the Warriors as his 18.1 points per game registers in at seventh while his 49.0% field goal percentage ranks 10^th and his 2.1 threes made per game rank 12^th. Luke Martens ranks as one of the top rebounders in the league as his 7.4 boards per game rank fifth while Devin Whitelow ranks fifth with 4.3 assists per game and sixth with a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
UIU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter the weekend's contests with a record of 15-21 against the Peacocks. CSP has found most of their success against UIU in Fayette as they have gone 9-8 on the road in the series. On their own home court, the Golden Bears have gone 6-11 against the Peacocks. Concordia's best stretch in the series came from 2004-12 with a record of 11-3 during that span. Since December 2014, Upper Iowa has gone 13-2 in the series. Concordia's last win against the Peacocks came back on Feb. 22, 2020 in a 93-61 win at Gangelhoff Center.
 
LAST MEETING VS UIU
Back on Dec. 4, CSP was unable to dig themselves out of an early hole as they fell to #19 Upper Iowa 86-73.
 
Elijah Ormiston put together his best game of his young career as he paced all players with a career-best 28 points while finishing a rebound shy of a double-double with nine. He connected on 13-19 from the floor as his 13 made field goals tied for third-most in program history.
 
Jacob Everson finished in double figures for the third straight game as he scored 15 points on 4-8 shooting and 3-5 from deep. During his three-game hot streak, Everson has averaged 14.7 points on 65.0% (13-20) and 71.4% (10-14) from three-point range. Roy Grigsby added nine points on 3-6 from the floor and 2-2 from beyond the arc while Marcus Skeete tallied five points, six assists and five rebounds.
 
The Peacocks connected on an efficient 52.0% (39-75) from the field compared to a 43.9% (29-66) mark for the Golden Bears while they also utilized a 52-40 edge in points in the paint as well as a 24-16 edge in points off turnovers in the win.
 
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
Upper Iowa has been one of the top teams in the NSIC this season as they rank second in the NSIC South with a 16-4 record in league play and a 22-4 record overall. UIU has been incredibly consistent this season as they have four different streaks of four or more wins in a row, including two with six in a row. The Peacocks have secured a first round bye in the NSIC Tournament as they sit two games out of first place in the division behind Augustana.
 
The high-flying Peacocks have been one of the top offensive squads in the league as they rank second with 83.6 points per game, third with a 37.4% three-point percentage, third with 8.6 threes made per game and fourth with a 47.9% field goal percentage and first with a 78.7% free throw percentage. UIU also ranks fourth in scoring margin (+9.3), third in blocks (3.77), third in opponent three-point percentage (32.0%) and fifth in opponent field goal percentage (43.4%).
 
Upper Iowa has two of the top 12 scorers in the NSIC as Joe Smoldt ranks ninth with 17.6 points per game while Jake Hilmer ranks 12^th with 16.6. Smoldt ranks second in threes made per game (3.0) and three-point percentage (37.4%) while Hilmer ranks second in free throw percentage (93.8%), seventh in assists per game (4.0) and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0)
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have had four different players that rank near the top of the league in different statistical categories.
 
Elijah Ormiston's scoring surge in NSIC play has moved him to 11th in the league in points per game at 17.0 while he also sits in sixth in field goal percentage at 54.1%, 11th in rebounds per game at 6.6 and 18th in free throw percentage at 66.0%. He's been even better in league play as his 18.6 points per game in conference action rank third and his 6.7 boards per game rank 13^th.
 
Marcus Skeete has been a versatile player for CSP as he ranks 11th in assists per game (3.4), 13th in field goal percentage (47.1%), 19th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2) and 21st in rebounds per game (5.8). Jack Stensgard ranks 17th in assists per game (3.1), 17th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4) and 23rd in blocks per game (0.5) while Caden Hoffman ranks 22nd with 2.8 assists per game.
 
As a team, the Golden Bears have defended the arc well as their 6.2 made threes allowed per game are the third fewest in the conference while their 215 made threes per game rank tied for third and their 8.3 threes made per game rank fifth. CSP also ranks fourth in assists per game at 14.62.