ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (5-2, 0-1 NSIC) is set for their NSIC home opening weekend as they host Augustana (4-2, 0-1 NSIC) at noon on Saturday and Wayne State (7-0, 1-0 NSIC) at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Gangelhoff Center.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears grabbed a pair of impressive wins at the CSP Thanksgiving Classic with a 96-54 win over Truman State and a 103-92 win over Upper Iowa.
 
Against TSU, CSP picked up their largest win since a 96-42 win over Northland on Nov. 22, 2014 and second-largest against an NCAA Division II opponent, trailing only a 91-47 win over Minnesota Crookston all the way back on Jan. 7, 2006. The Golden Bears were dominant on both ends of the court as they hit 53.4% (31-58) from the floor while holding the Bulldogs to 31.7% (20-63) overall. The gap was even bigger beyond the arc as CSP knocked down the second-most threes in program history with 17 on 36 attempts (47.2%) while TSU hit 6-26 (23.1%). Their 17 made threes were just two behind the record set on Jan. 18, 2019 against St. Cloud State.
 
In the win over the Peacocks, the Golden Bears cleared triple digits for the second time in three home games this season as they remained unbeaten on their home court. CSP also passed the 80-point threshold for the sixth time in seven games overall, moving their season average to 90.1 points per game. Jordan Horn played a huge role in the offensive outburst as he scored 27 of his career-best 37 points in the second half as he hit 11-22 from the floor and 12-14 from the free throw line in the victory. His 37 points were third-most in the DII era at Concordia, trailing only Matt Cadwell's 46 against UIU on Feb. 28, 2009 and Antwan Kimmons' 38 against UIU on Feb. 16, 2023. He added seven boards and a pair of assists in the win.
 
AUGUSTANA SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Vikings will be meeting for the 36th time in the all-time series as Augustana holds a 29-6 edge in the previous 35 meetings. Augie has been especially dominant in the recent history of the series as they had won 21 in a row over CSP prior to the first meeting of last year. Concordia has compiled a 5-12 record on their home court while picking up just one win in 17 trips to Augustana.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE VIKINGS
Back on Feb. 10, the Golden Bears saw Augustana pull away in an 86-59 loss.
 
The red hot Golden Bears saw their four-game winning streak snapped on the road as the Vikings outscored CSP 54-30 over the final 21:34 of the night. Augustana led for 36 of 40 minutes on the night as they doubled up CSP in points in the paint at 40-20 and used a 17-9 edge in forced turnovers to finish with a 25-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Augie also held a 38-20 rebounding advantage, including a 12-1 edge on the offensive glass. On the flip side, the Golden Bears managed a 10-6 edge in fastbreak points as well as a 9-3 edge in made threes and a 36.0%-31.3% edge from beyond the arc.
 
Concordia's two top scorers led the way on the night as Marcus Skeete paced the squad with 16 points and four assists while Antwan Kimmons added 15 points and four boards. Skeete knocked down 6-11 from the floor and Kimmons hit 7-11.
 
WAYNE STATE SERIES HISTORY
Heading into the weekend, the Golden Bears sit at 19-30 in the all-time series with the Wildcats. Since a stretch from 2006-2011 that saw Concordia win nine of 10 meetings, Wayne State has turned the momentum in their favor with 20 wins in the last 25 and 13 of 14. Concordia has found much more success on their home court as they have gone 12-15 in St. Paul and 7-16 in Wayne in the series.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE WILDCATS
In the last meeting on Feb. 11 in Wayne, Concordia led by as many as 16 in the second half at NSIC South-leading Wayne State, but they were unable to hold off the Wildcats as the Golden Bears fell 92-79 in overtime.
 
A career-best 27 points from John Grigsby helped the Golden Bears build a 46-30 edge with just over 16 minutes to play, but it wasn't enough as CSP fell to 19-30 in the all-time series and 7-16 in 23 trips to Wayne State. Grigsby scored 19 of his team-high 27 points after the break as he connected on 8-15 from the floor and 6-10 from deep to go along with six rebounds.
 
Grigsby was one of three Golden Bears to reach double figures in the contest as Antwan Kimmons added 19 points, six assists and five rebounds while Marcus Skeete added a double-double with 12 points, 10 boards and four assists.
 
STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears rank highly in several statistical categories.
 
As a team, CSP leads the NSIC and ranks 14^th in the nation with 11.4 made threes per game while they also rank first and 16^th, respectively, in free throws made with 19.6 per game. Concordia also ranks second in the league and 20^th in the country with 90.1 points per night while their effective field goal percentage of 58.0% ranks 31^st in the nation.
 
Individually, Jordan Horn leads the nation with 30 made threes on the season while his 24.9 points per game also lead the NSIC and rank seventh in the country. The senior also leads the league and ranks fourth in the nation in threes made per game (4.29) while his 38 made free throws rank 14^th in the nation.
 
CSP has three of the top-eight in the conference in free throw percentage as Ben Kopetzki ranks second at 91.7%, Horn ranks third at 90.5% and Marcus Skeete ranks eighth at 85.0%. Chet Kloss ranks fourth in the NSIC with seven total blocks while Japannah Kellogg ranks seventh with 44 total rebounds.