CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team will host No. 7 Minnesota State University Moorhead and Northern State University in a pair of NSIC North battles Fri., Jan. 22 and Sat., Jan. 23. The Golden Eagles will take on the Dragons Fri., Jan. 22 at 8 p.m., while they will battle the Wolves Sat., Jan. 23 at 6 p.m., both at Lysaker Gymnasium.

Minnesota Crookston comes into the weekend with a 3-13 (1-11 NSIC) mark, while MSU Moorhead is 19-2 (11-1 NSIC) and Northern State is 11-7 (7-5 NSIC).

Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Dan Weisse
Record at UMC: 10-33 Season at UMC: Second Season

MSU Moorhead Dragons
Head Coach: Chad Walthall
Record at MSUM: 130-47 Season at MSUM: Sixth Season

Northern State Wolves
Head Coach: Paul Sather
Record at NSU: 86-58  Season at NSU: Sixth Season

Jan. 22 • CROOKSTON, Minn. • Lysaker Gymnasium • 8 p.m.
No. 7 MSU Moorhead at Minnesota Crookston
Video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/crk/#liveEventsTab
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/umcrookston/mbball/

Jan. 23 • Crookston, Minn. • Lysaker Gymnasium • 6 p.m.
Northern State at Minnesota Crookston
Video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/crk/#liveEventsTab
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/umcrookston/mbball/
Radio: 1260 KROX AM/105.7 FM (Chris Fee, Play by Play)

#5StoryLines
1. Can the Golden Eagles limit Isaac Sevlie inside Friday?

2. Can Polk and Redd have strong weekends to help lead the Golden Eagles?

3. How can UMC defend the three-point line against two very strong three-point shooting teams?

4. What freshmen will have a big weekend for the Golden Eagles?

5. Can the UMC defense continue to show improvement this weekend?



#Tidbits

- The UMC men's basketball team comes into the weekend with a 3-13 on the season with a 1-11 mark in the
conference. The Golden Eagles continue to show signs of getting better and better as their young squad continues to get used to playing against NSIC competition. UMC is coming off a good weekend overall as they battled Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State, losing by an average of just 7.5 points. UMC continues to get better in a lot of areas including the improvement of several of their young starters. UMC has played most of their opponents close this season, losing nine games by 10 points or less.

- The Golden Eagles have just two players in Derrick Redd, Jr. and Jim Warmack, who played in games last season, while Gable Smith and A.J. Walton both redshirted. The other 10 players on the team are newcomers. UMC is currently starting four players who are in their first seasons playing NCAA Division II basketball. The upside is that UMC has just one senior and four-of-five starters who are either freshmen or sophomores with C.J. Polk, Kobe Critchley, Gable Smith and Nate Lorenz. In addition, key  bench players Chase Knickerbocker and Jim Warmack have their best years in front of them, while junior college transfers Xavier Hall and Ben Grygiel will still have one year to play for UMC.

- Head Coach Dan Weisse will go up against his former employer for the third time in his head coaching career. Weisse worked as an assistant coach for MSU Moorhead under Chad Walthall before getting hired to lead the ship for the Golden Eagles.

- The UMC offense has shown a lot of improvement in Coach Weisse's second season. UMC is averaging almost 10 points a game more over last season as they have increased their scoring average from 58 to 67.3. In addition, the Golden Eagles are a better three-point shooting team, as they are hitting at a 38.7 clip up from 32.2 percent. They are also an improved shooting team overall, improving from 38.7 to 42.0 percent as a team.

- MSU Moorhead is having another great season under Head Coach Chad Walthall, following their NCAA Division II Elite 8 appearance during the 2014-15 season. The Dragons are 19-2 with an 11-1 mark in conference on the 2015-16 season. They are led by 6-9 big man Isaac Sevlie, who is averaging 21.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. In addition to Sevlie, point guard Tanner Kretchman has stepped in and picked up the slack for graduated senior Jordan Riewer. Kretchman is averaging 13.0 points per game and 4.8 assists per game. Tyler Vaughan has also made an impact, averaging 11. points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

- Northern State comes into the weekend with an 11-7 (7-5 NSIC) mark. The Wolves are in their sixth season under Head Coach Paul Sather. Northern State has strong guard play this season led by Darin Peterka, who is averaging 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Peterka is shooting 44.0 percent from beyond the arc. Guard Skye Warwick has also had a strong season, averaging 13.6 points per game and shooting 43.2 percent from beyond the arc. Mack Arvidson is also an impact shooter off the bench as he is hitting at a 41.4 percent clip, while averaging 8.6 points per game.