Men’s basketball takes on Peacocks, Warriors
The Minnesota State men’s basketball team is set to close out their regular season this weekend against the Upper Iowa Peacocks and Winona State Warriors. The Mavericks head into this weekend ranked sixth in the NSIC South while sporting a 15-8 overall record and 8-8 in conference play. The Mavericks will look to maintain that final sixth place spot heading into the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.
This past weekend, Minnesota State defeated Wayne State 81-76 before dropping their game against Augustana by a score of 85-74 at the Taylor Center. The Mavericks are led by head coach Matt Margenthaler, who is in his 21 season with the program and holds a career record of 435-195.
Sophomore guard Quincy Anderson leads the Mavericks this season in points with 397 in 23 games played. Following behind Anderson is junior guard Devonte Thedford, who has 256 pts in 23 games played this season.
The Mavericks and Peacocks have met once already this season in Mankato with MSU pulling off a 98-96 win in overtime. Anderson had the hot hand for Minnesota State that game by registering 35 points, his game-high for this season. Graduate student Joe Smoldt led the Peacocks in scoring for that game with 28 pts.
Smoldt leads Upper Iowa in points this season with 457 in 26 games played while junior guard Jake Hilmer is second on the team with 431 pts in 26 games played.
This will be the first time Minnesota State will travel to Fayette this season. The Mavericks boast an 11-4 all-time record in Fayette against the Peacocks that dates back to 2002.
Tip-off for the Minnesota State vs. Upper Iowa is set for Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. immediately following the women’s basketball game.
For game two this weekend, Minnesota State will return home to the Taylor Center to take on the Winona State Warriors.
Both teams have met once already this season with the Warriors taking game one by a score of 73-59. Anderson led MSU in scoring that game with 20 points. For the Warriors, scoring was fairly even across their starting five, with four out of the five registering at least 10 points.
For Winona State, junior guard Alec Rosner leads the team in scoring this season with 416 points in 23 games played, while junior guard Luke Martens is second on the team with 244 points in 23 games played.
The Mavericks hold a slight edge over the Warriors with a 15-12 all-time record at the Taylor Center. However, the last ten matchups have been in favor of Winona, who hold a 6-4 record over the Mavericks.
Tip off for Minnesota State vs. Winona State is set for Feb. 19 at 3:30 p.m. immediately following the women’s basketball game.
Header Photo: Sophomore guard Quincy Anderson (10) leads all Mavs in scoring with 397 points in 23 games. (Mansoor Ahmad/The Reporter)
Write to Karson Buelow at karson.buelow@mnsu.edu.