LAST TIME OUT
- The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team suffered another close road loss on Saturday afternoon with Minnesota State holding off a late Mustang comeback attempt in earning a 74-71 victory in NSIC action inside the Taylor Center.
- The Mustangs' Jakob Braaten led all scorers with 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting with seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. Micah Schlaak recorded SMSU's first double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Aeron Stevens and Mekhi Shaw both finished in double figure scoring with 12 points each. Isaiah Schafer and Landon Pokorski both closed with six points with two 3-pointers apiece.
- MSU had five players score in double figures with Traijan Sain pouring in 15 points with three 3-pointers, including a big 3-pointer with less than a minute remaining.
- SMSU finished the game shooting 46 percent (27 of 59), including 9 of 29 from 3-point range. MSU closed shooting 46 percent (28 of 61) from the field, while making 11 of 31 from 3-point land. The Mavericks also held a 37-34 rebound advantage.
HEAD COACH BRAD BIGLER
- Head coach BRAD BIGLER, the all-time wins leader in program history, is in his 17th season with an overall record of 275-208, including 192-159 in NSIC play.
- SMSU has played in five NCAA tournaments (2012, 2017, 2018, 2024, 2025) during his tenure as head coach.
- SMSU won a share of the 2024-25 NSIC regular season championship, captured NSIC tournament titles in 2012 and 2017 and won back-to-back NSIC South Division championships in 2016-17 and 2017-18. SMSU has played in five NSIC tournament championship games under Bigler (2010, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019).
- The 2012-13 and 2016-17 NSIC Coach of the Year, Bigler has led SMSU to 11 winning seasons, with one 28-win season, one 25-win season, and four seasons of 19-or-more victories.
- The 11th head coach in team history, Bigler spent six seasons (2003-09) as an assistant coach at SMSU, including the last three as associate head coach.
MORE ON WINONA STATE
- The Warriors are 9-14 overall, 8-10 NSIC, had its four-game winning streak snapped last Saturday at home to Augustana.
- WSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, finishing with 22 victories.
- Sophomore guard Ryan Heise is scoring a team-high 13.3 ppg.
- Sophomore guard Gavyn Hurley leads the squad averaging 13.2 ppg and also leads the team at 6.9 rpg.
- Sophomore guard Tyler Mason has connected on a team-high 50 3-pointers and is scoring 13.1 ppg.
- WSU is shooting 44 percent from the field, 31 percent from 3-point range, 74 percent from the free throw line and is minus-2.1 in rebound margin.
- WSU is averaging 68 points per game, while opponents are averaging 75 points per game.
- Head coach Todd Eisner is in his 11th season at WSU with a record of 167-132. He has also been head coach at Viterbo, Bellevue, Benedictine and Midland recording a career record of 583-298 in 28 seasons as a head coach.
SERIES HISTORY
- SMSU and WSU meet for the 123rd time with WSU leading 76-46 in a series that started in 1968-69.
- WSU holds a 33-15 advantage since 2004-05, but SMSU has won 11 of the last 19 games since 2016-17.
- SMSU's 76-56 win at Winona State earlier this season snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with WSU earning three victories in four games last season.
- WSU leads 30-26 all-time in games played in Marshall.
- SMSU head coach Brad Bigler is 15-19 all-time versus WSU.
MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS
- SMSU has four players averaging double figures in scoring with senior Jakob Braaten averaging a team-high 15 ppg. He also leads the team in field goals (130), assists (108) and rebounding (5.6), while ranking third in steals (36).
- Junior Aeron Stevens ranks second on the team averaging 13 ppg with 101 field goals made.
- Redshirt freshman Micah Schlaak is third in scoring at 11.4 ppg, second in rebounding (4.7), while ranking first with 44 3-pointers.
- Junior Mekhi Shaw ranks third averaging 11.4 ppg and has registered a team-high 52 steals and is second with 59 assists.
- Senior Mason Lund is scoring 9.3 ppg, while ranking second with 38 3-pointers and is third at 4.6 rpg.
- SMSU is shooting 48 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range, 69 percent from the free throw line and is minus-0.7 in rebound margin. The Mustangs are averaging 74 points per game, while opponents are averaging 66 ppg.
SMSU INSIDE THE R/A FACILITY
- The 2025-26 season marks the 30th year the R/A Facility has served as the home arena for SMSU men's basketball.
- SMSU has an all-time record of 280-118 (.703) in 398 games with 25 winning seasons (including this season). SMSU in the R/A Facility
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