ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University men face a second straight road challenge in Northern Sun play this weekend, heading to Northern State on Friday and the University of Mary on Saturday for 8:00 p.m. tip-offs. Concordia has never won at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, S.D., the home of Northern State, in 13 meetings. After their tilt in South Dakota, they head north to Bismarck, N.D. to face a Marauder squad that defeated them 83-74 earlier this season at the NSIC HoopsFest in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Golden Bears are 2-0 at McDowell Activity Center at U-Mary under head coach Kelly Boe with a two point and a six point win. The Marauders and Golden Bears are tied at 5-4 for 5th in the NSIC Standings while the Wolves have won three of their past four and are an annual NCAA Tournament contender. WEEKLY RELEASE - WATCH LIVE - LISTEN LIVE at NSU - LISTEN LIVE at U-Mary - LIVE STATS
Concordia is coming off the most difficult road weekend the NSIC offers, losing at Minnesota State, Mankato before winning at Southwest Minnesota State. Getting the win in Marshall, Minn. was important for this squad, since they'll have another tough road game at Northern State.
Sophomore post Brent Barz (Johnston, Iowa) has emerged as one of the top post players in the NSIC, producing a 26 point, 10 rebound performance in the win at SMSU.
Another player has emerged as a top offensive threat, junior guard Andrew Kuderer (Eden Prairie, Minn.) who has torched the nets for four consecutive game by knocking down three 3-pointers in each of those contests with CU winning three of those four games. Earlier this year, Kuderer knocked down three from long range against U-Mary, the first of five times he has buried three in a game.
Perhaps most importantly in CU's backcourt is senior Sammy Ricks (St. Paul, Minn.) who has climbed his way up to 8th in the NCAA in assist-turnover ratio and has only committed one turnover in the final five minutes of a game this season and he is Concordia's top offensive threat down the stretch of games as well.
The Golden Bears have been hot from three-point distance this year, ranked 21st nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.403) and are 22nd in the nation in assist-turnover ratio with 1.26 assists for every turnover they commit.
Those two pieces of Concordia's game will be important to keep strong on the road as they continue their ascent in the league standings.
