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Bottom-feeders await SCSU
 Media Credit: scott theisen SCSU junior guard Jason Allen puts a full-court press on USD�s Josh Mueller Saturday night. The Coyotes were able to hold SCSU off despite a late comeback attempt by the Huskies.
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Teams at the top of their conference always look forward to the more competitive games on their schedule.
When the soft part of the schedule comes around, the leaders of the pack can sometimes become complacent and suffer what sports fans refer to as "letdowns." Will the NCC-leading SCSU men's basketball team fall into the letdown trap against two of the three worst teams in the conference in their next two games? Well, most likely not against the underachieving Minnesota State University, Mankato Mavericks and the traditionally cellar-dwelling Augustana College Vikings.
The Huskies (17-3, 7-2 NCC) have already beaten both teams once this season, Augustana at home on Jan. 10 (74-65) and MSUM on the road Jan. 25 (83-74). What SCSU really doesn't want to do is start a losing streak. After being upset 97-89 by South Dakota Saturday at Halenbeck, the team wants to get back to establishing defensive intensity and taking better care of the basketball.
Senior guard Forrest Witt said Wednesday that whomever his team faces in the conference, it won't be an easy task.
"There aren't any easy games in our conference," Witt said. "Even if it's teams in the middle of the pack, or in the lower half of the pack, we have to come out and play like these are the top two teams in the conference."
"The last couple of years we've prided ourselves in not losing games we shouldn't lose," assistant coach Matt Reimer said. "We felt like we shouldn't have lost Saturday. We definitely need to take care of business against the teams that we're ahead of in the standings. We've beaten these teams before and we need to follow through and do it again."
On Thursday, SCSU gets to see the "Big Four" of MSUM once again. Last weekend the Mavs blew out Auggie 78-57 in Sioux Falls, S.D., to snap an eight-game NCC road losing streak. Mankato (13-7, 4-5 NCC) has now won three out of their last five and still have an outside shot of vying for a spot in the Wells Fargo NCC Tournament.
The four players that make up the "Big Four" are all scoring in double figures this season. Senior guard Drew Carlson is averaging 16.5 points per game and has been a thorn in the Huskies' sides for four long years now. Senior forward Jermaine Brown, shut down by SCSU's stifling defense in Mankato, is second on the team with 16 ppg. Junior forward Josh Ziemke, who likes to take the ball to the hole, is third in scoring at 10.8 ppg. Senior center Nick Ellenberger, another physical presence for the Mavs, is putting in 10.7 ppg and leads the team in rebounding with 6.4 boards a game.
"Mankato is a lot like South Dakota in that their backs are against the wall," Reimer said. "They're still playing for home court advantage in their minds. We have to try and contain a couple of those guys like we did last time, try to get them in foul trouble and get to their bench.
Augustana is a team that is a lot like the Los Angeles Clippers or Cincinnati Bengals. NCC basketball fans expect them to lose every year, and they do so with flying colors. The Vikings (10-10, 1-8 NCC) are coming off the blowout to the Mavs, and their only league win was to the even more lowly University of Northern Colorado Bears (9-10, 1-8 NCC). Head coach Perry Ford is in his sixth and final year at the helm and some think that Auggie isn't playing up to their potential because of that.
"I don't think they're playing as well as they can," Witt noted. "They have a lot of talent, but they just don't seem like they're playing well together. The coaching situation has to be tough."
Bottom-feeders aside, SCSU wants to get back to concentrating on holding onto the ball and making each offensive possession count. The Huskies, now ranked 25th in the latest NABC/Division II poll, were in double digits in the turnover category by halftime in their past two games. They also suffered lapses defensively in the post and it's something they're looking to cure this week in practice.
"We've been a lot more aggressive defensively this week in practice," Reimer said. "We feel like we've lost some of our defensive intensity. We've been working on creating more turnovers so we can get some easier shots on the offensive end."
"We only average 12 turnovers a game, and we've talked about how we're killing ourselves and not giving ourselves a chance. We had thought up until these last couple of games that one of the differences between last year's team and this year's team is that we hadn't wasted any offensive possessions."
St. Cloud will see if they can improve in both categories on Thursday and Saturday. Thanks to this season's unbalanced schedule in the NCC, the Huskies play Mankato at home Thursday and travel to Sioux Falls Saturday.
Around the Rim
-SCSU has beaten Auggie in five straight games. They've beat Mankato in six straight.
-The Huskies have now lost two out of their last four games. Their loss to USD Saturday was their first home loss of the season, and their first at Halenbeck since Feb. 2, 2002 against South Dakota State.
-Witt equaled a career high with six three-pointers against USD Saturday.
-Sophomore forward Steve Trull tied a career high with eight boards against Nebraska-Omaha Friday.
-Five teams in the NCC have 15 wins or more overall.
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