Saturday, February 19
Fort Wayne, Ind.
4:00 p.m.
Purdue Fort Wayne
vs
North Dakota State
IPFW looks to rebound on Saturday against NDSU
Men's Basketball Looks to Rebound on "Senior Night"
2/18/2011 2:27:40 PM | Men's Basketball
Fort Wayne, IN - Having dropped their last two conference games and fallen into a tie for fifth place in The Summit League, the IPFW Mastodons look to get back on the winning track as they host North Dakota State in the final home game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Coliseum.
Seniors Ben Botts, Zach Plackemeier and Oleg Kovalov will be playing their final home game for IPFW.
North Dakota State (13-13, 7-9 SL) at IPFW (16-10, 9-6 SL)
When: Saturday, February 19 - 4:00 p.m.
Where: Fort Wayne, IN - Memorial Coliseum (11,500)
All-Time Series: NDSU leads, 5-4
MASTODONS ON THE AIR
Radio: ESPN 1380AM/Internet (Mike Maahs, play-by-play) 3:45 a.m. pregame
Video: IPFW All-Access
SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
The Mastodons are led in scoring by sophomore guard Frank Gaines (6-5/190/Ft. Lauderdale, FL) who is averaging 14.4 points a game. Senior guard Ben Botts (6-0/170/Muncie, IN) is right behind Gaines at 14.0 points a game, and junior guard Jeremy Mixon (6-1/175/Indianapolis, IN) rounds out the top-three scorers for the 'Dons at 10.6 points a contest.
WHAT 2 WATCH 4
The Mastodons are 0-5 in games this season when scoring 64 or fewer points. The 'Dons are also 1-5 this year when allowing teams to score 80 or more points and are 0-4 after recording 32 or fewer rebounds in a game. On the flip side, IPFW is 13-1 when leading at the half, 10-0 when outrebounding opponents and 7-1 when shooting above 50.0% from the floor. Redshirt sophomore Frank Gaines has posted eight straight double digit games (17 vs. SDSU) and has led IPFW in scoring 12 out of 26 games this year. With back to back losses to Oakland and South Dakota State, IPFW?has dropped two in a row three times this year. The good news for the 'Dons suggests that this trend may be broken vs. North Dakota State. IPFW has not lost three straight at any time in 2010-11.
SCOUTING THE BISON
The Bison are led in scoring by senior forward Michael Tveidt (6-7/210/Pierre, SD) who is averaging 15.4 points per game. Junior forward Eric Carlson (6-6/220/Shakopee, MN) is second on the squad at 10.8 ppg., while freshman forward Marshall Bjorklund (6-8/230/Arlington, MN) rounds out the top-three for NDSU at
8.7 points a contest.
WHAT 2 WATCH 4
NDSU has lost eight games this season by five or fewer points. The Bison are 0-6 when shooting at or below 41.0% from the floor. They are also 1-6 when making 13 or fewer free throws. Michael Tveidt has scored double figures in each of the last 10 games and has led the team in scoring in 12 of 26 contests. North Dakota State owns an overall series record of 5-4 against the Mastodons. Last time out, IPFW roared back from a 14 point halftime deficit to nip North Dakota State, 84-80 on January 20 at the Bison Sports Arena. Ben Botts led IPFW with 21 points. Tveidt led six Bison in double-figures with 14. IPFW shot a blistering 64.3% and went 5-6 from behind the arc to complete the comeback.
Complete North Dakota State Game Notes
MBB PFW vs CSU postgame and highlights
Sunday, January 04
MBB PFW vs Green Bay postgame and highlights
Thursday, January 01
MBB PFW vs Detroit Mercy Postgame and highlights
Monday, December 15
MBB PFW vs NKU Post game and highlights
Saturday, December 06
