HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball team has a tall task to wrap its non-conference slate, traveling to Minnesota Duluth for the St. Louis County Basketball Classic facing host school No. 6 Minnesota Duluth on Friday (7 p.m.) before facing No. 3 nationally-ranked MSU Moorhead Saturday (3 p.m.).

A live stream and live stats of the games can be found at Michigantechhuskies.com/live.

About the Bulldogs

Minnesota Duluth enters the week with a 3-0 ledger outscoring the opposition by an average of 27 points as the Bulldogs produced 86.3 points per outing on 53.9 percent from the field—which ranks ninth in the country. 

Three fifth-year seniors are averaging double-figure scoring led by Austin Andrews (15.3), Charlie Katona (15.0) and Joshua Brown (11.0). Redshirt sophomore guard Caleb Siwek joins the trio with 10.7 points per game. Andrews, the 21-22 NSIC North Player of the Year, holds one of the best field goal percentages in the land shooting 69 percent from the field.

UMD gets over 30 defensive rebounds an outing ranking top-20 in the country with Katona being the team's leading rebounder averaging 9 boards per game.

Defensively, the Bulldogs are holding opponents to 35.6 percent from the field—a feat that is top-five in Division II while adding 4.7 blocks an outing led by Mattie Thompson with four blocks this season.

About the Dragons

MSU Moorhead holds a 4-0 record through the first two weekends of the season, most recently besting RMAC foes Black Hills State (69-57), Friday and South Dakota Mines (67-61) on Saturday to wrap the East-West Challenge.

The No. 3 ranked Dragons are one of the top defensive teams in Division II holding opponents to 56.5 points a game, third-best in the nation, with the opposition shooting just 25.4 percent from beyond the arc (22nd nationally). 

Fifth-year senior guard Jacob Beeninga, an NABC All-District Second Team (Central) and All-NSIC First Team selection last season, leads the Dragons offensively with 16 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists an outing. He was named to the All-Tournament Team at the East-West Challenge after averaging 16 points per game.

7-1 forward transfer from Colorado State, Jacob Jennissen, returns for his second year with the Dragons, nearing a double-double average with 11.3 points and 9.3 rebounds. Junior forward Logan Kinsey joins the duo in double-figure scoring 11.5 points and five rebounds.

About the Huskies

Michigan Tech returns to the North Star State following a weekend of road losses at Winona State Saturday (90-78) and Concordia-St. Paul (83-67) on Sunday for an overall record of 2-2.

First-year guard Ty Fernholz led the Huskies in Saturday's tilt with a career-high 23 points on 6-for-10 from 3-point land while GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year Marcus Tomashek recorded his eighth 30-point game.

Tomashek now averages 25.3 points per game, which sits 13th nationally and first in the GLIAC. 

As a team, Michigan Tech shoots 48.4 percent from the field to average 76.3 points per outing through four games. 

Pete Calcaterra (14.0), Dawson Nordgaard (12.8) and first-year guard Fernholz (12.5) join Tomashek in double-figure scoring. Nordgaard has scored in double-figures in all four games to start the season.

The Black & Gold are 2-0 this season when out-rebounding the opposition, currently averaging over 30 rebounds per game, led by Calcaterra with 7.3 boards per outing.