STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team looks to get back to its winning ways with home Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) matchups with UW-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh this week.

THE BASICS
Who: UW-Platteville (6-7, 0-2 WIAC) at UW-Stevens Point (7-6, 0-2 WIAC)
When: Wednesday, Jan. 13 – 7 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse

Who: UW-Oshkosh (8-5, 1-1 WIAC) at UW-Stevens Point (7-6, 0-2 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Jan. 16 – 3 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse

FOLLOW THE GAMES
Live video – both games
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Live audio – both games

LAST TIME OUT
UW-Stevens Point was defeated 63-59 by UW-Eau Claire and 69-63 by No. 15 UW-Whitewater as it began conference play with two road games last week.

On Wednesday evening, Brad Freeborn (River Falls, WI/River Falls) scored a career-high 14 points but then-No. 19 UW-Stevens Point could not recover from an early deficit in Eau Claire. The Blugolds ran out to an early 14-3 lead and never trailed in the game.  The Pointers trimmed a 10-point halftime deficit to three four times in the second half but could get no closer.

On Saturday night, UW-Stevens Point rallied from 19 points down in the second half to get within two but fell 69-63 in Whitewater. After trailing 53-34, the Pointers went on a lengthy 29-12 run to cut their deficit to two. However, the Warhawks made all six of their free throws in the final 43 seconds to see out the win. Sean McGann (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half, while Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall) added 18.

ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
Prior to conference play, UW-Stevens Point went 7-4 in non-conference action, including wins in four of its last five non-league games. The Pointers split their first six games of the season, earning a win over then-No. 15 St. Olaf and St. Norbert, which is now ranked No. 23. UW-Stevens Point's three early losses all came to teams now ranked inside the top 25, including top-five teams in Augustana (Ill.) and Hope.

TURNOVER TALK
UW-Stevens Point committed just 12 turnovers in its first two conference games of the season, five at UW-Eau Claire and seven at UW-Whitewater. Through two conference games, the Pointers lead the WIAC in turnover margin (+9.5) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.33). No other conference team has a turnover margin of greater than +3.5 (UW-Oshkosh).

The Pointers are also averaging a WIAC-high nine steals per game in conference play. Bublitz has a conference-best six steals in two WIAC games, while McGann has five.

LEAD DAWG
McGann has either led or tied for the team lead in scoring in each of UW-Stevens Point's last seven games and eight times this season. No other UWSP player has done so in more than three games this season. Zack Goedeke (Valders, WI/Valders) has led the Pointers three times, while Ethan Bublitz (Jackson, WI/Kettle Moraine Lutheran) and Pelkofer have each done so twice.

The senior has scored between 17 and 19 points in each of the last five games and between 15 and 20 points in 10 of 13 games this season. McGann ranks third in the WIAC in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game and has played the most minutes of any conference player (461, 35.5 per game) to this point.

AT HOME IN QUANDT
Bublitz and Goedeke have each been especially productive in UW-Stevens Point's five home games this season. Goedeke is averaging 11.8 points per game and is shooting 69.4 percent from the floor at home, compared to marks of 5.9 points and 52.6 percent shooting in games away from Quandt Fieldhouse. Bublitz is shooting 43.5 percent from behind the arc and scoring 10.9 points a game at home, compared to 29.6 percent and 8.0 points a game away from home.

UW-Stevens Point has won its last 24 home conference games, posting perfect 8-0 records in the last three seasons. The last loss in a home WIAC game for the Pointers was a 67-64 overtime setback to UW-Stout on Feb. 15, 2012.

UW-Stevens Point is 248-37 (.870) at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse since 1997.

IN THE POLLS | D3HOOPS.COM TOP 25
UW-Stevens Point received two votes in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25. The Pointers have been ranked or receiving votes in the poll for 142 consecutive polls since the start of the 2006-07 season.

ABOUT UW-PLATTEVILLE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Platteville lost its first two WIAC contests of the season and enters this week with a 6-7 record overall. The Pioneers opened conference play with an 88-57 loss at UW-La Crosse last Wednesday before falling 86-61 at home to UW-Oshkosh on Saturday. Boston Johnson led UW-Platteville in scoring in both games with 20 points against the Titans and 16 against the Eagles.

The Pioneers opened the season 4-2 but have since gone 2-5. UW-Platteville has played two common opponents with UW-Stevens Point, losing 79-79 to Hope and 82-52 to North Central (Ill.).

UW-Platteville ranks fourth in the WIAC in scoring offense (70.6 ppg) but is last in scoring defense (74.3 ppg). The Pioneers lead the conference and rank 11th in the coutnry in free-throw shooting (.770) but have taken the second-fewest free throws of any WIAC team (16.4 per game).

Johnson is the WIAC's seventh-leading scorer (13.9 ppg) and is one of three double figure scorers for the Pioneers. Cory Vaassen adds 11.8 points and 6.1 rebounds a game, while Matt Oestreich scored 10.6 points a game. Johnson also leads UWP in rebounding (7.0 rpg), which ranks fourth in the conference.

ABOUT UW-OSHKOSH | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Oshkosh will face UW-La Crosse at home on Wednesday before coming to Stevens Point and is off to an 8-5 start to its season. The Titans' 86-81 win at UW-Platteville came after UW-Oshkosh was edged 76-75 at UW-River Falls in its WIAC opener. Freshman Ben Boots scored 20 of his career-high 27 points in the second half of the win over the Pioneers, as the Titans went 30-for-35 at the free-throw line.

The Titans began the season ranked No. 23 by D3hoops.com but dropped out of the polls after losing their first two games. UW-Oshkosh bounced back with six consecutive wins from mid-November to mid-December and finished non-conference play 7-4.

UW-Oshkosh has the second highest-scoring offense to date in the WIAC (76.5 ppg) and is averaging 80.0 points a game in its two conference games. The Titans have been especially effective from three-point range, shooting a WIAC-best 39.2 percent from behind the arc as a team from deep.

Senior guard Alex Olson leads UW-Oshkosh in scoring at 12.6 points per game, followed by Charlie Noone (11.8 ppg) and Boots (11.3 ppg). Noone and Boots are both shooting over 44.0 percent from behind the arc and over 80.0 percent from the free-throw line. Boots is the leading freshman scorer in the WIAC to date.

THE COACHES
Bob Semling is in his 11th season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and has won four national championships with the Pointers. He led the Pointers to national titles in 2010 and 2015 as a head coach and was an assistant on the back-to-back national title teams of 2004 and 2005. Semling has a career record of 249-60 (.806), including a 134-27 (.832) mark in WIAC play. His .818 career winning percentage entering this season was the highest among active Division III coaches and ranks fourth all-time among all divisions for coaches with at least 10 seasons as a head coach.

This season is Jeff Gard's seventh as UW-Platteville's head coach and he has a career record of 102-71 (.590) with the Pioneers. In his first six seasons, Gard's teams have won at least eight WIAC games. He has also helped UW-Platteville extend its streak to 17 straight seasons of reaching the WIAC Tournament through last season. Gard was an assistant for the Pioneers for six seasons prior to being named head coach and also spent two seasons at Lakeland as an assistant.

Pat Juckem is in his fourth season as the head coach at UW-Oshkosh with a career record of 35-44 (.443). Last season, he led the Titans to a 16-12 overall record and an 8-8 mark in the WIAC, the team's most total and league wins since 2009. Juckem came to UW-Oshkosh after serving as the head coach at Coe from 2006-12, where he is the Kohawks second-winningest coach (105-79) and was a two-time Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Coach of the Year.

SERIES NOTES
UW-Stevens Point owns a 93-77 advantage in the all-time series against UW-Platteville, a series that goes back to 1904. The Pointers have won five in a row and 17 of the last 22 against the Titans since Feb. 21, 2006. UW-Stevens Point has won the last three home meetings.

The series between the Pointers and Titans dates back to 1899 with UW-Stevens Point leading 121-84. UW-Oshkosh's 50-47 win in the semifinals of the WIAC Tournament last season snapped UW-Stevens Point's 15-game winning streak in the series.