STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team faces two of the top-three teams in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) standings this week, traveling to UW-River Falls on Wednesday and hosting UW-La Crosse on Saturday.

THE BASICS
Who: UW-Stevens Point (8-7, 1-3 WIAC) at UW-River Falls (10-5, 4-0 WIAC)
When: Wednesday, Jan. 20 – 7 p.m.
Where: River Falls, Wis. – Karges Center

Who: UW-La Crosse (9-6, 3-1 WIAC) at UW-Stevens Point (8-7, 1-3 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Jan. 23 – 7 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse

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LAST WEEK
UW-Stevens Point recorded its first WIAC win of the season in thrilling fashion, defeating UW-Platteville 60-57 on Wednesday evening, before falling 64-59 to UW-Oshkosh on Saturday afternoon.

Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall) sank a three-pointer from the right wing with 0.6 seconds remaining to give UW-Stevens Point the 60-57 win over the Pioneers on Wednesday. Pelkofer received a kickout from fellow senior Sean McGann (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) to win the game after the Pointers trailed 57-52 with 1:37 remaining. A Peyton River three gave the visitors the five-point lead late but a pair of free throws by Ethan Bublitz (Jackson, WI/Kettle Moraine Lutheran) and a three by Drew Fredrickson (Mount Horeb, WI/Mount Horeb) knotted the game at 57-57 with 26 seconds to go. Bublitz then set up Pelkofer's heroics with a steal with 13 seconds left.

On Saturday, Pelkofer and McGann combined for 45 points but UW-Oshkosh used a 14-0 run late in the second half to defeat UW-Stevens Point 64-59. The Pointers led 48-41 with 6:23 to go before the visitors went on a 14-0 surge to go up by seven with 1:51 left. The Titans made four three-pointers during the spurt and nine of 10 free throws in the final 53 seconds to come away with the win.

ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Stevens Point's first four WIAC games of the season have all come against teams that made the conference tournament last season (Eau Claire, Whitewater, Platteville, Oshkosh). With the departure of UW-Superior from the conference, the Pointers face the two remaining non-playoff teams (La Crosse and Stout) in their next three games.

PELKOFER PILES UP POINTS
Pelkofer set career highs in scoring in both games last week, scoring a combined 50 points for the Pointers. The senior's 24 points against UW-Platteville on Wednesday were four more than his previous career high of 20, set on two occasions. Pelkofer then surpassed the 24 with 26 on Saturday against UW-Oshkosh.

For the week, Pelkofer shot 64.3 percent (18-for-28) from the field, 56.3 percent (9-for-16) from three-point range and made all five of his free throws. He has now scored 68 points in the last three games after averaging 10.0 points per game through the first 11 games of the season.

STINGY DEFENSE
UW-Stevens Point leads the WIAC and ranks in a tie for 11th in the country in scoring defense this season, holding opponents to an average of 61.7 points per game. Only five teams have scored 65 or more points against the Pointers this season and four of the five were ranked at the time (St. Olaf, Hope, Augustana, UW-Whitewater).

Through four games, the Pointers lead the WIAC in scoring defense in conference games, allowing an average of 63.2 points per game.

ABOUT UW-RIVER FALLS | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-River Falls currently sits atop the WIAC after a perfect 4-0 start to conference play. The Falcons have won their last five games overall after a 5-5 start to the season. The 4-0 start to the season is the Falcons' best since 2011-12, when UWRF won the conference and earned an NCAA Tournament bid. The Falcons earned one vote in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25.

Last week, the Falcons picked up a pair of road wins, defeating No. 14 UW-Whitewater 75-70 and UW-Eau Claire 78-66. UWRF trailed UWW by 10 at halftime before shooting 57.1 percent in the second half to come away with the five-point win. UW-River Falls led UW-Eau Claire from start to finish on Saturday as eight players accounted for the team's 78 points in a balanced offensive attack.

The Falcons have scored at least 73 points in each game of their five-game winning streak and are averaging 74.1 points a game this season, third in the WIAC. Defensively, UW-River Falls is eighth of eight in the conference, allowing 72.7 points per contest.

Senior Jon Christensen leads the WIAC in scoring (20.7 ppg) so far this season and his 40-point performance against Hamline on Dec. 5 is the highest-scoring game by a WIAC player this season. The senior is especially effective from three-point range, averaging 2.5 made threes a game on 48.7 percent from behind the arc. Christensen also averages 8.2 rebounds a game, which is good for second in the conference, and has five double-doubles to his credit.

Junior Garrett Pearson ranks fifth in the conference in both scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 rpg).

ABOUT UW-LA CROSSE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-La Crosse has won six of its last seven games to enter the week with a 9-6 record. The Eagles are tied with UW-Oshkosh for second in the WIAC with a 3-1 conference mark. UWL is 6-1 on its home court but just 3-5 on the road this season.

Last week, the Eagles fell 80-69 at UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday despite a career-high 26 points from Jared Staege. UW-La Crosse rebounded with a 72-70 win at No. 14 UW-Whitewater on Saturday after trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half. Staege recorded 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the win over the Warhawks.

UW-La Crosse leads the WIAC in field-goal percentage defense (.390) and trails only UW-Stevens Point in scoring defense (64.5 ppg) this season. The Eagles also block a conference-high 3.53 shots a game.

Staege paces the Eagles in scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.6 rpg) and is shooting a conference-best 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from behind the arc. Yurk (13.1 ppg) and Ben Meinholz (10.2 ppg) also average in double figures for UW-La Crosse, which shooting 37.4 percent from behind the arc as a team. Yurk (83.3 percent) and Staege (83.1 percent) are the top two free-throw shooters in the WIAC.

THE COACHES
Bob Semling 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 250-61 (.804), including a 135-29 (.823) 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.

The 2015-16 season is Jeff Berkhof's 10th as the head coach at UW-River Falls, the second-winningest coach in program history with a career record of 117-132 (.470). He led the Falcons to back-to-back 20-win seasons and consecutive NCAA Tournament bids in 2010-11 and 2011-12, the first two NCAA bids in program history. Last season, Berkhof was the WIAC Co-Coach of the Year with Semling after guiding the Falcons to third in the conference with a 10-6 mark. He spent 12 years as an assistant at UWRF prior to being named the head coach and is an alum of the university.

Ken Koelbl is in his 13th season leading the UW-La Crosse men's basketball program and has led the Eagles to seven winning seasons in the last 10 years. He ranks second all-time in at UWL in victories, carrying a career record of 180-144 (.556). Koelbl led the Eagles to a 20-8 season in 2005-06 and the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in the same season. Prior to La Crosse, Koelbl served as an assistant at UW-Stevens Point from 1995-2003 and helped the Pointers to four consecutive WIAC championships.

SERIES NOTES
UW-Stevens Point holds a commanding 109-39 lead in the all-time series against UW-River Falls, which began in 1912. The Pointers have won the last six meetings and 20 of the last 24 since 2004. The teams have split the last six meetings in River Falls with UWSP winning the last three. Last season, UW-Stevens Point won 58-51 on the road and 63-40 at home.

The Pointers and Eagles also first met in 1912 in a series UW-Stevens Point leads 91-44. UWSP has won 27 of the last 29 meetings, including the last 21 at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse. The last UWL win in Stevens Point was on Feb. 4, 1998 by a 68-67 margin. Last season, the Pointers claimed a 57-46 home victory and a 63-44 road win in a two-week span in January.