STEVENS POINT, Wis. – As Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play enters the final two weeks, the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team plays at UW-Stout and hosts UW-Eau Claire for Senior Night this week.

THE BASICS
Who: UW-Stevens Point (11-10, 4-6 WIAC) at UW-Stout (4-16, 0-10 WIAC)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 10 – 7 p.m.
Where: Menomonie, Wis. – Johnson Fieldhouse

Who: UW-Eau Claire (14-7, 7-3 WIAC) at UW-Stevens Point (11-10, 4-6) – Senior Night
When: Saturday, Feb. 13 – 3 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse

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LAST WEEK
UW-Stevens Point lost home games to UW-Whitewater and UW-River Falls last week.

On Wednesday evening, UW-Whitewater's Trinson White scored 21 of his game-high 23 points after the break as the Warhawks pulled away from UW-Stevens Point in the second half to defeat the Pointers 72-51. The Warhawks shot 59.3 percent from the field in the second half after leading 26-23 at halftime.

On Saturday night, Stephen Pelkofer (Hales Corner, WI/Whitnall) scored a career-high 30 points but the Pointers were edged 81-79 in overtime by UW-River Falls. Pelkofer's jumper with 25 seconds left send the game to overtime but UWSP was just 2-for-10 from the floor in the extra session.

ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Stevens Point had won three consecutive WIAC games before last week and is now 11-10 overall and 4-6 in conference play. The Pointers are tied with UW-Whitewater and UW-Platteville for fifth in the WIAC. The Warhawks hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Pointers by virtue of sweeping the two regular-season games but UWSP currently occupies the sixth seed after defeating the Pioneers earlier this season.

OFFENSE GETS GOING
The Pointers have scored at least 68 points three times in their last five games after doing so three times in the first 16 games of the season. UW-Stevens Point is 5-1 in the six games in which the team has topped 68 points.

UW-Stevens Point has also hit at least nine three-pointers in each of games it has scored at least 68 points. The Pointers shot a combined 30-for-69 (.435) from behind the arc in those three games, which included two of the team's three games with double-digit made threes this season.

PELKOFER'S BIG NIGHT
Pelkofer's 30-point performance against UW-River Falls was the first by a UW-Stevens Point player in 52 games since Tyler Tillema scored 33 in an overtime loss to Emory in the "Sweet 16" of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. That season, Tillema (4) and Trevor Hass (3) combined for seven games with at least 30 points.

The senior shot 11-for-24 from the field, 4-for-11 from behind the arc and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line to surpass his previous career high of 26 against UW-Oshkosh on Jan. 16.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
UW-Stevens Point currently ranks fourth in the country in fewest turnovers per game, committing an average of 9.4 turnovers a game. The Pointers are one of six Division III men's basketball teams to average fewer than 10 turnovers a game along with Ohio Wesleyan (8.5), Mt. St. Joseph (9.1), St. Thomas (9.2), Concordia-Moorhead (9.7) and Oswego State (9.9).

UW-Stevens Point has committed just 19 turnovers in its last three games and have 10 games with single-digit turnovers this season.

ABOUT UW-STOUT | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Stout is 4-16 overall and 0-10 in the WIAC but played two teams in playoff position tough last week. On Saturday at home, the Blue Devils never trailed against UW-Oshkosh until Alex Olson hit a jumper with 21 seconds remaining to give the Titans a 66-65 victory. UW-Stout led by 13 with 6:04 remaining in the game but was outscored 17-5 the rest of the way. The one-point loss came after the Blue Devils fell 74-67 at conference-leading UW-La Crosse on Wednesday after UW-Stout led by as many as eight in the first half.

Sophomore guard John Keefe is the only UW-Stout player to average in double figures with an average of 12.6 points per game. Keefe leads the WIAC in assists per game (3.9) and is second in steals per game (2.0). Jalen Patterson contributes 8.8 points and 3.8 rebounds a game.

UW-Stout leads the WIAC in offensive rebounding (11.5 per game) and is second in the conference in steals (7.3 per game).

ABOUT UW-EAU CLAIRE | HOME | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
UW-Eau Claire is tied with UW-River Falls for second place in the WIAC with a 7-3 conference record and is 14-7 overall this season. The Blugolds, who were picked sixth in the WIAC preseason poll, are just one game behind UW-La Crosse, which was picked seventh. UW-Eau Claire picked up wins at UW-River Falls (78-56) and against UW-Platteville (78-67) last week to extend its winning streak to five games.

George Diekelman (13.4), Jack Martinek (13.2) and Tyson Kalien (11.6) are all averaging in double figures for UW-Eau Claire. Jared Schneidermann pitches in with 9.3 points and 6.6 rebounds a game, which ranks fourth in the WIAC in rebounding. Diekelman (.490), Martinek (.491), Schneidermann (.473) and Jacob Kohner (.566) all rank in the conference's top-10 in field-goal percentage.

As a team, UW-Eau Claire ranks second in the WIAC in field-goal percentage (.471), rebounding margin (+4.9) and three-pointers made per game (7.8). In conference play, the Blugolds pace the WIAC in field-goal percentage (.466), assists per game (13.2) and three-pointers made per game (9.0).

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 253-64 (.798), including a 138-32 (.812) 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.

Eddie Andrist is the longest-tenured men's basketball coach in the WIAC and is in his 16th season at UW-Stout. He has a 190-215 (.469) career record with the Blue Devils. In 41 years of coaching, Andrist has coached 1,197 high school and collegiate games, including 1,036 games as a head coach. The Blue Devils are two years removed from a 20-7 record and have won double-digit games in 11 of Andrist's 15 prior seasons.

This season is the fourth for Matt Siverling as UW-Eau Claire's head coach and he has a career record of 45-53 (.459) through three-plus seasons. Siverling came to UW-Eau Claire after two seasons as the head coach at UW-Superior, where he led the Yellowjackets to back-to-back WIAC Tournament appearances. A UW-Eau Claire graduate, Siverling was an assistant at his alma mater from 2004-07 and was a graduate assistant coach at Florida after graduating from UWEC.

SERIES NOTES
UW-Stevens Point leads the all-time series with UW-Stout 102-55 after topping the Blue Devils 68-51 on Jan. 27 at home in a game that saw the Pointers race out to a 40-22 halftime lead. The Pointers have won the last seven meetings and 18 of the last 20. UW-Stevens Point has also won eight of the last nine meetings in Menomonie.

UW-Eau Claire defeated UW-Stevens Point 63-59 in the WIAC opener for both teams back on Jan. 6 but the Pointers hold an advantage 95-79 in the all-time series. The Pointers have won 29 of the last 31 games against the Blugolds since 2002 and have won 16 consecutive home games in the series since 2001.