STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team closes the first half of conference play with a visit to No. 19 UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday.
 
THE BASICS
Who:  UW-Stevens Point (12-5, 6-0) at No. 19 UW-Oshkosh (13-4, 3-3)
When: Wednesday, January 24 – 7:00 p.m.
Where: Kolf Sports Center – Oshkosh, Wis.

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LAST TIME OUT
The Pointers rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half for an 80-74 win over UW-Platteville to remain unbeaten in league play.  Junior Canon O'Heron (Bangor, Wis./Bangor) scored a career-high 18 points.  MJ Delmore (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells) added 15, Matt Koerner (West Bend, Wis./West) scored a career-best 12 and Mark Nelson (Madison, Wis./Monona Grove) was also in double figures with 10 points.
 
LEAGUE LAURELS
MJ Delmore (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells) was named WIAC Athlete of the Week on Tuesday (Jan. 23), the third UWSP player to earn the honor this season.  Brett Tauber (Madison, Wis./Memorial) was the second Pointers player to pick up the honor when he raked in the award last week following his double-double at UW-Stout.  On Dec. 12, Nate Dodge (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) was named WIAC Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week following his record-setting game against Hope.
 
RETURN TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE
Following the 6-0 start to WIAC play that included road wins at then No. 3 UW-River Falls and then No. 2 UW-Whitewater, the Pointers are again gaining notice around the country.  The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) named UWSP its National Team of the Week for Division III on Tuesday (Jan. 23).  The Pointers also jumped back into the national ranking conversation picking up 45 points in the D3Hoops.com poll, one spot outside of the top-25.
 
HOME SWEEP HOME
The Pointers swept a three-game home stand with victories over Hope (Dec. 9), Lawrence (Dec. 13) and St. Thomas (Dec. 16) during the longest home stretch of the season.  UWSP led from wire-to-wire in all three games out-scoring the opponents by a combined 35 points.  With last Saturday's win over UW-Platteville, UWSP extended its home winning streak to six-straight.
 
SETTING RECORDS
Nate Dodge (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) set the school record with 10 made three-pointers in UWSP's win over Hope on Dec. 9.  He went 10-for-13 from behind the arc and made his last five attempts from long range.  Earlier in the season, he hit eight three-pointers as UWSP set a team single-game record with 22 makes from three-point range in a win at Buena Vista (Nov. 18).
 
DODGE BALL
Dodge is ninth in the conference at 13.9 points per game. He enters the week with the second-best three-point shooting percentage (.500) in the league and 10th in the country.  Dodge leads the WIAC with 51 made three-pointers, 55th in the nation. 
 
THREE-POINT GAME
The Pointers enter Wednesday's game with the seventh-best three-point shooting average in the nation at 41.4.  UWSP tops the WIAC with 152 three-point makes and 8.94 three-point field goals per game.  In the 12 wins this season, the Pointers are shooting .437 (117-268) from behind the arc with six games at .500 or above.  In the five losses, UWSP is hitting just .343 (35-102) from three-point range with .467 shooting the best among the five defeats. 
 
SHARING THE ROCK
Led by Mark Nelson (Madison, Wis./Monona Grove)'s 37 assists, the Pointers have nine different players with double-digit assist totals this season.  UWSP has 228 assists through 17 games and have recorded assists on the second-highest percentage of made baskets (.553) among WIAC teams.
 
ASSIST-TO-TURNOVER LEADERS
Drew Fredrickson (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) is second on the team in total assists, but his assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4) would rank second in the league if his assist total met the minimum.  Canon O'Heron (Bangor, Wis./Bangor) and Matt Koerner (West Bend, Wis./West) also have an assist-to-turnover ratio over 2.0 with double-figure assists at 2.14 (30 assists, 14 turnovers) and 2.2 (11 A, 5 TO), respectively.
 
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UWSP is led in scoring by Dodge at 13.9 PPG, the ninth-highest scoring average in the WIAC, and his 3.00 made three-pointers per game is tops in the conference.  Senior MJ Delmore (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells) is second at 11.6 points per contest.  Tauber leads the team with 99 rebounds, topping the squad in offensive boards (36), the fourth-most in the conference, and defensive boards (63).  He also ranks third in the league with 12 blocked shots.  Through the first six league games, UWSP leads all WIAC teams in field goal percentage (.491), free throw percentage (.786), scoring margin (+8.5), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.18) and rebounding defense (25.3).
 
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Junior Ben Boots is averaging 14.9 points per game, the sixth-best scoring average in the league.  He leads the conference in assists (69), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.46) and free throw shooting (.873).  Sophomores Adam Fravert and Jack Flynn crash the glass with authority.  Fravert leads the league in overall (8.7) and defensive rebounding (7.24).  Flynn is the leading offensive rebounder at 4.06, the sixth highest in the country.  As a team, the Titans are fifth in the nation in rebounding margin at +10.7 rebounds per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
UWSP hold a 123-86 all-time advantage against the Titans.  Last season, the teams split the season series each winning on the other team's court.  In the conference opener, the Titans eked out a five-point victory at Quandt.  On Feb. 1, the Pointers edged the Titans in Oshkosh, 69-68.  It was the second-consecutive year that the teams each won on the opponent's home floor.
 
THE COACHES
Bob Semling in his 13th 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 274-76, including a 146-34 mark in WIAC play. His .787 career winning percentage entering this season was the third-highest among active Division III coaches and ranks 10th all-time among all divisions for coaches with at least 10 seasons as a head coach.
 
Head coach Pat Juckem is in his sixth year at UW-Oshkosh.  He holds an 83-69 record at the helm of the Titans.  Last season, Juckem led the Titans to the NCAA Tournament for the second-consecutive season, UWO's seventh in program history.  Juckem coached at Coe College prior to arriving in Oshkosh where he went 105-79, the second-most wins at Coe.  He also spent time coaching both basketball and football at his alma mater, Lawrence.
  
UP NEXT
The Pointers travel to La Crosse on Saturday (Jan. 27) to face the Eagles at 5:00 p.m. to open the second half of conference play.