STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The No. 4 UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team travels to Illinois on Wednesday for a showdown with No. 5 Augustana.
 
THE BASICS
Who:  #4 UW-Stevens Point (3-0) at #5 Augustana (3-1)
When: Wednesday, November 28 – 7:00 p.m.
Where: Roy J Carter Center– Rock Island, Ill.
Follow:  Live Stats | Watch | Listen - 92.1 FM WPCN | Notes (PDF)
 
LAST TIME OUT
UWSP opened a 10-0 lead and never looked back in a 73-54 win over Edgewood.  Senior Brett Tauber (Madison, Wis./Memorial) recorded his first double-double since January with 11 rebounds and 10 points.  Fellow senior Canon O'Heron (Bangor, Wis./Bangor) led the Pointers with 15 points as four UWSP players were in double figures.
 
DEFENSE FIRST
The Pointers rank first in the conference with just 55.7 points allowed through the first three games.  That more than 10 points fewer than any other league school.  UWSP also tops the league with a +8.00 turnover margin.

DOUBLE DOWN
The Pointers began the year with two players in double-figure scoring in the season-opening win at St. Olaf.  In game two, UWSP had three players in double figures, all with 17 or more points. Last week, UWSP got double-digit scoring from four players in the win over Edgewood.
 
WINNING BIG
The Pointers have opened the 2018-19 season with three-straight wins by double digits.  The last time UWSP started a season with three wins by 10 or more points was in 2013-14.  That season, the Pointers won the first 10 games of the season by 10 or more points.
 
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UWSP moved up to No. 4 in the first D3Hoops.com ranking of the season after coming in at 12 in the preseason poll.  O'Heron and Ethan Bublitz (Jackson, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) lead the way at 12.3 points per game with Nate Dodge (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) just behind at 12.0.  Drew Fredrickson (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) rounds out the quartet in double figures at 11.7 points per game.  Dodge, Fredrickson and Tauber have combined to make all 14 free throws among the trio this year.
 
 
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The Vikings have gone 3-1 in a four-game road trip to begin the season.  The only blemish on the record was a 74-73 loss at Loras when the Duhawks' Ryan DiCanio hit both free throws with 0.1 seconds left.  Augustana also has four players averaging double figures led by senior Nolan Ebel at 17.8 points per game.  Junior Pierson Wofford leads the Vikings on the boards with 35 on the year with fellow junior Micah Martin atop the team with 10 blocks.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series record between UWSP and Augustana is knotted at 4-4.  The Vikings have won three-straight, including last season's 74-58 win in Wisconsin Dells.  Tauber led UWSP with 12 points and six rebounds in that game.
 
THE COACHES
Bob Semling in his 14th 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 283-80, including a 152-37 mark in WIAC play. His .780 career winning percentage entering this season was the third-highest among active Division III coaches and ranks first all-time among Division III for coaches with at least 10 seasons as a head coach.
 
Grey Giovanine is in his 20th season as head coach at Augustana.  He holds a 392-139 record, the all-time winningest coach in school history.  He has twice earned National Coach of the Year honors after leading the Vikings to the National Championship game in 2015 and 2017.  Giovanine has guided Augustana to nine regular season and six tournament championships in the CCIW, the most among active coaches in the league.  Prior to joining the Vikings, he coached at Lamar for six seasons. He also spent time as an assistant coach at both Wichita State and Rice.
 
UP NEXT
The Pointers return to Stevens Point to face UW-Superior on Bennett Court on Saturday (Dec. 1).  Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.