STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The No. 23 UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team opens postseason play with a home game in the WIAC Tournament semifinals (presented by Culver's) at 7:00 p.m. on Friday against No. 19 UW-Oshkosh.
 
THE BASICS
Who:  #19 UW-Oshkosh (20-6) at #23 UW-Stevens Point (17-8)
When: Friday, February 23 – 7:00 p.m.
Where: Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse – Stevens Point, Wis.

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TICKETS:
$9 – Adult (reserved)
$7 - Adult (general admission)
$5 - Seniors (65 and older)
$3 – Youth (17 and under)
$3 – UWSP/WIAC students with valid ID
Parking Information
 
UWSP is also hosting the WIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at the Health Enhancement Center. Parking will be severely limited on campus and traffic, both automobile and foot traffic, will be heavier than normal in and around the HEC.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UWSP suffered a heartbreaking 55-54 loss at UW-Eau Claire to conclude the regular season on Saturday as the Blugolds scored the game-winning shot with less than eight seconds remaining. Junior Canon O'Heron (Bangor, Wis./Bangor) led the Pointers with 14 points.  Matt Koerner (West Bend, Wis./West) added 12 as all UWSP points were scored by six different players.  Brett Tauber (Madison, Wis./Memorial) led UWSP with six rebounds.
 
WIAC TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
Historically, the Pointers have found success in the WIAC Tournament.  UWSP is 27-10 all-time, including 3-2 against UW-Oshkosh, with nine wins in the semifinal round.  The last time UWSP and UWO met in the WIAC Tournament, the Pointers were the two-seed and eventually won the National Championship in 2015.
 
RETURN TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE
The Pointers finished the regular season at 17-8, including wins over five ranked league foes.  The Pointers sit at No. 23 in this week's D3Hoops.com poll and entered the week fifth in the Central Region rankings.  The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) also named UWSP its National Team of the Week for Division III on Jan. 23. 
 
LEAGUE LAURELS
MJ Delmore (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells) was named WIAC Athlete of the Week on 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.
 
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 Wednesday's win over UW-Oshkosh, UWSP extended its home winning streak to 10-straight.
 
THREE-POINT GAME
The Pointers enter Friday's game with the fifth-best three-point shooting average in the nation at 41.1.  UWSP is second in the WIAC with 220 three-point makes and 8.80 three-point field goals per game.  In the 17 wins this season, the Pointers are shooting .447 (167-374) from behind the arc with nine games at .500 or above.  In the eight losses, UWSP is hitting just .323 (53-164) from three-point range with .467 shooting the best among the five defeats.  
 
DODGE BALL
Nate Dodge (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) is 11th in the conference at 12.4 points per game. He enters the weekend with the fourth-best three-point shooting percentage (.472) in the league and seventh in the country.  Dodge leads the WIAC with 68 made three-pointers. 
 
SETTING RECORDS
Dodge 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).
 
SHARING THE ROCK
Led by Drew Fredrickson (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb)'s 54 assists each, the Pointers have 10 different players with double-digit assist totals this season.  UWSP has 316 assists through 25 games and have recorded assists on the second-highest percentage of made baskets (.527) among WIAC teams.
 
ASSIST-TO-TURNOVER LEADERS
Not only does Fredrickson top the team in total assists, but his assist-to-turnover ratio (2.57) would lead the league if his assist total met the minimum.  O'Heron also has an assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.69 (43 assists, 23 turnovers) and Mark Nelson (Madison, Wis./Monona Grove) is at a solid 1.56 (53 A, 34 TO).
 
ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT - Home | Roster | Schedule | Stats
UWSP is led in scoring by Dodge at 12.4 PPG, the 11th-highest scoring average in the WIAC, and his 2.72 made three-pointers per game is tops in the conference.  Senior MJ Delmore (Wisconsin Dells, Wis./Wisconsin Dells) is second at 11.7 points per contest.  Tauber leads the team with 131 rebounds, topping the squad in offensive boards (48), the fourth-most in the conference, and defensive boards (83).  He also ranks fourth in the league with 16 blocked shots.  O'Heron is fourth in the league with a .583 field goal percentage. During regular season conference play, UWSP led all WIAC teams in scoring defense (62.8), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.13) and rebounding defense (27.8).
 
ABOUT UW- OSHKOSH - Home | Schedule | Roster | Stats
Junior Ben Boots is averaging 15.3 points per game, the fourth-best scoring average in the league.  He leads the conference in assists (113), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.35) and is second in free throw shooting (.857).  Sophomores Adam Fravert and Jack Flynn crash the glass with authority.  Fravert leads the league in defensive rebounding (6.23) and is second in overall rebounds per game (7.6).  Flynn is the leading offensive rebounder at 3.58, the 26th highest in the country.  As a team, the Titans are sixth in the nation in rebounding margin at +9.2 rebounds per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
UWSP hold a 124-87 all-time advantage against the Titans.  Each team won on its home floor during the regular season.  In the first meeting, UWSP stumbled down the stretch as UW-Oshkosh finished the game by out-scoring UWSP 23-6 over the final nine minutes. The Pointers returned the favor on Senior Night as Delmore tied a career-high with 23 points in a 77-70 UWSP win.
 
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 279-79, including a 152-37 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 90-71 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 winner of Friday's game will face the winner of the UW-River Falls versus UW-Platteville semifinal in the title game on Sunday (Feb. 25) at 2:00 p.m.