STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The No. 9 UW-Stevens Point men's basketball team hosts No. 5 UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday in another battle of top-tier teams in WIAC action.
 
THE BASICS
Who:  #5 UW-Oshkosh (12-1, 2-0) at #9 UW-Stevens Point (10-2, 2-0)
When: Wednesday, January 9 – 7:00 p.m.
Where: Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse – Stevens Point, Wis.
Follow:  Live Stats | Watch | Listen - 92.1 FM WPCN | Notes
 
TICKETS:
$8 - Adult (general admission)
$6 - Seniors (65 and older)
$4 – Youth (6-17 years of age)
FREE - Youth (5 and under)
FREE - UWSP students with valid ID
 
Promotions
The first set of trading cards will be handed out to the first 750 fans through the door.  The first set, of five total, will feature 2017 All-WIAC and WIAC All-Defensive Team member Ethan Bublitz (Jackson, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran).
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Pointers had all five starters in double figures in a 20-point road win at UW-River Falls on Saturday.  Nate Dodge (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) went 6-for-8 from three-point range and had a game-high 29 points.  Canon O'Heron (Bangor, Wis./Bangor) added 21 points and Bublitz had a game-high eight rebounds to go with his 15 points.  UWSP began the game up 9-2 and never looked back with a 20-point lead much of the second half.
 
DEFENSE FIRST
The Pointers rank first in the conference with 60.9 points allowed through the first 12 games.  UWSP also tops the league with a +6.00 turnover margin.  In three of the victories this season, UWSP has held its opponent under 50 points.
 
FAST START
The Pointers have scored first in nine of the 12 games this season.  In four of the games, UWSP held leads of 6-0, 8-0, 10-0 and 12-0 to begin games.  The Pointers are out-scoring opponents 447-328 in the first half this season.
 
 
AT THE LINE
The Pointers is second in the WIAC in free throw percentage at .770.  Drew Fredrickson (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) leads the league with a .933 percentage at the charity stripe.  He has made 28 of 30 on the season and dating back to last year, he had a streak of 20-straight before the Illinois Wesleyan game on Dec. 29.
 
MULTI-FACETED OFFENSE
The Pointers had five players in double figures on Saturday at UWRF and has had four players score in double figures in a game other four times this season.  The balance of scoring has been offset with big scoring nights by Dodge (40 at Augustana, 31 against Illinois Wesleyan), O'Heron (23 at Hope) and Fredrickson (20 at Hope).  This inside-out balance has given the Pointers' opponents trouble all season long.
 
DODGE DOES IT AGAIN
Dodge scored 40 points at Augustana on Nov. 28, the second time in his career at UWSP with 40 or more points (42 vs. Hope on Dec. 8, 2017).  He is just the third player in program history with multiple 40+ point games.  His effort landed him his second career WIAC Player of the Week honor as well.
 
WINNING BIG
The Pointers 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.  Seven of the 10 UWSP wins this season have come by double-digit margins.
 
ABOUT UW-STEVENS POINT - Home | Roster | Schedule | Stats
UWSP came in at No. 9 in the first D3Hoops.com ranking of 2019.  Dodge leads the Pointers with a 19.4 scoring average for the season, second-best in the WIAC. Dodge leads the WIAC with 3.75 three-point makes per game this season.  O'Heron is second on the team at 13.5 as the Pointers have four players in double figures.  Fredrickson is 28-for-30 from the line this year and leads UWSP with 41 assists.  His 2.73 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in the conference. Brett Tauber (Madison, Wis./Memorial) has a team-high 63 rebounds on the season.
 
ABOUT UW-OSHKOSH - Home | Roster | Schedule | Stats
UW-Oshkosh has won 11-straight since its only loss in game two of the season at Wheaton (Nov. 17).  The Titans have been held under 75 points just once this season and average a league-best 86.6 points per game.  Senior Ben Boots leads four Titans in double figures with 17.2 points per game.  He also has 54 assists, second-most in the league, another category in which UWO leads the conference.  Juniors Jack Flynn and Adam Fravert have 93 and 92 rebounds, respectively, and Fravert leads the WIAC with 25 blocks.  He is also tied for the team-lead in steals (15) with senior Brett Wittchow.
 
SERIES HISTORY
UWSP hold a 125-87 all-time advantage against the Titans.  Last season, 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 M.J. Delmore tied a career-high with 23 points in a 77-70 UWSP win.  The Pointers also defeated UWO in Stevens Point in the WIAC Tournament semifinal game, 71-63, in the final meeting of the year.
 
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 293-82, including a 154-37 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.
 
Matt Lewis is in his first season as the interim head coach at UW-Oshkosh.  He spent the last six seasons as the top assistant for the Titans.  He helped UWO record a 95-73 record in his six seasons as an assistant.  Prior to arriving in Oshkosh, he had coaching stints at Tulane (La.), Cornell (Iowa) and Rhodes (Tenn.).  He played at Cornell from 2005-10 and was an Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first-team selection in 2010.
 
UP NEXT
The Pointers travel to Eau Claire to face the Blugolds in conference action at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 12).