MSUM Men’s Basketball Preview Wednesday’s Opening Round of NSIC Tournament

Host Wayne State Wednesday Night

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Tournament time has begun for Minnesota-State Moorhead men’s basketball as the Dragons tip off the N.S.I.C. Tournament Wednesday night at Nemzek Fieldhouse…

The Dragons are coming in off a weekend split that featured a win against Minot State followed by a loss to U-Mary.  MSUM will host Wayne State, who’s only won seven of their 22 league games and only three of their total wins have come on the road.

But that’s not of importance to head coach Chad Walthall and his players, who all understand the damage the Warriors can do.

“They have one of the best five-men in the league,” Walthall said. “He’s a tremendous scorer so we’re going to have to contain him. You’re not going to stop him for forty minutes. You know they have a lot of shooters surrounding him so we really can’t concentrate on just one player.”

“Well playoffs, it kind of like you’re starting over now. Zero, zero now, starting over,” guard Gavin Baumgartner said. “We get something rolling here and I think we could really do some damage so our approach is just coming into it confidently, coming into it strong, play some hard defense, rebound, and see what happens.”

“All the guys out there communicating so that’s the biggest thing in stopping them on the defensive end cause they’re a very good offensive team and they got a lot of good shooters, too,” guard Johnny Beeninga said.

“For us to get to the NCAA, we’re going to have to win the conference tournament and that starts Wednesday and that’s going to be a difficult thing to do,” Walthall said, “So everybody is on the same page; everybody knows what’s at stake so there’s not a lot to be said. Actually, probably you’re better off not saying much of anything. It’s probably better off for the team.”

The game tips at 6 P.M. on Wednesday.