Tigers welcome Bulldogs to Corn Palace for GPAC showdown

MITCHELL, S.D. – Looking to extend its longest winning streak since the 2009-10 season, the No. 18 Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball squad squares off against Concordia University in a battle of top-four teams in the Great Plains Athletic Conference at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Corn Palace.

The Game

 Tomorrow's contest is the first home game for the Tigers in 2021 after picking up a pair of road victories last week. DWU downed in-state rival Dakota State University, 69-60 in a come-from-behind victory. On Saturday the Tigers fended off Doane University to pick up an 80-73 win.

 Junior Koln Oppold (Sioux Falls, S.D.) paced the team as he recorded a pair of double-doubles on the week. He finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists against DSU and posted 21 points, 13 boards, five assists, three steals and three blocks against Doane. Oppold currently ranks fourth in the GPAC with 9.3 rebounds per game and is fourth in the conference with five double-doubles this season.

 Senior guard Nick Harden (Chicago, Ill.) continues to be the floor general for the Tigers as he leads the team with 16.8 points, 4.6 assists and 1.7 steals per contest. He is second in the GPAC in assists per game, third in the conference in steals per game and is fifth in the conference in scoring per outing.

 As a team, the Tigers rank fourth nationally with 58 blocks on the season and lead the GPAC in scoring defense per game, allowing just 67.2 points per contest. DWU also leads the conference in 3-point field goal defense, holding teams to 28.3% shooting from beyond the arc.

The Coaches

 Matt Wilber is the third winningest coach in program history with an all-time record of 177-71. The current win streak the Tigers are on is the longest win streak during the Wilber era.

 Ben Limback is in his eighth season with the Bulldogs as the head coach. He led Concordia to a GPAC Tournament Championship last season with a 68-66 win over DWU.

The Series

 The series has been dominated by DWU, holding a 28-12 advantage all-time. The Tigers won both regular season matchups last year, with Concordia taking the final game in the GPAC Championship.

Scouting the Concordia Bulldogs

 The Bulldogs enter tomorrow's game with an overall record of 11-5 and an 8-3 GPAC record. They are coming off an 81-74 overtime victory at (RV) Northwestern College on Saturday. Concordia leads the nation in 3-pointers made with 173 on the season. They also check in at fourth nationally with 1,324 points scored this season and are fourth with 260 assists this year.

Justin Wiersema leads the team with 17.1 points and 1.6 steals per outing. He ranks seventh in the NAIA with 274 points this year and is 12^th in the country with 36 made 3-pointers this year.

The game will be live streamed with stats online at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/dwu/.