MORRIS, Minn. – Two of the top teams in the UMAC come to town this weekend as Minnesota Morris (6-10, 4-1 UMAC) hosts North Central (6-8, 3-2 UMAC) and Northwestern (7-9, 5-0 UMAC). After Saturday the Cougars will have played all seven teams in the conference, marking the halfway point. The second trip through the conference will start Tuesday at Crown.
 
The weekend will start with a matchup against North Central at 5:30 p.m. on Friday night. The game features the top two scoring offenses in the conference. Both teams are scoring over 71 points per game this season. In conference play the Cougars are scoring just under 80 points a game.
 
North Central is led by Luke Chaffin, who is scoring 17.1 points per game this year. In UMAC games Chaffin is scoring 18 points and grabbing 7.6 rebounds per game. The Rams have three other players averaging 10 points per game. The offense is proficient from three averaging 6.9 made three pointers per game this season.
 
Games featuring North Central average nearly 117 shots per game, Morris games feature 113, meaning there is an average of almost three shots per minute.
 
Northwestern is undefeated in the conference winning by an average of 21 points per game. Their closest game of the UMAC season came against North Central when the Eagles won by eight points.
 
Six Eagles are averaging at least seven points per game. The team is shooting 44.7% from the field and averaged 7.3 made three pointers per game.
 
Minnesota Morris comes into the weekend shooting 51.6 percent in conference play, a trend they hope continues as they battle for a top spot in the UMAC at the halfway point of the year. Three Cougars are scoring at least 11 points per game this year, led by RJ Dean who scores 11.9 points per game. Neil Helgeson and CD Douglas are also each scoring over 11 points per game this year.
 
Another part of the Cougars success has been their ability to hold onto the ball this year, averaging just 10.9 turnovers per game and ranking 24^th in the NCAA.