MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team will travel to North Central University on Wednesday for a 7:15 p.m. Upper Midwest Athletic Conference contest before returning home to host Martin Luther College on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. in the final regular-season home game.
 
The streams can be found on the UMAC Sports Network or by clicking here. To follow the live stats of UMM at NCU click here and to follow the live stats of UMM vs MLC click here.
 
The Cougars moved into first place in the conference after going 2–0 last week to improve to 6–2 in UMAC play. Minnesota Morris opened the week with a 79–66 victory over Crown College. Carvin Fish led the scoring with 23 points, while Kaden Pieper and Matt Thompson each recorded double-doubles. In the following game, the Cougars defeated the University of Northwestern 84–74. Fish again paced the offense with 26 points and added 10 rebounds for another double-double.
 
Minnesota Morris is averaging a conference-leading 79.6 points per game and has three players ranked in the top 10 in UMAC scoring: Fish, Pieper, and Thompson. Fish leads the team and ranks third in the conference with 420 points, Pieper is fifth with 379, and Thompson ranks 10th with 302. Thomas Tiernan and LeRoy Staples-Fairbanks IV have also surpassed 100 points this season, totaling 130 and 113, respectively. Gustav Gunderson leads the team and ranks second in the UMAC with 79 assists.
 
Defensively, UMM leads the conference with 40.3 rebounds per game and outrebounds opponents by an average of 4.8 rebounds. Thompson leads the team with 163 rebounds, followed closely by Fish with 161, while Pieper ranks third with 128. Fish is third in the conference with 24 blocked shots, and Pieper leads the team with 26 steals.
 
North Central enters the week second in the conference at 5–3 and holds an overall record of 7–14. The Rams defeated Crown College 86–83 in last week's UMAC Game of the Week. Jeremy Becker is in his fourth season as head coach of NCU. Carrington McNeal and Carmello McNeal lead the Rams in scoring with 364 and 326 points, respectively. Carrington McNeal also has a team-high 102 rebounds.
 
In the first meeting between the teams, Minnesota Morris earned an 80–74 victory. Fish led the Cougars with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Staples-Fairbanks provided a spark off the bench with 12 points and five rebounds.
 
Martin Luther is 10–12 overall and sits fifth in the conference at 4–5. The Knights went 1–1 last week, defeating Bethany Lutheran College 77–73 before falling to the University of Wisconsin–Superior 79–60. Head coach Greg Holzheter is in his 10th season with the program. Adam Loberger leads Martin Luther—and the UMAC—in scoring with 488 points and also has a team-high 175 rebounds.
 
The Cougars have defeated Martin Luther twice this season, 106–91 and 88–81. In the most recent matchup, UMM scored 62 points in the first half. Pieper poured in 45 points in the win, shooting 16-for-21 from the field, 5-for-8 from three-point range, and 8-of-12 at the free-throw line.