Men's Basketball 3/5/2010 7:00:00 PM Ryan Powell, UND Media Relations

MBB Game Notes: Sioux close out regular season with Senior Day matchup against UTPA

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The Sioux can secure the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Great West Conference Tournament with a victory over visiting Texas-Pan American on Saturday. UND will entertain the Broncs on Senior Day at 3 p.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

SENIOR SATURDAY: Prior to the tipoff with Texas-Pan American on Saturday, a trio of Sioux seniors will be honored in a brief ceremony for their achievements as members of the men's basketball team. Senior Travis Bledsoe is the lone remaining hold over from the Rich Glas era, while classmates Travis Mertens and Dustin Monsebroten both transferred into the program from the junior college ranks.

MEDIA INFORMATION: The game with the Broncs be heard on the radio dial at Cat Country 100.3 FM with Paul Ralston on the call. Live stats and video streaming of the final regular season game will also be available at www.FightingSioux.com.

SEEDING ON THE LINE: The simple scenario for the Sioux on Saturday is win and they will be the No. 3 seed out in Orem, Utah for the inaugural Great West Tournament March 10-13. UND can be no worse than the No. 4 seed and the Sioux hold a head-to-head tie breaker with Utah Valley, who finished up Great West play at 5-7 with a victory over NJIT on Thursday. If UND, Utah Valley and NJIT all finish with 5-7 league records, Utah Valley would be the No. 3 seed, UND the No. 4 seed and NJIT the No. 5 seed. The Highlanders play at Chicago State (3-8) on Saturday and then travel to South Dakota to play on Sunday in a make-up game from a previously postponed contest.

SCOUTING THE BRONCS
• Ryan Marks is in his first season at Texas-Pan American and his first as a head coach at the Division I level. Marks has previous head coaching experience at the Division II (St. Edwards, 2004-09) and Division III (Southern Vermont, 2001-04) levels.
• The Broncs have won only one Great West contest after opening league play with a sweep of NJIT and Chicago State. That was a 74-61 victory over Utah Valley in Edinburg (Feb. 13).
• UTPA has played in a league-high three overtime games with two of those coming against league leaders South Dakota and Houston Baptist. The overtime loss to the Coyotes came on Thursday as USD held off the Broncs
• Sophmore Jared Maree is the team's leading scorer at 10.0 ppg and is one of five Broncs averaging at least 7.5 ppg. Maree also leads the team in 3-point FG shooting at 38.0 percent (19-for-50).
• Senior forward Luis Valera has started all 30 games and is averaging 9.6 ppg and a team-leading 4.7 rpg. He scored a team-high 19 points on a perfect shooting night against the Sioux on Jan. 28 (7-for-7 FGs, 5-for-5 FTs).
• Freshman Aaron Urbanus actually leads the team in scoring in Great West play at 13.4 ppg. Maree (11.5 ppg) and Valera (11.2) are also averaging double figures in league games as well for the Broncs. Urbanus is shooting 47.6 percent from 3-point range in conference tilts (30-for-63).

KNOCKOUT PUNCH: Senior Travis Bledsoe and sophomore Patrick Mitchell are two of the top 3-point shooters in Great West play entering the final game of the regular season. Bledsoe leads all Great West players with a 48.7 percent clip (37-for-76) in league play, while Mitchell has buried 29-of-63 attempts in league play (46.0 percent), which ranks him third overall. The duo has helped the Sioux shoot a league-best 40.8 percent from beyond the arc and knock down a league-high 98 3-pointers.

TOP 30 AND BEYOND: With the 1,000-point milestone behind him, senior Travis Bledsoe is firmly entrenched as one of the top 30 scorers in UND men's basketball history. He needs 21 more points to catch No. 21 on that list - Todd Rypkema. Currently tied for 24th with Don Gunhus (1,096 points), Bledsoe needs 31 more points to crack the top 20. Kyle Behrens currently occupies spot No. 20 after he scored 1,133 points for the Sioux between 1997-2001. Bledsoe has one regular-season game left and the Great West Tournament to continue his rise up the ranks of the all-time greats at UND. With 27 points against Houston Baptist, he passed the father of one his teammates on the historic list. Junior Chris Clausen's father, Dan, scored 1,093 points in two seasons for the Sioux from 1980-82 and now ranks No. 27.

ALLARD NETS CAREER HIGH AT NJIT: Redshirt freshman Jordan Allard reached double figures for the first time in his UND career on Sunday against NJIT. The Fargo native scored a career-high 15 points and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line. His previous career high was nine points in a home victory over Chicago State (Feb. 13).

HAUGEN EQUALS CAREER HIGH AGAINST HUSKIES: For the second straight game, a redshirt freshman put in a career-high scoring effort for the Fighting Sioux. This time around, Nick Haugen equaled his mark of 15 against Houston Baptist on Thursday (set earlier this season against Waldorf; Nov. 24). Haugen went 6-for-9 from the field and buried all three of his free throw attempts in the contest. Haugen leads all GWC players in free throw percentage with a 95.7 percent clip (22-for-23).

DOUBLE FIGURES ABOUND: Senior Travis Bledsoe led the Sioux with 27 points against Houston Baptist and in doing so reached double figures for the 11th straight game and the 51st time during his tenure at UND. Bledsoe has led the Sioux in scoring in 10 out of the last 13 games. Only sophomore Patrick Mitchell has been the top scorer besides Bledsoe during that stretch. Bledsoe's 20-plus point effort was also his sixth straight and ninth in 11 league games. For his career, he has accumulated 13 20-plus scoring games with 11 of those coming this season. Mitchell is the only other Sioux player to record a 20-plus scoring game when he poured in a career-high 33 points against NJIT (Feb. 23).

THREE FALLING: Not only has senior Travis Bledsoe increased his scoring in Great West play, but his shooting has been remarkably better as well. In 11 GWC games, Bledsoe is 37-for-76 from 3-point range (48.7 percent). He set the school's single season record a season ago with a 47.7 percentage and is shooting 44.2 percent overall from 3-point territory this season. Bledsoe had made only 11-of-38 attempts (28.9 percent) prior to the beginning of league play.

MR. EVERYTHING: Senior wing Travis Mertens, who is the lone returning starter for UND, has provided a veteran presence for the Sioux in the opening 29 contests. He is second on the club in scoring (10.1 ppg, 14th in GWC), first in rebounding (6.4 rpg, fourth in GWC), first in assists (1.9 apg, 14th in GWC) and first in steals (1.0 spg, 13th in GWC) this season. Mertens has reached double figures a team-high 167times, including a career-high 19 points at IPFW. He has also led the Fighting Sioux in rebounding in 21 of 29 contests. The 6-foot-5, Devils Lake native grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds in the double-overtime victory at UTPA and has four double-doubles on the season. He has corralled a total of 186 boards on the season, more than doubling his next closest teammate (Jordan Allard, 94) and also has a team-high 55 offensive rebounds.

DOUBLE-FIGURES FROM DEEP: Sophomore Patrick Mitchell is one of 11 Division I players this season to knock down at least 10 3-pointers in a game. Arkansas guard Rotnei Clark leads the group after hitting 13 in a win over Alcorn State. Mitchell is one of seven players to hit 10 treys in a game during the campaign, doing so in a 90-78 victory over NJIT on Feb. 23.

PROLIFIC PATRICK: Sophomore Patrick Mitchell had one of the most prolific shooting games in UND history in a 90-78 victory over New Jersey Institute of Technology (Feb. 23). The Des Moines, Iowa native connected on 10-for-13 of his 3-point attempts and finished with a career-high 33 points. His 10 makes from beyond the arc equaled the school record held by Travis Tuttle. Mitchell his five 3-pointers in each half of play and tied the record when his final shot went down at the buzzer. He finished the game with a career-high 11 made field goals and helped the Sioux tie a single-game record with 16 made treys.

REWRITING THE SEASON HIGHS: With their shooting performance against NJIT (Feb. 23), the Sioux set season highs in a number of categories. Those included points scored (90), points scored in a first haf (44), points scored in a second half (46), 3-pointers made (16), free throws made (30), field goal percentage (57.9, 22-for-38) and 3-point field goal percentage (64.0, 16-for-25). Sophomore Patrick Mitchell also tossed in a season-high 33 points by a Sioux player. His 11 field goals were also the highest output.

JONES WINS 50: The victory over New Jersey Institute of Technology on Feb. 23 was the 50th during the three-plus seasons for UND head coach Brian Jones.

BLEDSOE JOINS ELITE CLUB IN FITTING FASHION: Senior Travis Bledsoe became the 30th member of the 1,000-point club in UND men's basketball history when he opened the second half of a home win over Utah Valley (Feb. 20) with a 3-pointer. It was a fitting way for Bledsoe to join the elite club since 537 of his career points have come via 3-pointers. His 179 career treys rank fifth in the UND annals. He earned GWC Player of the Week honors after accomplishing the feat and tying his career-high with 28 points against SIU-Edwardsville (Feb. 18).

GREAT WEST PLAY IGNITES BLEDSOE: Senior guard Travis Bledsoe is closing out his last campaign with the Sioux on fire. Bledsoe, who missed six games earlier this season with a bruised pelvic bone, has stepped up his game since the beginning of league play on Jan. 14 at Utah Valley. He scored a career-high 28 points in the 67-62 win over the Wolverines on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor to set a new career-high for field goals made. He equaled that mark with nine makes in a 82-64 loss to South Dakota (Jan. 23). Bledsoe made a career-high seven 3-pointers in that contest to account for a team-high 25 points. In the thrilling double-overtime win at Texas-Pan American, Bledsoe scored 24 points, including a 12-for-14 effort from the foul line. The Minneapolis native continued his run of 20-plus scoring games with a 25-point effort in a loss at Houston Baptist (Jan. 30). He tallied 16 points in the 14-point home victory over Chicago State (Feb. 13). With six consecutive 20-plus scoring games, Bledsoe has regained the top spot in GWC scoring in league games with a 21.6 ppg clip.

LEADER OF THE PACK: Redshirt freshman Nick Haugen is leading the Sioux in free-throw shooting this season with an 90.5 percent clip. With 42 attempts (38 makes), he is still shy of the qualifying number for the UND record books, but his charity stripe display has been impressive. He had a stretch of 26 straight makes come to an end after his back-end free throw of a one-and-one rattled in and out at Chicago State on Thursday. He had made his first 19 freebies in Great West play before that miss. Haugen leads all shooters in league games with a 95.7 percent clip (22-for-23).

SATURDAY SLUMP ENDS: Before the 74-60 victory over Chicago State on Feb. 13, the Sioux were winless on Saturdays this season. The team had dropped nine straight on the opening day of the weekend, but back-to-back league wins on Saturday put the team at 4-3 overall in Great West play. The Sioux close out the regular season on Senior Saturday against Texas-Pan American at 'The Betty'.

RECAPPING THE QUEST FOR 1,000: Bledsoe opened his senior season needing only 257 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The Minneapolis native did most of his work off the Sioux bench in his first three seasons of action. As a redshirt freshman in 2006-07, Bledsoe scored 164 points (6.6 ppg) for rookie head coach Brian Jones. He upped that total to 280 points in his sophomore season (2007-08) and averaged double figures for the first time last year, when he poured in 299 points (10.7 ppg) in UND's first season at the Division I ranks.

A shaky, injury-riddled start to his senior season made the quest for 257 points much more daunting than originally expected, but the gutty guard responded to the challenge and has put together an incredible run over the last 11 games to surpass that milestone. After missing six games and scoring only 76 points in his first 10 contests, the prospects appeared bleak. However, Bledsoe never got discouraged and he has nearly tripled that output in the last 11 games, pouring in 226 points for an average of 20.5 ppg. Bledsoe has nine straight double-figure scoring games, seven of the 20-plus point variety and he has equaled his career-high of 28 twice during that stretch. The results have also led the Sioux to six wins in 10 games after starting the season 2-14.

SECRET TO SUCCESS: The Sioux have held opponents to less than 50 shooting percent from the floor in all eight of their victories this season.

GREEN LIGHT, BENTER'S BACK: Junior Derek Benter is the team's top 3-point shooter through 29 games this season. In his last 10 games, the 6-8 post player has gone 8-for-14 from beyond the arc and for the season is 15-for-33 (45.4 percent). That total of 15 is one more than he combined to make in his first two seasons at UND (13-for-33 attempts). Four different times this season he has made a pair of treys in a game.

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