Orem, Utah - UND takes a three-game winning streak into its opening round game at the Great West Conference Tournament presented by Pepsi. The Sioux will open play against a Texas-Pan American team they just defeated on Saturday, 72-61, and swept the regular season series from. Tip-off between No. 3 seed UND and No. 6 seed UTPA is set for 6 p.m. CT on Thursday.

Radio: 100.3 FM (Cat Country)

Live Video: www.uvu.edu/uvutv

Live Chat: www.FightingSioux.com

Live Stats: www.GreatWestConference.org

ALL-TIME SERIES vs. UTPA  

Overall: UND leads 3-1  

Neutral Site: First Meeting    

Jones vs. Texas-Pan American: 3-1    

Last Meeting: UND won 72-61 (3/5/11) 

• UND will play in Thursday's second quarterfinal at 6 p.m. CT as the third-seeded Sioux will have a rematch from their regular season finale against sixth-seeded Texas-Pan American. UND won the finale, 72-61, over the Broncs.

• The Sioux were the No. 3 seed at the inaugural GWC Tournament a season ago, but improved their league ledger by three games with an 8-4 record (5-7 in 2010-11). 

• UND posted 4-2 records in both home and away league games and went 8-0 against the No. 4-7 seeds in the tournament. The Sioux swept No. 4 seed South Dakota, No. 5 seed Chicago State, the Broncs and No. 7 seed Houston Baptist during regular season play.

• Freshman Troy Huff has led the Sioux in scoring in the past three games, averaging 21.7 ppg during the winning streak. 

• Huff had 13 in the victory over UTPA (March 5), while junior Patrick Mitchell registered his third double-double of the season (all in GWC play) with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Both players share the team lead with 21 double-figure scoring games.

• Freshman Jamal Webb dished out seven assists for the third straight game at UTPA and he has grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds in back-to-back games. 

• In his last three games, Webb is averaging 10.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 7.0 apg.

• Huff scored a career-high 31 points and classmate Aaron Anderson hit a big 3-pointer in the final minute of overtime to secure the win over Houston Baptist (March 3). Huff also grabbed 12 rebounds to post his third double-double of the season.

• Huff's 10th rebound was his biggest as the offensive board allowed him to make a putback with 14 seconds to play in regulation that inevitably sent the game into OT.

• Anderson finished with 10 points, five of which came in that final minute of overtime.

• Huff's 31-point effort was the first 30-plus scoring game for a Sioux player since junior Mitchell scored 33 in a home win over NJIT last season. It was Huff's third straight 20-plus scoring game. He is averaging 24.3 ppg in those three contests.

• Huff's scoring surge has vaulted him up to fourth on the all-time freshman scoring charts at UND with 389 points.

• Webb has 282 points and needs 15 points to crack the top 10 of that same list.

The Broncs opened the season winning just three of their first 24 games, but have won three of their last six. The Sioux did bring a close to what was the team's first winning streak of the season with a 72-61 victory in the season finale on Saturday.

UND held sophomore Brandon Provost, the team's leading scorer at 12.7 ppg, to just three points. Provost was coming off a 22-point contest in a 75-74 victory over South Dakota. The Air Force transfer hit the game-winning layup with three seconds left.

Provost was deadly from beyond the arc this season in GWC play, connecting on 39-of-73 attempts for a league-best percentage of 53.4. He upped his scoring average to 16.1 ppg in league contests.

The Broncs' second-leading scorer is guard Aaron Urbanus. The slender sophomore averaged 14.5 ppg in the two games against the Sioux and went 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) from beyond the arc in the two losses.

Forward Ruben Cabrera averaged 14.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg in the two contests against the Sioux. Those are pretty good increases from his season averages of 6.5 ppg and 3.7 rpg.

Provost, Urbanus and forward Matt Mierzycki have started all 30 games for second-year head coach Ryan Marks. Mierzycki is the team's top rebounder at 5.8 boards per game and he is averaging 7.3 ppg.

UTPA snapped a 15-game losing streak earlier this season with a 76-60 victory over Houston Baptist at home (Feb. 9). That victory was the Broncs' first in this latest stretch where they have won three out of six.  One of their three losses was a 65-63 overtime loss to NJIT, who made a shot at the buzzer to escape with a victory.

The Broncs pulled an upset in the opening round of the inaugural Great West Tournament, defeating No.4 and host Utah Valley, 56-53. 

The Fighting Sioux swept the season series from UTPA, defeating the Broncs 91-82 in Grand Forks (Jan. 27), then closing out the regular season on Saturday with a 72-61 victory (March 5). Freshman Josh Schuler led five Sioux scorers in double figures with 19 points in the home contest. He connected on all five of his attempts from beyond the arc as both teams were an identical 12-for-19 from deep in the contest. Classmate Brandon Brekke had a double-double in that contest, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

At Edinburg, freshman Troy Huff led the Sioux in scoring with 13 points and junior Patrick Mitchell posted his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Jamal Webb added nine poitns, matched his career-high with 11 rebounds and dished out seven assists. 

BIG SKY BOUND: The Fighting Sioux will join the Big Sky Conference in the summer of 2012 in time to participate as a full member during the 2012-13 academic year. The announcement was made on Nov. 1 in the lobby of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. UND got its first taste of conference competition this season on Nov. 19 when the Fighting Sioux knocked off Sacramento State, 64-60, at home. Three UND players each scored 11 points as the club held off a late rally by the Hornets to post its first win over a Big Sky team in program history. The Sioux had lost their first four against league opponents since moving up to Division I basketball three seasons ago. The Sioux then got a taste of Big Sky road action falling at eventual Big Sky champion Northern Colorado, 87-69. Besides Sacramento State and Northern Colorado, the Big Sky is also comprised of Portland State, Northern Arizona, Montanta, Montana State, Idaho State, Weber State and Eastern Washington. Southern Utah will also join the league along with the Sioux in 2012-13. 

JONES IN THE POSTSEASON: Fifth-year head coach Brian Jones has experience conference tournaments at both the Division II and Division I levels during his tenure with the Fighting Sioux. Jones has posted a 3-4 record in those contests. After dropping his first NCC Tournament game during his rookie season in 2006-07, Jones led eighth-seeded UND to the NCC finals before falling to Nebraska-Omaha, 75-68, in the championship game. The Sioux split a pair of games at the Spring Thaw Independent Tournament the team hosted at the end of the 2008-09 season. In the team's inaugural Great West Tournament a season ago, the third-seeded Sioux fell to sixth-seeded NJIT in the opening round.

SWAT MITCHELL: Junior Patrick Mitchell broke into the UND career top 10 list in blocks earlier this season and he continues to move up the charts. Mitchell currently ranks fifth with 105 after registering three blocks in the season finale at UTPA. Through 30 games this season, he leads the GWC with 50 blocks (1.7 bpg) and his 25 blocks in league play also top the charts (2.1 bpg). With three blocks at Northern Colorado, Mitchell also moved into the top 10 on the single-season charts. He currently ranks tied for eighth on that list with his 47 swats.

For his career, Mitchell has blocked four shots in a game on seven different occasions, including three times this season. The latest occurence was during the 107-96 quadruple-overtime loss to UVU when he registered a career-high five blocks. He has led the Sioux in blocks in each of his first two seasons of play at UND.

THE WHOLE TRUTH: The 2010-11 true freshman class of Aaron Anderson, Troy Huff and Jamal Webb have jumped right into the mix this season and their scoring output has been stellar. Huff has reached double figures 21 times, including 18 out of the last 21 games, Webb has 14 double-digit scoring games and Anderson has achieved 10-plus in 10 games. Huff had his highest scoring output with 22 in the win over South Dakota School of Mines (Dec. 30). Anderson had his season-high of 19 in the quadruple-overtime loss to Utah Valley (Jan. 20) and Webb has a trio of 15-point outings (vs. IPFW, Nov. 23; vs. Mayville State, Dec. 14; and vs. USD, Jan. 15). Huff leads the team in scoring at 13.0 ppg and is averaging 14.6 ppg as a starter (18 of last 19 games). Webb checks in at fourth in scoring at 9.4 ppg and Anderson is fifth at 8.1 ppg. 

(For a closer look at the trio's production - See page 13 of the notes packet PDF)

FROSH BEGINNING: The trio of true freshmen on the UND squad has been joined by a pair of redshirt freshmen to give UND head coach Brian Jones five first-year players in his regular rotation this season. After the season finale at UTPA, those five rookies had accounted for 1,292 of the team's 1,965 points, which gives the Sioux the most production (65.8 percent) by a freshmen class in Division I basketball. There are a pair of schools giving chase as both Kentucky and Memphis also get more than 60 percent of their point production from freshmen.

FIVE-GRAND: With 48 points combined against Chicago State on Feb 12, the freshman class surpassed the 1,000-point total for the season. The quintet of Sioux rookies has scored 1,303 points becoming the third class in Division I basketball to reach that plateau. Reserve guard Aaron Anderson also became the fourth member of that class to reach 200 points on the season after scoring 13 points in the non-conference win over Louisiana Tech (Feb. 16). Troy Huff leads the team in scoring and has moved into the top 10 freshman scoring list at UND. He stands in fifth place now with 389 points. Classmates Jamal Webb and Josh Schuler are also moving towards that top 10 list as well with 281 and 260 points, respectively. Travis Tuttle currently ranks 10th with 297 points during his rookie season of 1992-93.

DYNAMIC DUO: Freshman Troy Huff and junior Patrick Mitchell each scored 20-plus points in the Senior Night victory over Chicago State (Feb. 28). For Huff, his 21 points marked the fifth time this season he has reached the 20-point plateau, while Mitchell's 20 was his first such effort since scoring a career-high 33 points against NJIT last season. Both players reached double figures again in the overtime win at HBU and in the season finale at UTPA. Huff erupted for a career-high 31 points and Mitchell added 12 against the Huskies. The top-scoring duet shares the team lead with 21 double-figure scoring games this season.

WEIRD, WILD STUFF: The quadruple-overtime loss to Utah Valley (107-96, Jan. 20) matched the third longest game in school history. The Sioux have now played more four-overtime games, than three-overtime tilts (two) in program history. Ironically, the 1976-77 season featured three of the five longest games in UND hardwood history. The Sioux have played in 15 double-overtime contests, including one last season against Texas Pan-American. UND won that contest 78-74 to pick up its first road win in Great West action a season ago. 

SWEEPING SUCCESS: For the first time since the 2003-04 season and second time in the last 20 years, the Fighting Sioux swept its regular season home-and-home series with South Dakota. UND knocked off the Coyotes on Feb. 5 at the DakotaDome, 83-73, after opening league play with a home win over USD (75-62) on Jan. 15. Junior Patrick Mitchell averaged 14.5 ppg and 9.5 rpg in the two victories, while Brandon Brekke added 14.0 ppg and 8.5 rpg. Brekke's classmate, Josh Schuler, scored 13 points in each contest with 22 of those 26 points coming in the second half. The most telling stat of the two contests might have been USD's poor shooting from beyond the arc. The UND defense limited the Coyotes to just a trio of 3-pointers in the two games (35 attempts). 

NOBODY LEFT: With the 83-73 victory over Houston Baptist on Jan. 29, the Fighting Sioux have now beaten each of the Great West teams at least once since joining the league for its inaugural season in 2009-10. UND owns an 10-9 record in the one-plus seasons of GWC play. 

EXCESS IS GOOD: With a 91-82 victory over UTPA on Jan. 27, the Fighting Sioux picked up their ninth win of the season to exceed the win total from the entire 2009-10 season (eight) - their first full DI schedule. UND increased its win total to 15 with the 74-70 overtime win over Houston Baptist on Thursday. The win over the Huskies was also UND's seventh in league play - two more than a season ago (5-7). The Sioux have one more regular season game left to play to grow that number even larger as well as the Great West Conference Tournament slated for March 9-12 in Orem, Utah.

MAGIC NUMBERS: When the Sioux have scored 70-plus points in a regulation contest this season, the team owns a perfect 13-0 record. UND also owns an unblemised record when the team shoots 50 percent or better from the floor - when that happens the Sioux are 7-0.