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SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 14, 2013)-- The 21st-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team travels to Springfield, Mo., looking to avenge an early season non-conference loss, facing a familiar foe in Michigan Tech University in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament on Saturday.

The fifth-seeded Rangers (20-8) face the fourth-seeded Huskies (20-8) on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. inside the O'Reilly Family Event Center on the campus of Drury University in Springfield, Mo. This is the second meeting between the two squads this season, having clashed on Dec. 29 inside DeSimone Gymnasium with the visiting Huskies prevailing 69-51.

Live stats, video and audio will be available for the game with Eric Zizich providing play-by-play for the audio feed available online and on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin. (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside returns to the field of 64 after a five-year hiatus, securing the fifth seed after claiming the program's first ever division title, winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division.

The Rangers earned a No. 2 seed in the 2013 Deaconess GLVC Tournament, downing Kentucky Wesleyan College 65-56 in the quarterfinals on Mar. 7 before stumbling 81-62 to the University of Southern Indiana the following day as Orlando Rutledge poured on a career-high 33 points for the Screaming Eagles.

GLVC Player of the Year Jeremy Saffold leads the Rangers in scoring, averaging 18.8 points per game while grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game. The senior forward has led the team's scoring efforts in each of the last four games and six of the last seven, including a 30-point performance on Feb. 28 against Lewis University in the regular season finale.

Conrad Krutwig pitches in 11.5 ppg and 5.4 rpg while Zygimantas Riauka tallies 11.2 ppg and a team-leading 5.7 rpg. Colt Grandstaff is the fourth Ranger to average in double figures, providing a spark off the bench with 10.0 ppg. GLVC Freshman of the Year Andy Mazurczak adds 7.3 ppg while Kevin Senechalle adds 6.1 ppg.

Series History: The Rangers and Huskies have met 11 times with Michigan Tech holding an 8-3 edge in the all-time series. UW-Parkside downed Tech 73-72 last season on Nov. 22 in Houghton, Mich., as Colt Grandstaff drained a three at the buzzer. Michigan Tech avenged the loss this December, downing the host Rangers 69-51.

Last Meeting: Michigan Tech led wire-to-wire on Dec. 29 en route to the 18-point win. The Rangers yielded the opening seven points of the game and trailed by 11 at the halftime intermission before finishing the contest shooting just 34.5 percent (19-for-55) including a paltry 12.5 percent (two-for-16) from three-point range.

Ali Haidar led Tech with a game-high 26 points and eight rebounds while Jeremy Saffold led the Rangers with 18 points while Zygimantas Riauka added 12 points and eight boards.

About the Huskies: Michigan Tech rolls into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004 with a 20-8 record having won seven of its last nine games. The Huskies outlasted Northwood University 90-80 in overtime in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Mar. 6 before bowing out in the semifinals 54-51 three days later against the University of Findlay.

Against Findlay, the Huskies trailed by 12 points at the half and seized the lead late in the game before the Oilers closed the contest on a 5-1 run to advance to the finals. Findlay would eventually go on to win the GLIAC Tournament Championship.

Ben Stelzer led Tech with 20 points in the losing effort while Ali Haidar tallied a double-double with 17 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

While nearly unstoppable at home inside SDC Gymnasium, Michigan Tech is just a pedestrian 8-6 in games contested outside of Houghton, Mich.

Haidar paces the Huskies, averaging 24.9 ppg and 9.8 rpg having collected 14 double-doubles on the season. The senior forward ranks third nationally in scoring, ninth in double-doubles per game, 16th in rebounds per game and 17th in field goal percentage (60.8 percent). Austin Armga pours on 12.0 ppg while Ben Stelzer is the third Tech player averaging in double figures, adding 11.8 ppg. Armga is nearly unflappable at the charity stripe, ranking third in the nation in free throws made, hitting 92.4 percent of his chances. Stelzer is deadly from the perimeter, hitting 45.3 percent of his shots from three-point range, ranking seventh nationally while sitting 36th in the nation in three-pointers made per game at 2.75.  

Michigan Tech ranks sixth nationally (out of 286 teams) in personal fouls per game (14.3) while sitting seventh in field goal percentage (50.2 percent), 10th in turnovers per game (11.0) and 12th in free throw percentage (76 percent). The Huskies stingy defense holds opponents to just 61.9 ppg, ranking 16th nationally while owning the nation's 32nd best scoring margin (+8.8).

National Rankings: UW-Parkside ranks in the top 25 in five statistical categories and sits among the top 50 in eight categories. UWP is 11th nationally (out of 286 teams) in field goal percentage (49.5 percent) and personal fouls per game (14.6) and ranks 12th in assist to turnover ratio (1.29). The Rangers rate 20th in turnover margin (+3.6), 25th in turnovers per game (11.5), 32nd in scoring margin (+8.8), 39th in free-throw percentage (74.2 percent) and 44th in won-lost percentage (71.4).

Award Season: UW-Parkside achieved a near sweep of all the major GLVC postseason awards with head coach Luke Reigel earning GLVC Coach of the Year, Jeremy Saffold earning GLVC Player of the Year and Andy Mazurczak claiming Co-Freshman of the Year accolades.

Jeremy Saffold was a unanimous First Team All-GLVC selection while Zygimantas Riauka and Colt Grandstaff garnered Second Team honors.

20-Win Club: The Rangers tallied their first 20-win campaign since the 1986-1987 season. The 86-87 Rangers finished the season with a 22-8 record under head coach Rees Johnson, the last of three-straight 20-win campaigns under his tutelage. A total of eight 20-win campaigns have been tallied in program history, all of them coming between a 13-year window from 1975 to 1987.

Record Book Watch: Jeremy Saffold continues to climb the all-time scoring list and currently occupies fifth place with 1,549 career points. Saffold surpassed 500 career rebounds last week and currently sits with 515 in his career, 11 shy of cracking the top 10. The forward is additionally one of just three players in program history to eclipse the 1,500-points and 500-rebounds barrier. The exclusive club includes Saffold and Abdul Jeelani (2,262 points and 1,237 rebounds from 1972-75) and Levi Bradley (1,697 points and 829 rebounds from 1993-97).

Rest of the Region: The winner of the Rangers-Huskies game will face either top-seed and host Drury University (25-4) or eight seed Findlay (22-7). The other side of the regional features three-seed Bellarmine University (22-7) against six-seed University of Indianapolis (20-8) while second seed Southern Indiana (22-7) takes on seven seed Wayne State University (17-9).

Midwest Region in the Top 25: Five of the eight squads in the Midwest Regional appear in the NABC Top 25 Poll while two more teams appear in the receiving votes section. Top-seeded Drury is ranked seventh while third seed Bellarmine is 14th. Two seed Southern Indiana is 15th, UW-Parkside is 21st and eight seed and GLIAC Champion Findlay is 22nd. Michigan Tech and Wayne State both appear in the receiving votes section of the poll.

UWP vs. the Top 25: UW-Parkside has faced nine ranked opponents this season and holds an impressive 7-2 mark against the Top 25. The Rangers edged then No. 14 Drury University 90-88 on the road in overtime on Jan. 5 before suffering its lone regular season setback to a Top 25 squad on Jan. 17, falling 65-58 to host and then No. 12 Bellarmine University.

The Rangers laundry list of ranked victims includes No. 10 USI (77-68), No. 3 Kentucky Wesleyan (60-59), No. 15 University of Indianapolis (77-71), No. 23 KWC (75-70), No. 10 USI (76-72 ot) and No. 13 Bellarmine (74-72). In the GLVC Tournament Semifinals, UW-Parkside fell to then No. 18 USI 81-62 on Mar. 9.