FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Jan. 2, 2014)-- The defending Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division Champion University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball squad begins league play this weekend, hosting Quincy University on Friday night and Truman State University on Sunday afternoon.

The Rangers and Hawks tipoff at 7:30 p.m. on Friday while UW-Parkside and the Bulldogs tipoff at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Live stats, video and audio will be available for both games while Sunday's contest will additionally be carried over the airwaves throughout southeastern Wisconsin on WRJN 1400 AM. Steve Kratochvil will be providing the play-by-play with Jim Kramer providing color commentary.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (7-2) heads into the conference season having won three of its last four regular season games. The Rangers blew out Indiana Dabney University 93-65 on Dec. 19 before falling 83-79 to the defending Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champion Michigan Tech University on Dec. 21 in Houghton, Mich.

In that game, the Rangers dominated the paint but was unable to keep pace with the Huskies red-hot perimeter shooting as MTU canned 14 threes on the afternoon. Parkside trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to just a single possession in the second stanza. Andy Mazurczak had a monster game, pouring on a career-high 28 points while Zygimantas Riauka notched his third double-double of the year, posting 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Riauka leads the Rangers in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.6 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game. Riauka ranks 32nd nationally in field goal percentage (62.1 percent) while ranking fourth in the GLVC in blocks per game (1.6). Jordan Mach chips in 15.2 ppg while Jimmy Gavin adds 14.4 ppg. Andy Mazurczak and Colt Grandstaff enter the conference season averaging 13.2 and 13.1 ppg, respectively.

UW-Parkside is one of the nation's best shooting team's, ranking fourth in the GLVC and fifth nationally in field goal percentage, hitting 53.9 percent of shots. The Rangers additionally rank 14th in assist to turnover ratio (1.62), 17th in assists per game (18.7) and 19th in scoring margin (+16.0).

Jan. 3 vs. Quincy University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: UW-Parkside and Quincy have squared off 44 times with the Hawks owning a 35-9 edge in the all-time series. The squads last met on Jan. 14, 2012 with QU rolling to the 68-59 victory.

About the Hawks: Quincy (5-6, 0-1 GLVC) heads to Somers having won two of its last four games. The Hawks fell 79-68 to Truman State on Dec. 7 to open conference play but rebounded with victories over Saint Louis Christian College (104-47) on Dec. 17 and Central State University (77-71) on Dec. 21. QU closed out the non-conference slate with a 75-64 setback to Hillsdale College on Dec. 22 to close out the QU/Subway Holiday Tournament.

Quincy has yet to win a game away from home, going 0-2 in true road games and 0-1 in neutral site contests.

Chris Babbitt is the squad's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 15.7 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game.  Scottie Bruxvoort is the squad's second leading scorer, averaging 10.4 ppg in just five games this season while Scott Hahn adds 8.9 ppg.

The Hawks excel at the charity stripe, ranking 23rd nationally and fourth in the GLVC in free throw percentage, hitting 76.5 percent of attempts.

Jan. 5 vs. Truman State University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: UW-Parkside and Truman State have met just once pon the hardwood. The two squads last met on Jan. 26, 1991 in Kirksville, Mo. where Truman, than known as Northeast Missouri State University, downed the Rangers 83-58.

About the Bulldogs: Truman (8-1. 1-0 GLVC) makes its first trip to Wisconsin having won eight of its first nine games of the season, including a 79-68 victory over Quincy on Dec. 7 in the team's first ever GLVC game.

The Bulldogs lone setback during the non-conference slate was a 66-49 loss to Hillsdale College on Dec. 21 in Quincy, Ill. at the QU/Subway Holiday Tournament.

Mike Carlson powers the Bulldog offense, averaging 20.8 points per game, shooting 62.9 percent from the floor and grabbing a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game. Seth Jackson averages 12.3 ppg while Reed Mells adds 10.0 ppg.

Truman State ranks in the top 10 nationally in six statistical categories. The Bulldogs lead the nation in fewest turnover per game at 8.2 while rank third in assist to turnover ratio (2.1). Truman is fifth in scoring margin (+22.3), sixth in fewest turnovers (74), seventh in scoring defense (61.8 ppg) and ninth in turnover margin (+6.4).

80-Point Club: UW-Parkside heads into Thursday averaging 85.8 points per game and has scored at least 80 points in seven of the nine regular season games this season. Despite posting a 20-9 record and winning the GLVC East Division, the Rangers scored more than 80 points on just seven occasions all last season.

Preseason Picks: The Rangers have been picked to finish fifth in the GLVC East, according to the league's 16 head coaches. Bellarmine University has been picked to win the division followed by the University of Southern Indiana, University of Indianapolis and Lewis University. In the West Division, defending NCAA Division II National Champion Drury University has been selected to repeat as champs.

GLVC Shuffle: This offseason the 16-member GLVC saw a few tweaks to its membership. Charter member Kentucky Wesleyan College exited the league to join the nascent Great Midwest Athletic Conference with Truman State University from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association filling the void. The addition of Truman moved the University of Illinois Springfield from the West Division to the East Division.

Reigel's Rangers: Head Coach Luke Reigel begins his 11th season as head coach and his 14th season overall at UW-Parkside in 2013-2014. Reigel was named the 2013 Jack Bennett Man of the Year while also earning Midwest Region and GLVC Coach of the Year honors. The Wisconsin native sits second on the all-time wins list with 128 wins and has guided the Rangers to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths.

Returning to the sidelines will be assistants Tom Reigel and Andy Atkins while Keven Bradley joins the staff as the program's top assistant. Bradley joined the program over the summer after serving in a similar capacity at Upper Iowa University where he helped the Peacocks qualify for the NCAA Division II Tournament last season.