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

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 24, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside men's basketball team faces its stiffest test of the young season on Saturday afternoon, hosting 18th-ranked Ferris State University in a battle of unbeatens.
 
The Rangers and Bulldogs will hit the floor at 3 p.m. inside DeSimone Gymnasium in UW-Parkside's final home contest of the 2015 calendar year. Live stats, video, and audio will be available with Jim Kramer and Eric Zizich providing the call on the online stream.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (4-0) returns to DeSimone Gymnasium undefeated after claiming an 80-76 road victory over host Walsh University on Monday in North Canton, Ohio. Monday's clash was the first game this season to go down to the wire, with the Rangers' owning comfortable second half leads in their previous three victories, including a 99-81 win over the University of Minnesota-Duluth last Saturday.
 
Against UMD, six Rangers finished the day in double figures as the offense was dialed in, hitting 12 treys and finishing the contest shooting 56.9 percent (33-for-58) from the floor. Andy Mazurczak paced the offense with 22 points and eight assists while Kyle Flanagan netted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.
 
Monday's showdown with Walsh was a volatile affair with nine lead changes and three ties. Visiting UW-Parkside seized the lead for good on a Jalen Currie three with 9:38 left in the game, part of an 11-1 Ranger run. Parkside's lead mushroomed to nine but the Cavaliers cut the gap to just a possession with 11 ticks left before a pair of Jake Verhagen free throws with six seconds left iced the game for the Green and White.
 
All five starters ended the game in double figures, including Kendale McCullum who led the squad with a career-best 19 points.
 
Alexander Brown is the Rangers' leading scorer, averaging 18.0 points per game and finishing all four games this season in double figures. Brown has been absolutely deadly from beyond the arc, hitting 64.7 percent of his shots from three-point land. Mazurczak adds 17.0 ppg, a team-best 4.9 assists per game, and 3.3 rebounds per game while McCullum chips in 14.0 ppg and 3.7 rpg. Goran Zagorac averages a shade under 10 points a game at 9.8 while pacing the team on the boards, grabbing 9.3 rpg while fellow big man Kyle Flanagan contributes 9.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg.
 
As a team, UW-Parkside leads the Great Lakes Valley Conference in both scoring margin (+24.2) and field goal percentage (55.3) while sitting second in three-point field goal percentage (50.7) and field goal percentage defense (38.3).
 
Nov. 28 vs. Ferris State University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Bulldogs have met on 19 occasions with Ferris State owning a 12-7 lead in the all-time series. The two teams last met on Nov. 26, 2011 in Big Rapids, Michigan with the host Bulldogs claiming the 70-65 win.
 
About the Bulldogs: 18th-ranked Ferris State (5-0) heads to Wisconsin with an unblemished record, having tallied four wins at the expense of GLVC institutions. The Bulldogs opened the season by smashing the University of Missouri-Saint Louis 80-55 at the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge in Allendale, Michigan on Nov. 14 before downing Quincy University 91-68 the next day to close the tournament. Ferris claimed an 83-72 road victory over Lewis University on Nov. 18 before eclipsing the century mark in a 102-86 win over Saint Joseph's College three days later. The Bulldogs were back on the hardwood on Tuesday, netting a 72-55 win over Cedarville University.
 
Jared Stolicker leads Ferris State in several statistical categories, averaging a team-best 20.2 points per game, 9.6 rebounds per game, and 4.0 blocks per game. Josh Fleming chips in 16.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and a team-best 3.4 assists per game while James Chappell tallies 11.8 ppg and 3.8 rpg.
 
Pod-demonium: The GLVC continues its pod system for the 2015-2016 season, retaining the setup of two divisions with two pods of four. Pod mates will play each other in a home and home series and play all other opponents once. UW-Parkside's pod includes the University of Indianapolis, Saint Joseph's College, and travel partner Lewis University. Pod mates rotate every two years with the Rangers previously paired with Lewis, University of Illinois Springfield and McKendree University from 2013-2015.
 
Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside is picked to finish fifth in the GLVC East in 2015-2016 according to the league's 16 head coaches.
 
The Rangers (26-4, 17-1 GLVC) accumulated 71 points in the poll, securing the No. 5 spot in the eight-team East Division and owning a 30-point cushion on sixth place University of Illinois Springfield (11-16, 5-13 GLVC). National semifinalist and GLVC East Co-Champion Bellarmine University (31-4, 17-1 GLVC) sits atop the poll, collecting 119 points and 14 of the 16 first place votes.
 
The University of Indianapolis (25-6, 14-4 GLVC) is second with 101 points and one first place nod while the University of Southern Indiana (19-8, 12-6 GLVC) is third with 87 points and the remaining first place endorsement. Lewis University (22-9, 12-6 GLVC) rounds out the upper half of the division, slotting fourth with 81 points.
 
UIS is sixth with 41 points, followed by McKendree University (11-15, 4-14 GLVC) in seventh (35 points) and Saint Joseph's College (6-22, 3-15 GLVC) in eighth (33 points).
 
In the West Division, defending GLVC Tournament Champion Drury University (21-9, 12-6 GLVC) ranks No. 1 with 115 points and 11 first place endorsements. One point is all that separates No. 2 from No. 3 with Truman State University (20-10, 11-7 GLVC) grabbing 92 points to snag second while Quincy University(13-16, 7-11 GLVC)  is third with 91 points. Both Truman State and Quincy collected two first place votes. The University of Missouri-Saint Louis (19-11, 10-8 GLVC) rounds out the upper half of the division, netting 82 points and the final first place vote.
 
Maryville University (12-17, 6-12 GLVC) is fifth with 70 points followed by William Jewell College (13-14, 9-9 GLVC) in sixth (45 points), Missouri University S&T (9-17, 2-16 GLVC) in seventh (38 points) and Rockhurst University (7-19, 3-15 GLVC) in eighth (35 points).

Milestone Maz: Senior guard Andy Mazurczak eclipsed the 1,000-point barrier for his career on Nov. 17 against Silver Lake College with a 20-point outburst against the Lakers. Point 1,000 came on a fast-break layup with 10:12 left in the second half. Mazurczak additionally surpassed Walter Greene (1978-1981) for fourth on the all-time assists list in the same game and currently sits with 346 career assists. His performance helped the sport management major earn GLVC Player of the Week honors on Nov. 23.
 
Non-Conference Mastery: The Rangers have dominated non-conference play over the last four seasons, owning a 31-6 record in regular season non-league clashes. UW-Parkside wrapped up last season with an 8-1 non-league mark while going 7-1 in both 2013-2014 and 2011-2012 while posting a 5-3 record in 2012-2013.
 
Home Cooking: UW-Parkside has won 24 consecutive GLVC games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. That stretch includes eight wins over nationally-ranked opponents and five wins over Top 10 teams. The Rangers have additionally won 28 of their last 29 games at home, including 16 in a row.

20-Win Club: The Rangers eclipsed the 20-win barrier for the third consecutive season in 2014-2015, marking the first time since 1987 that the program has notched three consecutive 20-win campaigns and the first time since joining NCAA Division II in 1995. UW-Parkside pieced together three in a row from 1984-85 to 1986-87 while the team was a member of the NAIA. The Rangers were 22-7 in 1984-85, 21-9 in 1985-86 and 22-8 in 1986-87.

Reigel's Rangers: Head Coach Luke Reigel begins his 13th season as head coach and his 16th season overall at UW-Parkside in 2015-2016.

Reigel, the GLVC Coach of the Year in both 2013 and 2015, has guided the Rangers to three straight GLVC East Division crowns while also earning Jack Bennett Man of the Year Award and Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors in 2013. The Wisconsin native sits second on the all-time wins list with 175 wins and has guided the Rangers to four NCAA Tournament berths.

Returning to the sidelines will be associate coach Keven Bradley along with assistants Tom Reigel and Andy Fitzgerald.