TAHLEQUAH — Northeastern State men's basketball returns to the NSU Event Center to battle Truman State on Sunday (1 p.m.) and Missouri Valley on Wednesday (7 p.m.).

Looking Back
Northeastern State (5-4) opened MIAA play with a pair of losses to Arkansas-Fort Smith (86-75) and Newman (81-71). Despite efficient shooting displays in both games (combined 54-of-109, 49.5% FG), NSU dropped to 0-2 to begin the conference schedule for the second time in three seasons.

Nehemiah Weber paced the offense across the MIAA's opening week with a combined 35 points (21 vs. UAFS) on 13-of-21 shooting (61.9%) and 5-of-7 (71.4%) across three-point attempts. Ethan Blackmon matched a season high in scoring against Newman with 15 points and has at least seven rebounds in every appearance during the campaign so far.

About Truman State
Longtime Troy assistant Mike Worley is in his first season leading Truman State, inheriting a program that has two conference titles and five NCAA postseason appearances across the last decade. The Bulldogs enter with wins in three of their first eight, including two straight losses.

Brennan Lovette is the lone regular starter back from last season's 17-win team, though seven of his first eight appearances this season have occurred off the bench. The senior forward's top scoring performance from last year happened against Northeastern State, recording 16 points across 21 minutes.

Jahki Parrinello leads the Bulldogs in scoring (17.4 points per game) and has at least 24 points in three games. Julian Brown sits in second on the scoring ladder (13.6 PPG), while Emmanuel Byrd nearly averages a double-double (10.6 PPG, 8.8 RPG) as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's (GLVC) second-ranked rebounder.

Series History: NSU holds the series lead (3-1), though the Bulldogs earned a 90-87 victory in last season's meeting in Kirksville, Mo. Sunday will mark the first contest between the programs at the NSU Event Center, with the most recent matchup in Tahlequah happening at Jack Dobbins Field House on Feb. 9, 2013 (72-56 NSU).

About Missouri Valley
Missouri Valley enters the weekend at 7-5 on the year and will face Columbia (Mo.) on Saturday before encountering Northeastern State on Wednesday. The Vikings compete at the NAIA level and are a founding member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC). The team previously saw MIAA competition this season in the form of Northwest Missouri State, who defeated them on Nov. 17 (71-47) in Maryville, Mo.

The offense is paced by a pair of upperclassmen in junior Devin Davenport (23.7 PPG) and senior Antwon Ferrell (14.8 PPG). The duo combines for 30.2 of the team's 59.5 attempts per game. Davenport set a program record with 50 points and 31 field goal attempts in a loss at William Penn last week, earning NAIA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Series History: Only one meeting has taken place between the teams, occurring on Jan. 3, 1958. Missouri Valley would win the contest by a score of 75-66.

Looking Forward
NSU's MIAA finale for the calendar year occurs at the NSU Event Center on Sunday, Dec. 21 against Missouri Southern (4 p.m.).