by Dax Larson
Issue date: 11/16/06
Section: Mens Sports
The Minnesota State men's basketball team has been waiting eight long months to get back out onto the floor. After losing to Winona State last year in the NCAA regional semifinals, the Mavericks look to start off the season right with a couple victories at the Pepsi Tip-Off Classic this weekend at the Taylor Center. MSU is riding a nine game winning streak at the Tip-Off.
"We need to be mentally ready this weekend," said men's head basketball coach Matt Margenthaler. "We have to compete at the highest level possible and if we do that, good things will happen."
Friday, the Mavericks didn't play to their highest level but still came up with a victory. MSU faced off against Athletes in Action and finished the game strong to pull out an 89-83 win. This weekend, the Mavericks will need to get a better start and establish an early lead. With five guys on the floor that can score, MSU should have no problems putting up big numbers. All the players are ready to finally start another season, especially the seniors. But MSU can't look too far ahead and underestimate any team or they might get surprised like they did Friday.
"We have to take each game day by day," said senior Luke Anderson. "It will be nice to run our plays against a different team. We practice to play games and we need to execute those plays."
MSU will have an opportunity to see how well they can run those plays when they officially start its regular season this weekend at the Tip-Off. Felician College is the Mavericks first match-up. The contest is Friday at 8 p.m. This is Felician College's first appearance in the Pepsi Tip-Off and last year the Golden Falcons finished 13-15. Saturday, MSU concludes the Tip-Off against Dominican at 8 p.m. Dominican finished 13-17 last season and placed seventeenth in its conference. This is the 17th year of the Tip-Off.
Dax Larson is a Reporter staff writer
