This Friday the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) men’s basketball team returns from a 2.5 week break. Justin Wieck said it’s probably the longest span between games they’ve had since he’s been head coach.

However the Bulldogs have used that time off to hone skills like unselfish ball handling and possession.

“In the past, our Achilles heel has been a lot of iso basketball, and sometimes that’s worked for us. But in some of our losses the last couple of years, it’s really stuck out to us. So we really attacked that this summer. You also see that continuity pay off on the defensive end. We’re one of the best defensive teams in our league, and number one defense right now,” Wieck said.

“Defensively improving on some of our key things that we know we can do better, such as ball screen coverage. We know in the margins that’s what’s going to really take us from good to great,” senior guard Joshua Brown added.

The Bulldogs ended 2023 ranked 24th in Division II with a 10-3 record, but landed 23rd on the latest NABC poll. Friday they host their first of two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) foes in UMary at 5:30 p.m., then Saturday it’s Minot State at 3:30 p.m. at Romano Gym.