Northern men host Vikings tonight in the Armory Gym

Off to a 3-0 start this season, the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team will look to continue rolling tonight with a game against the University of Alberta-Augustana at Armory Gymnasium. While the Lights have looked good so far this season, MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse expects a challenge tonight against the Vikings.

"This is a very balanced team. They've got versatile forwards, they've got guards that can shoot, they share the ball well and they know each other. They play very well together," Huse said. "This is probably as good as anybody we've played in terms of a group of guys that really know each other."

The Vikings have been playing basketball for the past month. After playing several exhibition games at the end of September and the beginning of October, the Vikings have gone 3-3 over the past month. With an extra month of games, Huse believes the Vikings have established their identity as a team.

"They've had a lot of game reps to see what works for them this year and what doesn't," Huse said. "They've had an opportunity to work on different defenses and they've probably got a lot more to throw at us than we do at them so we're going to have to play sharp."

In their most recent game against Olds College last weekend, Nic Hard showed what he is capable of as he scored 27 points as he shot 12-for-21 from the field. Ryan Deniger also showed he is an offensive threat as he scored 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field. With players capable of going off like this, Huse knows the Lights will need to be ready.

"We're going to have to work hard and really be sharp to be able to disrupt them in some ways when they're working their offense and find ways to score against their defense," Huse said. "(We need to) really be on our toes playing good solid basketball."

The Lights are off to a 3-0 start and have looked impressive in all three victories. As a team, the Lights are averaging 99.7 points a game on 46.7 percent shooting from the field and 37.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line.

It has been a team effort for the Lights this season with scoring from many players. Tanner McCliment-Call leads the team averaging 12.3 points a game on 40.6 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from deep. Myles Dalton has averaged 11.3 points a game on 45.2 percent shooting.

Michaiah Hauser and Dae'Kwon Watson have both averaged 10 points a game this season. Hauser has been lethal, shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from deep. Watson has also been efficient shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.

The Lights' shooting has led them to an undefeated start to the season. While they have looked strong early this year, Huse knows there is plenty of room for improvement, which he hopes to see tonight.

"We're still a work in progress. By no means are we where we want to get to and by no means are we playing where we want to be playing by the end of the season," Huse said. "I like what I've seen so far but we're also very humble and we also realized that we've got a lot of work left to do."

The MSU-N men's basketball team will tip off against the University of Alberta-Augustana at Armory Gymnasium tonight at 7 p.m.