WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team — coming off an 83-70 loss vs. NCAA Division II Winona State in the Cardinals' final nonconference game of the season — returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, playing host to Saint John's in a 3 p.m. contest at the SMU Gym.

The Records:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-1 MIAC / 4-4 Overall)
Saint John's Johnnies (2-1 MIAC / 5-3 Overall)

GameDay On The Web:
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Last Action: Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-best 20 points, and Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) and Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) added 16 and 12 points, respectively, but it was not enough, as the Cardinals fell to Winona State 83-70 Monday. Saint John's, meanwhile, has been off since Dec. 9, when the Johnnies closed out the 2009 portion of their schedule with a 71-54 MIAC home win over Macalester.

A Year Ago: The Johnnies picked up a pair of conference victories against Saint Mary's during the 2008-09 season.

January 3, 2009: The Cardinals matched the Johnnies blow-for-blow over the game's final 20 minutes in their first meeting, but in the opening 20 minutes, SJU had its way with SMU, building a commanding 10-point halftime advantage and never looking back en route to a 77-67 conference win in Collegeville, Minn.
January 31, 2009: The Cardinals kept pace with the Johnnies early, before SJU — which shot 62 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes — used a 19-11 run over the final 11:50 of the first half to take a 38-25 advantage into the locker room at the break en route to an 83-62 conference win at the SMU Gym.

Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: Monday's game at Winona State was the last nonconference game of the season for the Cardinals. … Today's game is the first of four games in the next 10 days for SMU. … SMU's 70 points vs. Winona State Monday marked the seventh time in the Cardinals' eight games that they have scored 70 or more points. … SMU leads the MIAC in scoring offense, averaging 74.3 ppg. … Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-high 20 points in Monday's loss to Winona State. … Wright — who has now scored in double figures in 53 of his 57 collegiate games — enters today's game with 1,051 career points, ranking him 23rd all-time, just eight points back of Nick Michaels for 22nd. … Wright's 20-point effort Monday was the 31st time in SMU's last 33 games that the SMU junior has scored 10 or more points. … Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) finished with 16 points vs. Winona State, while Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) also scored in double figures, recording 12 points. … SMU has had at least one 20-point scorer in seven of its eight games. … SMU boasted a season-high four players with 10 or more points vs. Bethel on Dec. 5. …  Palmer tossed in 12 points and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds to record his first collegiate double-double vs. Bethel on Dec. 5. … The Cardinals enter today's game boasting three players averaging in double figures — Wright (18.8 ppg), Holland (17.8 ppg) and Palmer (12.3 ppg). … Holland, who extended his consecutive games played streak to 57 vs. Winona State, leads the team in 3-pointers with 16, while Holland, Wright and Palmer are all shooting above 80 percent from the free throw line.

Saint John's Johnnie Notes: SJU's 17-point win over Macalester on Dec. 9 was the Jonnies' fifth in their last six games. … Saint John's had opened the season with back-to-back losses to UW-Stevens Point (81-57) and NCAA Division II St. Cloud State (78-71 in OT), before going 5-1 in their last six. … The Johnnies enter today's game with a 3-1 record on the road. … Andy Burns led the Johnnies in scoring with 14 points vs. Macalester on Dec. 9. He was the sixth different SJU player to lead the team in scoring in their first eight games. … An Aaron, meanwhile, has been SJU's top rebounder in seven of those eight games — Aaron Burtzel (six times) and Aaron Barmore (once). … Aaron Burtzel enters today's game at SMU leading the Johnnies in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg), while Andrew Latzke — who posted the team's highest offensive performance with a 27-point effort vs. MSU Moorhead on Nov. 21 — is also averaging in double figures at 11.5 ppg. … As a team, the Johnnies are shooting 46 percent from the field (198-for-424), while also knocking down 51 of 129 3-pointers. … SJU is 102-for-128 (80 percent) from the free throw line. … Today's contest vs. SMU is the first road conference game for the Johnnies, who opened MIAC play with home games vs. Bethel, Carleton and Macalester. …