WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team returns home on Saturday, as the Cardinals host nationally ranked St. Thomas in a 3 p.m. MIAC game at the SMU Gym.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-4 MIAC | 2-8 Overall) vs. St. Thomas Tommies (5-0 MIAC | 8-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals got a game-high 17 points from Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.), but a 20-6 Concordia run to open the second half proved to be too much, as the Cobbers dealt SMU a 68-47 conference setback in Moorhead, Minn., last Saturday. …Zach Riedeman sank a 14-foot fade-away jump shot with four seconds remaining to lift 11th-ranked St. Thomas to a 62-61 conference win over St. Olaf Wednesday at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
December 5, 2012: In the first half, the Cardinals gave the high-powered Tommies all they could handle in a see-saw 20 minutes that saw seven lead changes and ended with UST clinging to a six-point, 39-33 advantage. In the second half, however, the Tommies' high-pressure defense proved to be too much for SMU, as UST opened the half with an 11-0 run and outscored the Cardinals 62-30 over the game's final 20 minutes en route to a 101-63 St. Thomas victory at the SMU Gym.
January 23, 2013: SMU boasted a pair of double-figure scorers in Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) and Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.), but the Cardinals could not shut down high-powered St. Thomas, as the league-leading and No. 1-ranked Tommies handed SMU an 87-46 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

Up Next:
The Cardinals take to the road on Monday, as SMU heads to Northfield, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. conference contest against Carleton at West Gym. … St. Thomas is also right back in action on Monday, as the Tommies head to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. MIAC game against Bethel. Both games were originally scheduled for last Monday, but were postponed due to frigid temperatures

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013-14 Roster | 2013-14 Statistics | 2013-14 Schedule
Thanks to last Monday's postponement, the Cardinals will now play four games in the next seven days — Saturday's contest vs. St. Thomas, a road contest at Carleton on Monday and back-to-back home games vs. Hamline and Gustavus Wednesday and next Saturday. … SMU's 67-51 win over Macalester on Jan. 2 was Jamison Rusthoven's first MIAC win as SMU's head coach. Rusthoven earned his first collegiate head coaching victory on Nov. 23, when the Cardinals dropped Crown 86-81 in overtime. … Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) tossed in a game-high 17 points in the Cardinals' loss at Concordia last Saturday. … Ferron has now led the team in scoring twice this season, having tossed in a team- and career-high 18 points against Bethel on Dec. 4. … Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) knocked down his first seven field goals — including five 3-pointers — in scoring a game-, season- and career-high 29 points against Macalester on Jan. 2. … Pederson's 29-point effort was the highest single-game performance since Michael Burfeind scored 38 points against Concordia on Dec. 7, 2011. … Pederson has now scored 20 or more points twice this season, having netted 21 points against Saint John's on Dec. 7. … Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) recorded his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds against Macalester on Jan. 2. … Swiggum has now tallied three of SMU's four double-doubles this season and owns six double-doubles over his two-year collegiate career. …  Ferron accounted for SMU's other double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds vs. Crown on Nov. 23. … Swiggum equaled his career high with 14 rebounds against Bethany Lutheran on Dec. 11. … Swiggum enters Saturday's game vs. St. Thomas owning a team-best 12.0 ppg scoring average, while also leading the team with 85 rebounds (8.5 rpg). … Swiggum ranks third in the MIAC in rebounding. … Pederson, who also enters Saturday's showdown with St. Thomas averaging in double figures (10.7 ppg), leads the team with 46 assists. … Pederson equaled his career-high with nine assists vs. Crown on Nov. 23. It was the third time in his career — and second time in two meetings with Crown — the junior has recorded nine assists. … As a team, the Cardinals have knocked down 41 3-pointers, led by Trent Vix (Rushford, Minn. / 11) and Pederson (8). … SMU's 86-81 win against Crown was the Cardinals' first overtime contest since Dec. 29, 2010, when the Cardinals outlasted Millikin 66-59 in double-OT. … SMU's 86 points against the Storm on Nov. 23 were the most since netting 87 points in an 87-80 win over Macalester on Dec. 4, 2010.

Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2013-14 Roster | 2013-14 Statistics | 2013-14 Schedule
Saturday's game against Saint Mary's is the third of eight games in an 18-day span for the Tommies — and the first of back-to-back road games. … Thanks to Wednesday's 62-61 win over St. Olaf, the Tommies have won two straight and eight of their last nine. … With their victory vs. St. Olaf Wednesday, the Tommies — ranked No. 11 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 — pushed their winning streak vs. conference opponents to 15 straight, while also winning their 26th in a row at Schoenecker Arena. … St. Thomas has won its last 21 games when holding its opponents under 70 points. … Zach Riedeman scored a team-high 14 points, including the game-winning basket with time running out against St. Olaf Wednesday. … UST has not had the same player lead them in scoring in back-to-back games this season. … The Tommies head into Saturday's game at Saint Mary's boasting three players averaging in double figures — Conner Nord (12.8 ppg), Riedeman (12.0 ppg) and Marcus Alipate (11.9 ppg). … Nord also leads the team in rebounding with 63 (6.3 rpg), while Erik Tengwall owns a team-best 33 assists. … UST has knocked down 65 3-pointers, led by Alipate with 20 and Riedeman with 12. … The Tommies are averaging 75.6 ppg, while limiting their opponents to 61.9 ppg. … In three seasons under head coach John Tauer, St. Thomas is 60-11, including victories in 33 of their last 34 games against MIAC opponents — the lone blemish a 54-52 loss to Concordia last January in Moorhead, Minn. … St. Thomas has won an MIAC-record eight consecutive regular-season conference championships. … UST has reached the MIAC tournament 25 times in the 26-year history of the format, boasting an all-time 30-14 record with 12 tournament titles — including seven of the last eight. … St. Thomas' 143 victories in the last six seasons combined lead Division III. UST's 143-19 record in that span includes a 104-10 record against conference opponents.