MBB Preview: Simpson men travel to Luther

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Simpson men's basketball team will brave the snowy weather to take on Luther on Sunday at 4 p.m. in Decorah, Iowa.

The Storm (8-7, 2-4) were upended, 87-76, at Buena Vista on Wednesday to lose its third game in four tries this season. The Norse (5-10, 1-5 A-R-C) lost 80-71 at Wartburg for their seventh loss in eight games.

Fans can access the video stream via the American Rivers application on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV or by visiting SimpsonAthletics.com to find the video link.

GAME 16
Simpson (8-7, 2-4 A-R-C) at Luther (5-10, 1-5 A-R-C)
Sunday, Jan. 19 | 4 p.m.
Regents Center Gymnasium | Decorah, Iowa
Live Video/Stats

LUTHER SERIES NOTES
The Storm and Norse clash on the hardwood for the 159th time in the series, with Luther owning an 82-76 advantage ... Simpson has had the upper hand over Luther by winning the last eight contests against its conference foe ... during the current streak, the Storm have won six games by double figures and earned their largest margin of victory last year in Decorah, 94-69 ... Conor Riordan was the driving force in both games last season by scoring 17 and 23 points for game highs.

RECENT RESULTS
Feb. 4, 2019 — W, 90-81 (Indianola)
Dec. 3, 2018 — W, 94-69 (Decorah)
Jan. 31, 2018 — W, 92-75 (Decorah)
Jan. 3, 2018 — W, 83-60 (Indianola)
Feb. 15, 2017 — W, 74-62 (Indianola)

ABOUT THE NORSE
Luther and 14th-year head coach Mark Franzen have struggled since A-R-C play started and has one win, coming against Central, 64-62 ... the Norse and Dutch are the lone teams with just one conference victory ... the offense is tallying 70.1 ppg for the lowest average in the conference on 40.2% shooting ... the defense is fifth in allowing its opponents to score 77.3 ppg ... Luther bolsters two scorers in double figures and are led by Aaron Blumberg (10.4) and Gage Thompson (10.1).

LAST TIME OUT
Simpson stayed close with Buena Vista through the first half, but the Beavers began to pull away in the second en route to an 87-76 win over the Storm on Wednesday ... Conor Riordan was unstoppable all game and scored 29 points on 9 of 14 shooting with four makes from behind the arc ... Adam Reiter notched his seventh double-double this season by producing 13 points and 13 rebounds.

STORM NOTES
Simpson in the national rankings:

10th — free throw percentage (78.3)
13th — field goal percentage (49.7)
17th — scoring offense (88.6)
23rd — 3-point percentage (39.5)

Storm in the national rankings:

Conor Riordan — 14th in assist to turnover ratio (3.1)
Adam Reiter — 16th in field goal percentage (63.6), 33rd in double-doubles (7)

In the A-R-C, the Storm are second in scoring (88.6) and in shooting percentage (49.7), but are second to last in points allowed per contest at 83.9.

Three starters are scoring in double figures as Conor Riordan is leading the way at 19.5 ppg. Reiter is second at 16.7 and Kyle Wagner follows with an average of 14.2.

Collin Lister has earned his way into the starting rotation as a freshman. Since earning the starting spot, Lister has improved in the scoring column each game to average 6.8 points this year.

Conor Riordan became the 21st player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark. He needed just 11 points to reach it when the season started and used his 22 points in the season opener against Bethany Lutheran to join the club. Riordan is currently 11th in program history with 1,281 career points.

UP NEXT
Wartburg comes to Cowles Fieldhouse for a 7:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Jan. 22.