The series between the Muskies and Eagles dates back to 1981, and the series has been close on a year-to-year basis almost from the start. Lakeland won the first six meetings before Edgewood won the next eight; since then, neither team has won more than four straight. The Eagles have won the last three games, including a sweep of both matchups last season, the most recent a 79-66 win here at the Woltzen Gymnasium this year on Jan. 17. The teams' first meeting last year was a 99-97 triple-overtime classic on Dec. 2, 2023, as Drew Houtakker scored on a rebound putback as time expired in the third extra period to finally end just the fourth triple-overtime game in Lakeland history. Lakeland's last win in the series came Jan. 22, 2022, a 79-70 victory at home at the Woltzen Gymnasium.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at St. Norbert 79-67 Nov. 26
The Muskies had a break over Thanksgiving and last played eight days ago, falling to the Green Knights on the road in their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener. Tim Ward put together a double-double with a career-high 24 points plus 12 rebounds and Lakeland hung with one of the top teams in the conference but was unable to get any closer than five points in the second half. St. Norbert shot 51.7%, the fourth opponent to shoot better than 50% against the Muskies this season. Isaiah Hammond also scored 11 points and Asanjai Hunter aded 10 points for Lakeland, which shot 41.1% including 8-for-20 from three-point range but lost by exactly 12 points for the third time in six games.

Edgewood last time out: Lost to Coe (Iowa) 64-63 Saturday
The Eagles were in action over Thanksgiving weekend but dropped a close one to the Kohawks. Edgewood nearly rallied all the way back from a 9-point deficit with just over six minutes left, but missed a tying free throw with two seconds left. Free throws ended up biting the Eagles as they missed three of six from the line in the final 47 seconds and made just 9 of 16 from the stripe for the game. Danny Mulcare scored 15 points and added nine rebounds and four blocked shots, and Trent Tousana (13) and Matt Kirk (11) combined for 24 points off the bench.

Edgewood is off to a 1-4 start and has lost four straight since a win over Dubuque (Iowa) in its season opener. The Eagles have faced a tough schedule, though, including a pair of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams (UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh) plus a Coe team that won 22 games and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament second round last year. Edgewood finished 8-17 overall last year and posted a 7-9 mark in the NACC, missing by one game a spot in the NACC Tournament.