The Muskies hold the all-time series lead, but the Warriors have won 13 of the last 16 meetings, including the teams' matchup earlier this season in Milwaukee. Lutheran rallied from a big deficit, coming back from 20 points down at halftime to win 90-78 on Jan. 29 behind a 62-point second half. WLC also won the last time the teams met at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium, taking an 87-75 victory in last year's regular season finale. Lakeland's last win in the series came just over three years ago at home with a 77-75 victory Jan. 26, 2022, when Cam Jaeger made the go-ahead three-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. The series dates back to Jan. 27, 1982, when Lakeland won the first meeting 131-54, and the Muskies won the first 10 meetings before WLC's first win in the series in Jan. 1990.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at Aurora 109-60 Wednesday
The Muskies had a bad night on the road as the Spartans dominated virtually from the tip. Aurora ran out to a 16-2 lead to start the game and led by as much as 31 in the first half on the way to a 55-27 halftime lead. Any hopes of a Lakeland comeback were dashed in the first few minues of the second half when the Spartans came out of halftime with a 13-0 run to push the lead beyond 40. Isaiah Hammond scored 17 points and Cliff McCray added 15 for Lakeland, which shot 41.3% for the game but committed 19 turnovers and also permitted Aurora to shoot 51.8%, including 13 of 28 shooting from three-point range. The Muskies saw their hopes for an NACC Tournament berth extinguished with the loss.

Wisconsin Lutheran last time out: Defeated Concordia Wis. 90-59 Wednesday
The Warriors won in a rout at home in their regular season home finale against the Falcons to clinch at least a share of the NACC regular season title as well as the top seed in the NACC Tournament. WLC also never trailed in the game, building a 20-point lead in the first half and later leading by as much as 35 in the second half. Ryan Brockel scored 21 points and added 14 rebounds, Jacob Stoltz posted 19 points, seven rebounds and eight assists and Ja'Quell Chisom also scored 19 points.

Wisconsin Lutheran has been in the NCAA Division III national rankings all season, with a high of seventh in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Warriors are the defending NACC tourney champions and made their first Division III tournament appearance last year under head coach Aaron Aanonsen, who coached at Lakeland from 2008-17 and is the second-winningest coach in Muskies program history, winning 137 games. Aanonsen also has been a success at WLC, winning 131 games in eight years at Lutheran with four NACC regular season championships.