A nearly dormant rivalry between two schools with a long basketball history against each other was renewed when the Green Knights joined the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in July 2021. Lakeland and St. Norbert have met seven times since then, with SNC winning all meetings, including a 96-71 victory earlier this season on its homecourt in De Pere back on Nov. 24.

Before 2021, the teams had met just once in the previous 27 years, when St. Norbert topped the Muskies 69-58 in December 2010. Lakeland hasn't defeated SNC since a 76-59 victory Nov. 28, 1994 in the Wehr Center fieldhouse. The Muskies' rivalry with the Green Knights dates back to Lakeland's first season of playing basketball in 1933-34, when the school was known as Mission House College and St. Norbert prevailed 20-18 in the first matchup Jan. 10, 1934. The teams played at least twice a season most years from 1934-83, but St. Norbert joined the Midwest Conference in 1983 and Lakeland the Lake Michigan Conference a year later.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Dominican 86-83 Saturday
The Muskies held off the Stars at home on Saturday to clinch a sweep of the teams' season series. Peyton Mrotek scored a career-high 37 points, added 11 rebounds and scored the go-ahead free throws with 22 seconds left, a performance that helped him to NACC player of the week honors announced today. Lakeland rallied from 11 points down in the second half and moved into the seventh spot in the NACC standings for the time being, as the Muskies continue in pursuit of a spot in the NACC Tournament.

St. Norbert last time out: Defeated Concordia Wisconsin 91-79 Saturday
The Green Knights shot 52.5% for the contest and hit 11 of 24 three-pointers in defeating the Falcons for the second time this season. St. Norbert led for the game's final 26 minutes but didn't pull away until late, as Concordia trailed by two with less than seven minutes remaining. Cole Uhlenbrauck and Mason Freiburger both scored 21 points and combined for 15 rebounds to lead SNC, which posted a 38-25 rebounding edge. The Green Knights bounced back one game after Benedictine had snapped their eight-game winning streak.

Recapping the first meeting: A quick start for Lakeland gave way to a blistering scoring pace for St. Norbert in the first half in De Pere. The Green Knights shot 68.8% in scoring 59 first half points, and shot better than 60% for most of the game before finishing at 57.6%. The Muskies were held to 35.8% shooting for the game, with Jaxson Dillon and Asanjai Hunter scoring 17 points each. Will Stuckey led St. Norbert with 23 points, making 9 of 11 shots including 4 of 5 from three-point range, and the Green Knights posted a huge 64-20 advantage in points in the paint.