GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence men's basketball will look to build on their opening weekend when they take on the Seattle Mountaineers in a pair of exhibition games over the weekend. The Argos (2-0) will host the Mountaineers on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.

The team is coming off a successful opening weekend in which they took down Yellowstone Christian twice in a weekend doubleheader. The team put on an impressive offensive performance against the Centurions (0-8), with five different players scoring in double-figures both nights. The team is currently ranked 5^th in the nation in points per game (108.5 points), 7^th in rebounds per game (52.0) and is 16^th in assists per game (22.0).

"I saw some good things," head coach Steve Keller said. "I thought we've gotten better every game. We got a lot more assists than we normally get, so I like that we're sharing the ball so well this early in the season. We're scoring a lot of points so that's what we normally do. We want to keep on doing that and work on getting better defensively."

Another bright spot for the team has been the play of junior guard Marcus Stephens. The 6-3 guard from Hilltop, Wash. averaged 19 points, 6.5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game while shooting 27 of 47 from the field (51.9%) and 7 of 15 from beyond the arc (46.7%) during the opening weekend. His play was recognized by the Frontier Conference, who named him the Player of the Week.

The team this week hasn't let off the gas this week in practice. The coaching staff has focused on some of their core defensive concepts this week in an effort to improve on their defensive principles.  

"We've been reviewing our fundamental stuff on defense this week," Keller said. "On offense, we're continuing to build towards putting everything in that we want to put in. We've been brushing up on what we have already installed."

The team will have their hands full against the Mountaineers. Their roster consists of ex-college players that are hoping to make the jump to play professionally overseas.

"They're good," Keller said. "They got some really good players. They will be tough games for us. They're probably going to be bigger and stronger than us. I'm excited to see how we perform. It'll be fun to see how we compete."