Minnesota boys and girls basketball top games of the week (Feb. 21-26)

Here are the games to watch this week in Minnesota hoops

Steve Jacobson | Feb 21, 2023

SBLive's Minnesota boys basketball Power 25 (Feb. 20)

High school basketball playoffs: Start dates in every state, 2023 bracket updates

Boys basketball

Wayzata (17-4) at Minnetonka (17-5), 2/21 at 7 p.m.

Wayzata at Minnetonka is the SBLive boys basketball game of the week.

Wayzata is coming off a surprising overtime loss to an Eden Prairie team that has struggled since Chidi Obiazor left the team. The Trojans were previously on a seventeen game winning streak before that loss last Thursday.

Wayzata currently sits atop the Lake Conference with only a few games left in the regular season, but there is an outside chance Minnetonka could win the conference. It must win this game first.

Minnetonka is only two games out of a tie for first in the Lake conference and beating Wayzata on Tuesday could propel them to the top of the standings by the end of the season. Wayzata defeated Minnetonka 76-64 a little under a month ago and the Skippers have gone 7-2 since that loss. This one should be a much closer game than last month’s double-digit victory by Wayzata.

Park Center (21-0) at Andover (17-5), 2/21 at 7 p.m.

Park Center flat out cannot be beaten this year. The Pirates sit at 21-0 and have dominated opponents throughout the season. The Pirates feature the deepest roster in the state and have nearly six players averaging double digits points per game.

The Pirates have a few more opportunities to continue their dominance over the entire state, and Andover poses one of the last real threats to an undefeated regular season.

Andover is on a ten game winning streak and are currently one of the hotter teams in the state. The Huskies face their toughest test of the season against Park Center. The Huskies have had a fairly easy schedule in the last month sans Maple Grove.

They have struggled with the better teams on their schedule such as Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Hopkins. Park Center has been much better than those teams, and senior guard Ben Kopetzki will need to lead the Huskies if they want to pull the upset.

Eastview (16-6) at Lakeville South (13-9), 2/24 at 7 p.m.

Eastview and Lakeville South battled back on January 24, and Eastview pulled out a close 70-68 victory. Eastview has gone 7-3 in its last ten games, and it played extremely close with the second best team in the state, Lakeville North, a week ago.

The Lightning are ascending as it reached the playoffs and the Cougars are fading.

Lakeville South has struggled immensely as of late, losing five out of its last six games. The Cougars currently sit at 13-9 and sit at fifth in the South Suburban Conference standings. The Cougars will need to right the ship down the stretch, and they have four winnable games in front of them.

Benilde St. Margaret’s (19-3) at Orono (17-5), 2/24 at 7 p.m.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s is on an eight game winning streak after losing a tough game to Waconia nearly a month ago. The Red Knights beat Orono 78-59 on January 30, and this rematch could determine a lot in the postseason and potentially the Metro West Conference.

Orono is on a seven game winning streak since losing to Benilde-St. Margaret’s at the end of last month. The Spartans have impressive victories over Alexandria and Hermantown in that stretch.

The Red Knights always seem to give the Spartans issues, and if Orono can pull the upset, it could give themselves a chance at the conference title.

Hopkins (15-7) at Buffalo (19-4), 2/24 at 7 p.m.

Hopkins has had a tough month. The Royals are 4-6 in their last ten games after dominating most of their opponents early in the season. The Royals are coming off one of their best games of the season, an 88-81 victory over Minnetonka last week. Buffalo, a surprising team this season, is next on their schedule this week.

Buffalo continues its fantastic season and currently sit at 19-4. The Bison are coming off one of their worst losses of the season, a 73-59 loss to Brainerd on Saturday.

The Bison are currently battling Minnetonka for second place in the conference and could have an opportunity, if Wayzata slips, to take over.

Girls basketball

St. Michael-Albertville (22-2) at Hopkins (21-2) 2/21 at 7 p.m.

The week kicks off with the SBLive girls basketball game of the week featuring St. Michael-Albertville and Hopkins.

St. Michael-Albertville lost at home to Hopkins 75-66 on January 27 and will be looking for revenge in this one. The Knights currently sit in third place in the Lake Conference behind Hopkins and Wayzata. This game has huge implications for the conference and playoff seeding.

The Knights led in their earlier season loss to Hopkins 43-34 at half and were outscored 41-23 in the second half. The Knights will need to avoid a similar collapse to pull out the victory in this one.

Hopkins only has two losses on the season. One to Maddyn Greenway’s Providence Academy and a great Wayzata team. The Royals are only a half game up on Wayzata in the conference and, if they lose this game, could fall in the standings. The Royals finish out their season with two home games and could easily be considered the favorites to win the state title. This game has massive implications.

Lakeville North (18-5) at Rosemount (18-5), 2/23 at 7 p.m.

Lakeville North and Rosemount face off in a South Suburban battle on Thursday.

Lakeville North leads the conference with three games left to play. The Panthers wrap up their season with three consecutive away games. The Panthers have won eight straight games and defeated Rosemount 51-49 nearly a month ago.

Rosemount has won five out of its six previous games. The Irish have struggled to keep pace with the likes of Lakeville North due to their lack of scoring. The Irish are only averaging 51 points per game and Lakeville North is averaging 62.2 points per game. Rosemount will need to match its early season productivity to pull off this upset.

Holy Angels (20-5) at Providence Academy (22-2), 2/23 at 7 p.m.

Holy Angels is 13-2 in its last fifteen games and is one of the hotter teams in the state going into the tournament. They run into buzz saw Providence Academy and elite freshman Greenway on Thursday.

The Stars have struggled with better teams on its schedule this season and Providence Academy is likely the best team they have faced. This is a true test for the Tri-Metro leading Stars with a potential championship level team in Providence Academy.

Greenway is having a season for the ages for the Lions. The freshman guard is averaging 31.6 points per game and is coming off a 60-point explosion in her last game. The guard, daughter of Vikings legend Chad Greenway, already has 2,000 career points as a freshman. The Lions are likely looking at the state tournament, and this should be a quality warm up game for them.

DeLaSalle (19-5) at Minnehaha Academy (17-60, 2/21 at 7 p.m.

DeLaSalle sits in second place in Tri-Metro Conference trailing only Holy Angels at this point in the season.

The Islanders have won seventeen out of eighteen games and look to continue their hot streak against a solid Minnehaha Academy squad.

Minnehaha Academy is coming off a tough 126-94 loss to Providence Academy on Friday. The Red Hawks sophomore guard Addi Mack did her best to keep pace with Greenway, scoring 45 points, and is averaging nearly 30 points per game.

The Red Hawks could be a dangerous team in the playoffs and this is a great barometer for their potential success in a few weeks.

Mountain Iron-Buhl (20-3) at Mayer Lutheran (20-3), 2/25 at 1:30 p.m.

Mountain Iron-Bruhl is on a thirteen game winning streak and are currently the No. 1 team in Class 1A basketball in the state. In what could be a preview of the Class 1A title game next month, it travels to face the No. 2 team in the state in 1A, Mayer Lutheran.

Mayer-Lutheran and Mountain-Iron Bruhl have the exact same record and nearly the same resume this season. The biggest difference between these teams is that Mountain-Iron Bruhl has been on an incredible win streak, and Mayer Lutheran has struggled with recent losses down the stretch.

Published Feb 21, 2023

STEVE JACOBSON