River Forest, Ill. — Fresh off their first win of the season on Wednesday night, Concordia Chicago men's basketball (1-8) will welcome the Aurora Spartans (3-2) to Geiseman for a pair of battles on Friday and Saturday. 

The Cougars shot lights out in their victory over Lake Forest, including a season-high 16 three-pointers. The team is starting to see contributions from all across the board, with 11 different players scoring at least two points against the Foresters. One of the players to step up in recent games is Jordan Schmidt (Noblesville, Ind.). The sophomore guard has now scored a season-high nine points in back-to-back games.

"It's a situation we haven't been in yet, coming off a win, and I'm looking forward to seeing how we handle that," Head Coach Steve Kollar said. "Our guys have had a relentless desire to improve from day one, even through all the adversity, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I believe their confidence is building and we are continuing to get better on a daily basis." 

Wednesday's contest marked the season debut of sophomore guard Brent Hatten (Olney, Ill.), who scored 10 points and facilitated a lot of the ball movement on offense in his time on the floor. Juniors Jordan Matthews (Chicago, Ill.) and Izak Ruddell (Saint Joseph, Mich.) both continue their outstanding play, averaging 17.25 and 13 PPG, respectively. 

Aurora played five conference games so far and enters tonight's game with a 3-2 record. After defeating Dominican in their season opener, the team split their last two weekend series with Rockford and Benedictine.

The Spartans feature a high-powered offense that averages over 84 PPG. They have four players who average double figures, led by senior guard Rashad Johnson with 23.2. Johnson is shooting 50 percent from deep on the year and doubles as the team's second-leading rebounder. Another name to watch is senior Bailey Vance, who averages 17.2 PPG and leads the team in rebounding with over eight a night. 

Aurora leads the all-time series 27-5, including the season finale a season ago. However, The Cougars 79-71 victory over the Spartans last February was their largest margin of victory in the history of the series. 

Friday night's game is set to tip at 7 p.m., with a slightly earlier 5 p.m. start on Saturday. A stream to both of the games will be available on the CUC Athletic's Youtube channel.