SWSiouxMN

Bruns 3 9-0 UND

UND starting off strong on the defensive end of things.

Another Ethan 3! 6-0 UND

Ethan 3 to beat the shot clock! 3-0 UND

Starters Panoam Bruns Igbanugo Danielson T Guess that means the bench is: Norman, Grant, and Mathews.

Similar Injury as Nero that he suffered on Thursday in practice.

One last non-conference game against a winless Detroit Mercy squad. Go get a solid win and get ready for NDSU next week.

I swore I saw it on there this morning, but could have confused it with the women.

UND used a barrage of 3 pointers (setting a school record in 3s made with 17) against non D1 North Central. UND looks to wrap up their non-conference season against Dixie State, who is in their 2nd year of their transition from D1 About The Trailblazers: The team from St. George, Utah is in the middle of their transition to Division 1. Last year, despite their 4-10 WAC record, they could show that they could complete with the upper teams in the WAC conference. Now in year 2, they look to take the next step in their progression in the conference. So far this year, they are almost at their win totals from last year (they had 8 wins). Although 4 of those wins were against non d1 teams, they have an impressive win against Southern Utah and pounded Denver by 20 points. In a basketball hungry state, they certainly will continue to get better and better with a great coaching staff and their ability to get solid players. About John Judkins (17th season, 299-137 record at Dixie, 4-10 in WAC). Judkins is a coach that shows that sometimes you can come home again. The former Trailblazer is now in his 17th season as head coach and has been apart of their transition from JUCO, to Division 2 (including two different conferences) and now to the D1 level. It certainly helps to have an experienced coach that has done transitions before to help with their biggest jump yet. They have had lots of success at the D2 level and it wouldn't be any surprise that Judkins will have even more success in the WAC. Although this will be a tough year to jump up the standings, they certainly are laying the groundwork for the future. More exciting for him, a win against UND would give him 300 career wins as a head coach. Key Player: Cameron Gooden (5'11 Junior Guard) He might be small, but he has been packing a punch so far for Dixie, averaging 15 ppg, 3.8 rpg, and 4.3 apg. While still shooting around 30% from 3 pointer, he really has improved his field goal percentage (shooting around 50% from the floor). Does get to the free throw line a little bit. So far has cut down his turnovers from last year. UND needs to slow this guy down, especially in transition. Panoam and Ethan: Time to get defensive. Series History: This is the 2nd matchup between these two squads. Dixie took the first matchup last year in Utah, making UND an answer to Trail blazer trivia: Who was the first D1 team that Dixie State defeated in their transition. Keys: 1) Status of Sueker 2) Limit them in transition 3) Keep the shooters hot, especially when given zone defense Summit League Blurbs: Conference season is ready to commence on Monday! So here are the matchups UST (5-6) @ Omaha (1-10): The new kids on the block have their first matchup in Summit League play as they head down to Omaha. UST is shown that they are ready to complete in Year 1, not making any of their games easy for their opponents. Omaha is awful so far this year and a rough start in conference play could start the talk of a change. I honestly expect UST to win here and could win big. WIU (8-2) @ DU (4-9): The surprise team of the conference so far is Western. It was expected that they were going to take a jump in Year 2 under Jeter, but they have taken a huge leap. To the point where they could be in the mix with the top 3 teams in the league. In order to do that, they must start 2-0 against the bottom. DU under their new head coach is, while the record doesn't show it, a much better organized team. It might take them a year to really round into shape. I'll take Western ORU (6-5) @ USD (7-4): The intriguing matchup of the night is in Verm as the Yotes host the Eagles of ORU. Despite the losses of Umude (transfer) and AJ (injury), the Yotes have put together a solid non-conference season and looking to use that to have a solid start to conference play. ORU is trying to regain their mojo from their run last year, as replacing Obanor is proving more difficult than thought. They still have the best guard in the conference with Abmas, who can shoot it from anywhere. Give me the Eagles here, but the Yotes are certainly capable of springing the upset at home. UMKC (5-5) @ SDSU (9-4): The Roos are still playing their 40 minutes of making your life a living hell style of basketball and despite losing McKissic to the portal, they are doing just fine. Allick continues to be one of the underrated players in this league and getting some help from more of their guards. SDSU has shown to be the most consistent of the contenders so far in non-conference play, but there are some signs of worry with some streaky shooting and defensive questions. The 3 headed monster of Wilson, Freidel, and Baylor will make life tough for anyone this year. SDSU should win, but it will be closer than most think. Off: NDSU (8-4): Bison are starting to round into form despite early season guard struggles. It helps to get Griesel back from a life threatening injury. The Call: This is the last game before heading down to Fargo on Wednesday. UND needs this one to end the non-conference part on a high note. Questions on Suekers status will be important. Without him, UND will be without 2 of their regular starters and will be relying heavily on Mathews and T. UND also wants a little revenge after last years performance against Dixie. With that said. I know that I should pick Dixie given the inconsistencies, but I cannot help it. I see this as a game where some of the regulars step up and Mathews takes another step in his progress as a post player. They also slow down Dixie enough in transition and shoot just well enough in those tricky Dixie zones. UND wins a close one. UND 74-72 Game is on ESPN+

Wouldn't they need to play to win only 1 playoff game if the playoffs start after Thanksgiving?

50.1%

After some good progress the last couple of weeks, this is the last thing UND needed to happen. 44 for Mayville has 14 points, 18 rebounds and 8.... that's right 8 Blocks!

Sorry for not giving the usual updates the last few games. Been busy with work and personal reasons (moving and unpacking is a task). Good to see some players to see the ball go through the hoop, but Saturday will be important for the team. They need to get this one against Dixie.

Listened on the radio. Appears to be minor (didn't say what it was)

No real research here but the bottom line is this smack this team around, get some mojo back. Radio only.

What would they do with FB? Kato wouldn't just drop football to make everything else work. Plus they have an 60 year old problem with Blakeslee that doesn't have plans to be replaced anytime soon.

There are 6 freshman, but my guess the 4 that Zack is referring to is Bruns, Grant, Mathews, and McGrath. I hope Levias gets healthy to contribute, because I really want to see what he can bring to this team

In what has developed into a recent theme, UND started okay in the first half but then gave up a big time run in the 2nd against against a good Cal Baptist team. Now they finally return home to finish the last 3 games of the non-conference schedule. First up, an old Big Sky foe: The Eastern Washington Eagles. About Eastern Washington: It was about 10 years ago that Eastern Washington made an hire that changed the course of their basketball program. They brought in Jim Hayford from Division 3 Withworth and in his 4th year, broke through with a Big Sky championship and an NCAA tournament appearance behind Tyler Harvey and Venky Jois (two guys that gave UND fits back in the day). After a couple more solid years, Hayford headed west to Seattle and left the program in the hand of assistant Shantay Legans. He brought the program to another level. Eastern never finished lower than 3rd in the conference in each of his four years and won a BSC championship in 2019-2020. Then COVID wiped away what could have been their chance at the dance. However, faith had other ideas and the following year, they won the BSC tournament and made it to March Madness once again and gave Kansas all they could handle, behind the Groves Brothers. This season: massive changes. After 4 great years, Legans went off to the West Coast Conference and Portland. They also lost several of their big time players to the transfer portal. This left new head coach David Riley scrambling to fill the voids of a once great team. The good news for EWU? He comes from the same philosophy as Hayford and Legans, so that kept the same consistency. So far the season has produced some great moments, including a 76-71 win against Wazzu and a near upset of Colorado in their last game. They went out to Omaha and took down the Mavs by 11. If you know one thing about the Eagles, they will score, score, score at will. The conference season got off on the wrong foot, a set back to a good SUU team, but Eastern might just be revamping to continue their great success they have had since 2015 in the Big Sky. About Coach David Riley (4-5 overall record, 0-1 BSC) The 33 year old from Seattle has been with Eastern since 2011 when he came in as a grad assistant after his playing days at Whitworth (he played when Hayford was the coach). He has been under the Hayford and Legans coaching tree so UND will know what type of team they will be getting. Lots of scoring. The Hayford tree has been successful in producing an NCAA tournament appearance. Can Riley follow it up with another? He certainly will get the time to do so. Key Player: Steele Venters (6'7 175 Freshman) Don't let the frame fool you, this kid can ball. He is one of the best young players that the BSC can offer. Has scored 20+points in four out of the last 5 games. This is a 3 level scorer, who is very dangerous from 3 (shooting 51% from 3!) Can grab some rebounds but his main weapon is offense. He fits EWU to a T and is fast becoming the next great player that Eastern Washington has to offer. Series History: UND leads the series 7-6 all time, but EWU has won their last 3 against UND. Keys: 1) Defend the 3 point shot 2) Win with pace, pound them with your size 3) Play with confidence, you are back home! The Call: With 3 games left before conference play starts and the trip to Fargo, it is time for this team to start figuring it out. These three are very winnable at home. Get them all, and you might have the ship righted and confidence going into conference play. Drop this one and Dixie? The questions will continue to swirl. The status of Nero will still be up in the air (haven't heard anything as to how long he will be out) but it is high time that the returning players start to step it up. It would also be nice to see someone else step up from the newbies outside of Bruns. UND needs to play with controlled pace and confidence. This is the toughest of the three, but UND needs to win this one. I think UND pulls this one off with their best game since Montana. UND 81-77 Game is on ESPN+

Huh, didn't see this one coming. If the score was 23-0, I would have guessed the Steelers would be the ones with 23.

Hurst had 27 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 blocks in a win against Beaver Dam. I'm so excited to see this class of freshman get on campus next year.

Added two more words to your post. Retaining talent is going to be even more important going forward. UND can't keep overhauling their team year after year.

He was 19-15 after going 8-23 the previous season (Princeton offense?) That the year they brought in Huff, Anderson, Webb, Brekke, and Schueler.

Well they only beat 9 D1 teams last year and was .500 in the Summit. Two years before that it was 12. Last year of Jones was only 8 D1 wins. They will get to at least 10. 2 good opportunities coming up and they will get some wins in conference play.

I think it might be time to give Mathews more minutes

19-21 from the free throw line #silverlinings