SWSiouxMN

WIU rips off 2 3's 6-0 WIU

That would be very nice.

Starters Ihenacho Panoam Igbanugo Sims Rebraca

I should really temper my expectations for him but I’m very excited to watch him play next year.

Whoops Mods: can you switch that @ to vs. in the title?

UND went down to Brookings to take on SDSU and the trend of Frost being a house or horrors continued as UND got swept. Now they turn their attention to the 2nd half of their schedule as they host Western Illinois About Western Illinois: Going into last season, Western Illinois went in with some momentum from their upset win against SDSU in the Summit Tournament. With 2 young guards leading the way in Webster and Johnson, all the signs were there for WIU to finally start climbing the Summit. There is no way it could get any worse. Hate to say it.. it did. They couldn't duplicate their succeed in Sioux Falls, because they didn't even make it there. They were the odd team out and that was the last straw for Billy Wright, as he was fired. Former Milwaukee coach and Gopher Assistant Rob Jeter step up and took over the program. Now when a new coach takes over a program, you expect some turnover right? How bout blowing the whole thing up and starting over. Jeter brought in a brand new team from lower level players, transfers, JUCOs, and HS players and is trying to mesh it all together. Oh, and COVID isn't helping either. This is a team that is still trying to find its way as a program. It hasn't all been bad. WIU took down UT Martin earlier in non-conference play and has shown that they will play very hard, even when down 36. Just ask USD last week when WIU nearly brought it all the way back down by 36. No question that this is going to take time and will be a total rebuild, but Jeter has some great coaching chops to get it down in Malcomb. About Rob Jeter: (1st year at Western, 12th year overall as a head coach. 2-7 at Western, 186-177 overall) Jeter spent 11 seasons in Milwaukee, going to 2 NCAA tournaments and 1 NIT tournament. He even had 2 Horizon League titles as well. So why did he get the axe? First off, he had to follow what Bruce Pearl did and I guess what he did wasn't good enough (how did that work out for them?) Nevertheless, he spent some time at UNLV and Minnesota before getting another chance. A branch from the Bo Ryan coaching tree, you know that he is going to be defensive minded all the way. Jeter is going to get some time to right the ship, but when he gets his guys, I fully expect the Leathernecks to charge the standings Key Player: Tamell Pearson (6'10 Junior) The UAB transfer has found some big success at Western, averaging 12.8 ppg and 7 rebounds. He is a guy that can step out and shoot it when necessary, but will do most of his damage on the inside. Rebraca is going to have to do is very best against him. Series History: UND leads the all time series 6-3, including a 4-0 mark in the Summit. However, all 4 games have been very close affairs. Milestone Watch: Rebraca is now tied for 9th all time in blocks with 72, he is 2 away from being 8th all time on the list. Rebraca has 973 career points, 27 points away from being the 39th player all time at UND to get to 1000 career points. He would also become the 24th player in UND history to have 1000 career points and 500 career rebounds (If my count is accurate). It would take a career night to break it on Friday night, but he should sometime this weekend hit that mark. Mitchell Sueker is 33 points away from 1000 combined career points between School of Mines and UND. Key Questions: 1) Does Ihenacho build off of his SDSU success? 2) Can UND string together two good games? 3) How will UND handle the length of WIU? Other Games: NDSU (7-1) @ Kansas City (2-4) This will be an interesting match between the Bison and the Roos. Kansas City split against ORU, while NDSU swept the Pios. This could be a bit of a trap game for the Bison, given with ORU and SDSU coming up on the schedule in the next two weeks. These two teams hang their hats on their defense, although their styles are completely different. Sounds like McKissic might not be able to go against NDSU with a shoulder. If so, that will change the matchup completely. Should be a fun time in Kansas City Omaha (0-4) @ USD (6-0) USD continues to be the surprise team in the conference, but also the one with the biggest question: Are the for real? So far they have taken care of business against the teams they should. They have one more before the biggest question starts getting answered. Omaha has been off due to the BYE week and their covid issues. Omaha has shown spurts of good play but have been struggling so far. Can they start to turn the ship around? SDSU and DU got called off this weekend due to COVID issues. Once again, someone in the Sioux Falls media is hinting of an opponent "ducking". I would like to hear from our SDSU friends on this and what they think about this. Off: ORU (4-2) The Eagles head off to the bye week with a bit of a disappointing loss against the Roos. To be honest, they could have lost both of them. This has been the problem for ORU, they are good enough to win the conference... but they haven't been able to use their entire roster to their advantage. Now they get SDSU, NDSU, and USD in the back half. The Call: The schedule has finally turned for UND: Instead of batting the top half of the conference, most of the 2nd half will be battling against winless teams. This is the moment that UND needs to start stacking up wins. They have been slowly improving and now it is time to start taking jumps. UND is still inconsistent enough where they could drop one this weekend... however I think the combo of Rebraca and Ihenacho will be enough this weekend. In game 1, I expect a similar result as the 4 other matchups since UND has joined the Summit, but UND gets the dub. UND 77-71 Game is on the Tres and MidcoSports2

Interesting: https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1354931322570104834

I only had 1 class in there (US History) in the rotunda area, but was always my cut through building during the winter time. Had some good memories as well My wife and sister in law on the other hand, might have some different memories, depending on the class they had

Omaha was in the basement last year but they are improved. Not a tough place but the pressure of going into that without any wins would be big. They barely beat them twice last year. They need one badly this weekend. It’s time.

It needs to happen in the next two weeks or it won't happen at all. I'm not convinced they win in Omaha.

So. We have reached the halfway point of the conference season. What are some thoughts on how the season has gone so far, at least in the conference side of things? What are your expectations in the 2nd half?

Nice work. See Dr. Tande is engineering this (no pun intended) partnership. Knew him from my work study days at UND. Good guy.

I certainly hope that this is the case. I like the fact that the next class is MN heavy. There is no reason that they shouldn't be getting at least 1 player from MN yearly.

Never say never, but highly unlikely.

I would like to know which QB that SF decides to move heaven and earth for? Watson? Stafford?

I agree that Sueker needs to get more consistent. Saturday was a little better game from him but on Friday it was a big struggle for Sueker. I think Sims has been a little better in adapting to D1 play, at least on the defensive end. They are getting closer to figuring it out, its just taking more time.

How much of a leash should Tiffin get to turn things around?

I don't like hearing about the kicking issues..... again

As I have said a couple of time but it bares repeating here: The growth of Ihenacho this weekend is significant as we go forward into the 2nd half of this season. If UND continues to get this version of him in the 2nd half, that is going to change the entire complexation of this offense, especially if he continues to nail outside shots. 15.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5 apg this weekend isn't anything to scoff at. I hope that Nero is the next one to figure it out, had a nice game last night in the 2nd half. Get the guards going here.

They have still have to play well to get them WIU is scrappy and the games have always been close against them historically. DU isn't very good, but 2 games in the altitude will be a challenge USD is playing very well but we don't know how good they are and UND hasn't beaten Omaha in many years.

SDSU wins 85-75

Record of the 4 teams left in conference play 6-14 (all 6 wins are by USD).

Positive? Tyree Ihenacho grew up this weekend. We might finally have our consistent 2nd scorer

You can't have 8-10 minute offensive clunkers if you want to beat a team like SDSU however... better showing than last night. Get WIU and DU the next two weeks. Time to start getting wins

Big 3 by Ethan 75-66 SDSU