SWSiouxMN

Tray played some big minutes with Geno on the bench, put up 8 points. Good to see him bounce back from a rough game against Weber.

Half UND 46 NDSU 37 UND is hot from 3 and defense is decent, but rebounding was atrocious and NDSU isn't playing that well either. They will come out angry in the 2nd half so UND needs to be ready.

that was a bad offensive and defensive possession to end the half

another 3!

NDSU ran the worlds worst offense. The Flex

9-2 run for UND here, TO NDSU UND 41 NDSU 32 1:41 2nd

UND 32 NDSU 30 3:46 1st

UND 27 NDSU 25 7:19 1st

goodness sakes guys don't hurt each other

3rd 3 for Dale, he has 11 UND up 25-21

got to do a better job rebounding here

that was great D to force a violation

back and forth affair, both teams hitting shots from downtown UND 20 NDSU 19 11:31 1st

UND 14 NDSU 11 14:07 1st Dale leads UND with 8 pts and 2 assists. Obviously a much better start than it was in GF

Dale is stroking it early

UND followed up its victory over the Bengals with perhaps their best win of the year, taking down one of the leagues favorites in Weber State. UND takes a quick break from conference play as they head down I-29 to take on their arch rival NDSU The first matchup was not very good for UND, they got off to an awful start was didn't recover as the Bison were able to get 30 points from Paul Miller. They shot over 50+ in both the field and the 3 point line. The win gave the Bison their 3rd straight win in Grand Forks. Since then, both teams have had their ups and downs in conference play. Game will be on Midco and ESPN3 NDSU leads the all time series in D-1 play at 6-3, including a 3-1 record in Fargo, but they did lose the last matchup in Fargo last year. Key Player: Paul Miller The Senior guard continues to pour in impressive numbers this season, including a 36 point performance against SDSU. His best game arguable was against UND, he nearly hit every shot in the game was UND could not find a solution to stop him. Key Questions: 1) Can UND continue their improved play? 2) How will these teams start? 3) Geno vs Paul: Who wins round II? The Call: The Bison came in and threw the first punch in Grand Forks, so you can fully expect them to come in knowing that UND will come in looking for revenge. The trends in this series started with the teams winning the home matchups, but now the last 4 games were won by the road teams. This is the last go around before these games take on more meaning next year in the Summit. UND has something to prove and in their improved play, I see the road team coming away with the win UND 79-76 *The usual PSA will be passed along: Keep it clean

I think amongst the W Hockey community as a whole is still this fear of this becoming a trend and the thinking of "Well UND did it, why can't we?" Here is the thing: Yes, UND did cut it but it took several circumstances to do it and if you had change one thing... I think we are having a different conversation right now.

As for the Eagles: I don't care what Vegas says, they are the favorites in this matchup and should be treated as such. While their offense isn't as great as the Saints is, that defense is much better and Philly will be crazy loud. It will be very low scoring. I think it will come down to ball security and who can make more throws that the other in the Backup Bowl.

I didn't get a chance to watch this on Saturday, but watched it on Sunday. I was surprised, yes I picked them to win but fully expected them to lose at home. Many positive to talk about here, but the biggest one to me was they punched back every time Weber made a run. When Weber would get it down to 3,4 points, UND pushed it back up to 8-9 points. They aren't doing that 2 weeks ago. Geno had an impressive game, they need more of this Geno going forward. Seales was stuffing the stat sheet again and finally hit a few 3 pointers. He has had a nice 3 games so far. This one was his best because he was matched up against the 6'9 Chapman and he owned him. The Zone offense is improved. It could be the change in personal going with the 4 guards or a different mindset, but they are attacking the zone much better, the ball and off-ball movement is improved, there is a lot less standing around, and yes they are hitting shots or if they missed the shot it was a good look because of good ball movement. The Bench has gotten better, it is basically now 3 guys with Brown and Buchanan getting most of the minutes. This game Walter stepped up and provided the punch from the bench. Tray had a clunker today but has been solid so far in conference play and Brown had some flashes in the last 2. Dale only had 9 minutes, but was 3/5 from downtown. Wasn't Avants best from the stat sheet. So where does UND go from here. 1/3 through the conference season and they are sitting at 2-4, for comparison sake here are the conference records through 6 games in previous seasons 12-13: 2-4 13-14: 3-3 14-15: 2-4 15-16: 3-3 16-17: 4-2 So despite some disasters, the records are comparable.. but this 3 game conference road stretch is critical. @ UNC, @ EWU, @ Idaho. If they can get 2 out of these 3 and get home 4-5 in conference play,the 2nd half of the conference schedule gets "softer" towards the end of the season so they can start to pile up some wins and climb back into the standings. IF, they can keep playing like they are and keep getting better.. which mean we need more of this Geno. Before that, they need to exact a little revenge against that school down south tomorrow.

That play was awesome, but so was the 3rd down stop that forced the field goal with :28 left. Saints pick that up, they bleed it out for the win.

Damn it Steelers, you had one job!

Well for EWU this won't help matters http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/jan/13/eastern-washington-tries-to-address-58-million-ath/#/0

Chaves is the pick

UND put together their first complete game since the Zags matchup and it showed itself with a blowout win at home verses the Bengals. Next up is a matchup against perennial league power Weber State, who looks to change a trend in this matchup, losing 4 out of their last 5 against UND. The Wildcats are coming off a tough 4 point win down in Greely. The Series still tilts in Weber's Favor, 9-4 all time and they hold a 3-2 advantage in Grand Forks, however UND has won the last 2 in GF. When you think of Big Sky Basketball, it is really hard to not have Weber pop up first in your head. Coach Rahe once again has a solid team that is capable of once again representing the Big Sky in the NCAA tournament. They managed to shore up a few areas where they were not the Weber teams of old, having Utah transfer Chapman eligible after sitting out last year. pairing him with Braxton has them with a solid footing in the frontcourt. However, what Weber is really known for is its guards and they have another special one on the court. Despite the hiccup at home verses Idaho State, they have managed to win the next three and would like to get out of this road swing with a sweep before hosting SAC/PSU next week. Player to Watch: Jerrick Harding UND fans remember that the dream season of last year almost ended in the BSC Finals, they needed OT to take down Weber, and one of the biggest reasons why was the emergence of this kid out of Wichita. Now the Sophomore guard has taken a bigger step and has become one of the best guard in the conference and appears to be the next great Weber guard. More importantly, he put up pretty good numbers against UND in the three matchups last year, including that 18 point performance in the BSC Finals. He could very well be a 50-40-90 guy when it is all said and done this year. He can do it all. Things to watch: 1) How will UNDs small ball lineup compete with the Weber Bigs: Coach Jones has relied more on a 4 guard + Dale/Avants lineup over the last two games and has gotten decent results out of it so far. Now comes the test, as there will be a mismatch at the 4 spot in height. If this lineup comes to fruition, it will be important that they knock down shots and be very strong rebounders out of this lineup. If UND can keep it close to even on the board, they will have a great chance 2) When Will Geno emerge? While the balanced scoring has been great, for UND to take the next step they need their best player to play like their best player. We have not seen it since the Zags game, but perhaps Weber will be the magic elixir, since the 2nd matchup his freshman year he has put up some very solid number against the Wildcats. You would think the Harding/Geno matchup would be a good individual battle Other Games: (Idaho went into EWU and came away with a 58-51 victory on Friday, evening both of their records at 3-2) ISU (3-1) @ UNC (2-3): Both teams are coming into this one with this main question: How good are they really? ISU got smacked against UND and UNC dropped its 3rd in a row against the leagues best. UNC needs to avoid getting swept and to get back on track, while ISU could salvage a split and take some of the sting out of the loss against UND. Griz (5-0) @ PSU (2-2): The Griz avoided one trap but now have another one here against the Vikings in Portland. They already have taken down the Cats and if they can do the same against the Griz, they can find themselves right back into the thick of the conference race. Cats (4-1) @ SAC (1-3): MSU could not avoid the trap and lost in Portland, now they need to forget that and prepare for a Sac State team that never makes it easy on anybody who comes into the Hornets Nest. Yes the record says 1-3 but they already have given the Griz and Vandals fits. Can't look ahead to next weeks tilt against the Griz just yet. NAU (0-4) @ SUU (0-4): Somebodies 0 has got to go in this one, both teams have had chances early in the season to do just that but have come up short. SUU is a better team but need to start showing it in their record, NAU is still looking for any positive momentum to avoid another disastrous season. The Call: UND has shown some growth in the last two games and it finally resulted in a victory, but if you want to show that you are potentially turning the corner follow the advice of Steely Dan:, You go back, Jack, do it again. Beating Weber and getting to 2-4 with a tough 3 game conference road swing coming up is a lot better than being 1-5. Jones has thrown 4 guard lineups against Weber in the past with various amounts of success, but if they are going to come away with the win, they need to build off of their ISU performance. One other note: this is a quick turnaround for Weber, so they might start sluggish.. if they do UND needs to jump on that. I am having a head/heart debate: My head says Weber will be too much and UND will play great and come up just short... my heart says Geno finally snaps out of it and has a monster game and they pull out a OT thriller. You know what... the heart wins here. Geno goes for 25+, they stay close on the boards and Seales stuffs the stat sheet again. UND 81-77 OT Other games: Griz, UNC, SUU, MSU

ISU has always been a thorn to the sides of all UND sports, expect for Men's basketball.