UND put together their best game of the season, especially in the 2nd half, in a 15 point win over Utah Tech. Now they finish the MTE and their 4 game homestand against an NCAA tournament team from last year, the Titans of Cal-State Fullerton
About the Titans:
After a couple of tough seasons, Fullerton found themselves getting further and further away from 2017-18, the year where they crashed the Big West tournament and made it into March Madness. After that 20 win season, the wins dropped to 16, 11, and 6 in 2020. Now you would think as a Titans fans that something drastic needed to happen soon.
How about the best season under coach Taylor? 21-11 record, 2nd in the Big West, and then went into the Big West tournament and won all 3 games to get to their 2nd NCAA tournament appearance under Taylor. Is that drastic enough for you?
What are they doing for a repeat despite losing 4 of their top 6 scorers? Well the season got off to a decent start with wins against Pacific, Pepperdine, and Vermont. In the first game in the Nodak MTE, they dropped a 66-60 decision to Utah Tech. So you know they are going to come back and try and even their record out.
Can they continue the momentum into the conference season and, despite being picked in the middle of the pack, make another run at the Big West title and their 3rd NCAA tournament appearance? We shall see
About Dedrique Taylor (10th season: 125-150 record, 62-77 Big West)
The former Arizona State assistant got his first crack at coaching at Fullerton and during that time, he has made the NCAA tournament twice, despite his teams never winning a Big West regular season title (finishing 2nd twice). His teams has also made two CIT tournaments as well. With all of that said, his teams usually fall one or two ways: Near the bottom of the conference or playing in some sort of postseason. It would be really nice to see if they can finally build some momentum after going to the NCAA tournament last year. We shall see.
Key Player: Jalen Harris (6'1 Guard Senior)
The senior guard from LA has really taken to his starting position after spending the first two years at a reserve role. He has scored 17.6 ppg and has had a 27 and 21 point performance on his season so far. He does appear to be a volumn scorer who has done his damage from the free throw line in the last two games. He also has shown the ability to stroke it from distance. UND needs to make sure he doesn't go off, so Trent needs to be ready to go (and if Brooks is ready to go, stick him on him as well).
Keys:
1) Rebounding
2) Improve performance from the starters
3) Can the bench keep up their recent performance
4) Can they keep Fullerton off the free throw line
The Call:
Despite this being at home and coming off of their best win, there always a trend when it comes to these tournaments at UND: They win the first game and then usually struggle in the last game. I think that Fullerton will bounce back and get the win. Now, if UND is to win, they get better performance from their starters and they get good bench play again from Levias, Danielson, and Nero.
Titans 76-71
Game is on ESPN+
defense has really stepped up in these last few possessions, now can the offense string something together to perhaps take the lead before the end of the half