SWSiouxMN

Women move up to 9th in pairwise. Wisconsin sits in 8th, Duluth sits behind us in 10th, and OSU sits behind them in 11th. Those two head to head wins over Duluth are huge right now in keeping us in our spot, but our 1-3 record against Wisconsin is hurting us from being in the last spot. Really need to keep the focus the next two weekends and not slip up against Mankato (who for whatever reason we have struggled against) and BSU. I like that Shelby has been playing very well between the pipes the last 2 series and I hope that she can keep it going.

I wanted to pose this question about Brekke and his current situation. Lets say for whatever reason he cannot play the rest of the year (to me its starting to look more and more likely). Can UND be able to get a medical redshirt for Brekke, or has he played too much?

Not going to lie. Zero excuse for last night. I think they played a good 14-16 minutes out of a 40 minute game (10 first half, 4-6 2nd). They should have won this game by at least 10 points. Honestly thought after 22-12, it was going to be blown wide open for us. While Anderson should get some flack for his play last night, there was a worse offender out there that no one else has discussed last night. For the past few games, I had been singing the praises of Jamal Webb. I thought he was turning the corner and I thought this would be the weekend he would break out and carry this team along with Huff and Anderson. Majorly dissapointed in Webb last night. First off, he did not play his game on the offensive side of the ball. I can count the number of times he actually tried to drive the lane on 1 hand. Both cross court passes he had should have never left his hand. He only took 3 shots, and only 1 of those was a drive. I know you can hits shots Jamal, but go at your bread and butter. Outside of Huff, you are the best drive to the hoop person on the team!!! Use your god given strenghts and drive like you have been the past few games!!! Basic rebounding fundamentals from our posts were not there last night, and the cardinal sin of basketball was committed TWICE!!!! You NEVER foul someone shooting the 3... EVER! Turnovers were low, but they should have been lower. Take out the two cross court passes by Webb and the Antwi pass to T'eo girfriend in the corner and its 6. Regroup and get the win against NAU, then get ready for Weber

Lenny..... WTF!

PSU brought the best road performance of the season to UND, but a perfect effort from the line (21 for 21) and 25 points from both Aaron Anderson and Troy Huff, UND was able to hold on to a 85-76 victory to complete a weekend home sweep, and a 3-1 homestand. Now UND (7-10, 4-4) look to take their talents to the road and for once a semi-familiar place as they head out to Cali to take on Sacramento State. Tip off will be 9:05 PM our time MEDIA Game will be on Big Sky TV and the UND men's bball radio network HISTORY This is once again the 3rd time meeting between the two schools. However, unlike our last two opponents, we have recently seen this team. These two teams have played each other the last two years and have split the 2 meetings, each taking one on their home courts. The last meeting was last year when Sac State came out the victors 75-64 ABOUT THE SACRAMENTO STATE HORNETS (8-8, 3-5) The Hornets are coached by Brian Katz (5th season). Before the season started, Sacramento State was picked 7th and 8th in the coaches and media poll respectively in the Big Sky Polls. The Hornets were a team that made some noise early in the season, posting a 5-1 record to start the year including a 74-71 win out at Utah. Since that victory however, things have fallen back to earth going 3-7 since. A team that can play with the top of the conference at times, but then has some questionable performances in the conference at the same time. If you remove the PSU games from consideration, all of their results have been within single digits. They have had a very good record at home, sitting at 5-2, with a 1 point loss to Montana and a 11 point loss to UC Davis the 2 blemishes on their record. Looking at the team overall, while they do not have much for height, they make up for in total beef in their bigs (their starting forward is 6'8 290!). They are not afraid to throw their weight around and get on the boards. A good rebounding team. They also have a solid 1-2 punch in the guards. Despite that, when it comes to Big Sky play, they haven't been lighting it up as much on their point totals. Nevertheless, they play good D and are halfway decent shooters from the line TEAM STAT COMPARISONS UND SAC ST PPG 66.7 67.9 RPG 33.9 37.1 APG 10.8 12.8 FG% .407 .417 3P% .339 .353 FT% .749 .708 HISTORICAL MILESTONE WATCH With 143 more points, Aaron Anderson can become the 33rd player in UND history and the 10th Junior to do so to reach 1000 career points. A couple good weekends like last weekend could put Aaron in a position to do it around Mid-February With 302 career assists Jamal Webb looks to pass Ray Jones (304) for 8th all time for career assists. He only needs 3 more to pass him KEY PLAYERS #32 F 6-6 John Dickson SR (13.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.3 BPG, .423 FG%, .694 FT%, .311 3P%) A very experienced and talented senior. He has been a rock for this Hornets team since he first stepped on campus. He is already surpassed 1000 career points earier this season, and is looking to finish his senior season with a bang. A guy that will do most of his work on the inside, but can and does knock down the outside shot with consistency, so we need to respect him for that. He is only an okay shooter from the line, but doesn't hurt the team too much with that either. He is a very solid rebounder and can go off at any time with 10-12 rebounds. #10 G 6-1 Mikh McKinney SO (12.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.9 APG, .396 FG%, .436 3P%, .812 FT%) This young Sophomore JUCO has given the Hornets a much needed punch for the guards position. Its going to be a lot like looking in the mirror at Aaron Anderson, except a couple of inches taller and a few more pounds. He likes to drive and get to the line as much as possible, and when he is successful, he can put some points on the board with his solid free throw shooting. He doesn't look to shoot much from behind the arc, but when he does it usually goes down. Wouldn't hurt to try and take a few charges from this little guard when we can. #5 G 6-2 Dylan Garrity SO (12.3 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 5.1 APG, .500 FG%, .400 3P%, .828 FT%) The other young Sophomore guard for these Hornets is a very dynamic player that can do it all, he has grown into a leadership position already for this team. He can drive and looks to knockdown the outside shot with consistency. He is also very unselfish and looks to get his teammates involved. When he heads to the free throw line, he is very consistent and makes teams pay for putting him on there. Future is very bright for this kid, and I would look for either Webb to try and shut him down. #41 C 6-8 Konner Veteto (11.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG, .519 FG%, .592 FT%) This kid is built like a defensive lineman, and he plays like a defensive lineman. He has two main jobs: grab rebounds, and be the clean up man. For the minutes he plays, he can be a major pain for opposing coaches to try and stop this Shaq-like monster in the paint. He will use all of his weight and throw it around. He is however, not as strong from the free throw line, but recently has been doing well in that department. Wilmer, you have a heavyweight on your hands to guard. This is where you can pick up some charges and start accumulating your blocks as well. KEYS TO THE GAME 1) Familarity: UND went out to Sac State last year, so these players know what to expect when they head out west. Unlike the rest of the Big Sky road places, the entire team has played in this gym before. 2) Rebounding: Going to be very crucial to this game. UND acually will have some height advantage, but will need to have basic fundamentals of rebounding to keep these big boys off the boards. These guys will throw their weight around. We need Wilmer and Allard to play their best and unleash Huff and Webb whenever and wherever we can to get those rebounds. 3) Webb: For the past 3 games I have been telling people that the lightbulb for this kid is starting to turn on. I think these next two games will finally provide us the answer on how Webb's 2nd half of the season will go. If he can give us what he has been, plus a few more dimes and steals, we will come away from this road trip with 2 wins. Huff and Anderson have been rolling as of late, just got to get Webb on their level and this team will really take off! 4) Wilmer: I said in my preview last Saturday that Wilmer was due for a decent outing. He gave UND some inside presence. I think he will be called on once again to provide UND some points in the paint. He doesn't need to be flash, but use all of that 6'10 frame Mitch and give UND a valuable 8-12 Points and 6+ rebounds 5) Free Throws: BE PERFECT! In all seriousness though, we need to keep attack the rim and getting to the line. A negative has turned into a strenght and we need to take advantage. Make as many as the other team takes. 6) Offensive Execution: Its no mistake that the recent UND resurgence has been because of the better offensive flow. We need to bring that flow to the road. Because this is now Weber's weekend to head to the Montana Schools, I am declaring this strech as Separation Week #1. UND has a golden chance to potentially gain some much needed separation between everyone else. 2 crucial road victories will really help the cause in potentially getting that 3rd seed.

Post-Game Thoughts: -Never thought I would ever see in person a perfect free throw performance (a legitament one, not like a 4 for 4 performance or something), especially after last years woes, Jones was very complimentary to all their work they had put in since last season ended. -Portland State must be besides themsevles right now. They shoot over 50% from the field and behind the arc, and 75% from the line. They also outrebounded UND 28-22, and they still came up short. Very solid team I thought, just managed to hit big shot after big shot -I am going to give Wilmer some credit for being able to chip in some big buckets when we needed them, a much better performance from a guy I have been really ragging on -IMO, not only is Aaron Anderson making a strong case for potential 1st Team Big Sky honors, but if his stellar play can continue, he can start to lay a foundation for perhaps a run at Big Sky Player of the Year next year alongside his buddy Huff. He was awesome today and made very good decisions for the most part. -Speaking of Huff... The scary thing is I start to wonder what exactly our fortunes would have been if we have had Huff playing at this level all season long. He played like a superstar, and I can see the real improvement since his Sophomore year. -Webb has started to ball, and he is starting to make better decision and it is no secret that with Webb going alongside Huff and Anderson, we have 3 players playing at a high level and will be very hard to beat. Clutch 3 at the end once again! -Schuler had a tough task of guarding the 6'8 guy, but he was good at chipping in with some nice shots NOW... 4-4 and sitting it 3rd right now and a Huge road swing against Sac State and NAU. While they will be tough games, I think there are 2 wins to be had. If that occurs, to be sitting 6-4 in the conference despite all our frontcourt issues would be a pretty good sitting.

Preview: A very impressive 2nd half that included Troy Huff eclipsing the 1000 point mark for his career helped spur UND to a 65-47 win over Eastern Washington. Despite being outsized, UND managed to outrebound EWU 38-36. Now UND (6-10, 3-4) looks to even its mark in the conference at 4-4 as they take on a Portland State Vikings team, who looks to rebound after a poor performance last night against UNC. Tip off is at 2 PM at the Betty MEDIA Game will be broadcasted across the UND radio network and the game will be on Big Sky TV HISTORY This will be the 3rd meeting all time against the Vikings. UND had won both times these two have played, but you have to go back to the last years of the disco craze (1979) for the last time these two teams have played ABOUT THE PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS (5-9, 3-4) The Vikings are coached by Tyler Geving (4th season as head coach, 8th year in the program). PSU was picked 5th in both the coaches and the media polls in the Big Sky Preseason. Taking a look at what Portland State brings to the table, a couple of things jump out to me. First off, PSU has been very good at home (5-2), but has been horrid on the road (0-7). Diving to this a little bit further, their shooting statistics (other than their free throws, which have been consistent) when compare to home and road is literally night and day. They shoot very well at home, and not so well at home. Despite having a little bit of size, they are porous on the rebounding side of the ball. They do make up for it in a big way by their shooting capabilites not only from the field, but also from the line, as they are one of the tops in the conference. This is not EWU where they just chuck up 3's and have a very dominant big guy, a totally different animal with this team. When they are playing good, they can compete with the top of the conference. They nearly knocked off Weber at home and Montana on the road. A team I feel that will be in the fight for that all important 3rd seed in the conference tourament. TEAM STATS COMPARISON ***DISCLAIMER: THESE STATS ARE ALL THE NON-COFERENCE AND CONFERENCE GAMES TOGETHER*** UND PSU PPG 65.6 67.2 RPG 34.6 30.1 APG 10.8 12.5 FG% .400 .454 3P% .331 .374 FT% .733 .743 KEY PLAYERS #30 6-5 F Renado Parker SR (11.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG, .462 FG%, .760 FT%) This forward knows how to throw his weight around for the Vikings and he has been a very solid player for PSU all season long. This all on a bum ankle. However, during the UNC game on Thursday, he tried once again to play through the injury but only could go 3 minutes before leaving the game. His status for Saturday is unknown. Should he play, expect a guy to play inside that has been a very solid rebounder despite his size and has been a decent shooter from the free throw line. If he doesn't go tomorrow, PSU will be without a major cog in their offense and will have to make up the energy and effort elsewhere. #21 6-8 F Aaron Moore JR (10.9 PPG, 6.6 PRG, .518 FG% .791 FT%) Another solid forward for PSU. I feel that this guy is a little more polished and can really go to work in the post. He has had some pretty solid games over the past several weeks, and if for whatever reason he is not shooting very well from the field, he can just go to the line and raise his score that way. The teams best rebounder without question, so we need to do our best to keep him off the glass. Kinda surprised at the fact that he doesn't really look to block shots and just tries to play solid D. He can get into foul trouble from time to time however. With the fact that PSU doesn't that huge depth in height (we don't either, but that is for another reason), they can't afford him to spend extensive time on the bench, especially if Parker doesn't play. #4 6-3 G Michael Harthum SR (10.4 PPG, 2.1 RPG, .473 FG%, .420 3P%, .800 FT%) As I have stated before on this board, I have a soft spot for guys that can shoot the 3 ball very well. This kid has had a very solid senior season when it comes to shooting the ball. He does get to the line from time to time but his main job will be to get some shots up. He has had some big games already this year that have helped the team win a few ball games (a poor mans Tate U. from UNC). Other than the Oregon game, he hasn't had a very bad shooting night, so he has been consistent in getting his points. I feel our chances will be better if we can keep him quiet and frustrated. I can see either Huff or Schuler taking this match up KEYS TO THE GAME 1) Perimeter D: Once again I feel this will be key. PSU has several players that can shoot the ball very well and we need another 2nd half EWU effort 2) Webb: Once again, he needs to keep playing consistenly like he has started to over the past couple of games. Hopefully his back will be alright and ready to go. I'll state this again: If he gets going along side of Anderson and Huff, UND will start piling up the wins 3) Wilmer: I think he needs to come out of his slump and try to be able to chip in 8-10 points, this game with the lack of size of PSU (only 3 players that go 6-10, 6-10, 6-8) I think provides him a good opportunity to get some much needed inside points to help out the guards. 4) Free Throws: We need to keep PSU off the line as much as possible. Old game strategy my HS coach told us: Try and more free throws than the other team shoots. 5) Rebounding: If we bring out EWU effort again, we will crush them on the boards. Huff and Webb need to keep on wildly crashing the boards like they have been recently. 6) Start of the game: UND needs to get out to a fast start and discourage PSU. They want to chance that 0-7 road record very badly, and if we can jump on them like UNC did last night, it will get in their heads.

UNC kills PSU 67-50 ISU wins on a last second shot over Sac St 60-59 Weber keeps NAU at bay 83-70 Montana hanging on for a 73-67 win over SUU Standings Weber 7-0 Montana 7-0 MSU 3-3 Sac St 3-4 UND 3-4 PSU 3-4 SUU 3-4 ISU 3-4 NAU 2-5 UNC 2-5 EWU 2-5

Thoughts: -First off congrats to Huff for his 1000 point milestone. Its glad to see him back full strength and playing extremely hard. Best player overall tonight, made every effort to get at every rebound that was available. -Webb played a solid game despite some back issues (scary moment #2 after Allard holding his wrist), had a great overall game as well -Anderson played extremely well and stuck some very big shots when we needed them. Was not afraid to get after the rebounds. -Wilmer... catch the darn ball! Had a halfway decent rebounding performance -Schuler played a decent game and got some key buckets at the right time, got robbed of a few points with a rattled 3. -Ball movement was awesome in the 2nd half, even when the shots didn't fall, they were open looks due to the movement -Best rebounding performance since Hawaii... hands down. Even the boards that EWU got, 75% were contested -Free throw shooting was ok. -Jois I feel is the real deal and he and that Martin kid are going to be a awesome frontcourt for EWU for the next 3 years. Time to finish the sweep against PSU to get even at 4-4!

After a week hiatus, I am back on the job with the previews. UND got a big spark off a 23 point, 7 assist game from Jamal Webb. Along with Huff and Anderson finishing with 20 a piece, UND got a much needed victory over the Bobcats of Montana State 86-73. UND (5-10, 2-4) looks to defend homecourt again as they take on Eastern Washington at the Betty. Tip off is at 7 PM MEDIA The game will be on Midco and also will be on Big Sky TV for all the other non-Midco people. HISTORY This is actually the 3rd ever meeting between the two schools. The series is tied at 1 apiece. However, the last time these two schools tangled on the hardwood is way back in the 1982-1983 season ABOUT THE EASTERN WASHINGTON EAGLES (4-12, 2-4) The Eagles are lead by Coach Jim Hayford (2nd Season). The Preseason polls had this team picked 6th in the coaches, but the media picked them to finish 3rd. A team that will live and die by the 3. They lead the conference in not 3 pointers made as a team (148), but they also lead the conference in attemps (419), about 100 more than 2nd place Montana State. Their 2 victories in Big Sky play was a 57-54 win against ISU, and then a 82-59 beatdown of NAU. Both of these victories were on their home court however. EWU however has a very bright future and a great cornerstone to build their program around for this and next 3 years in this kid in Venky Jois. The recent departure of their transfer hurts the team because he was a very good player at both sides of the basketball, and will have to do a very good job in replacing his producion. TEAM STATS COMPARISON UND EWU PPG 65.6 69.8 RPG 33.9 35.9 APG 10.6 13.8 FG% .402 .403 FT% .735 .644 3P% .328 .353 MORE STATS Biggest reason why EWU is near the top of the rebounding charts is the effort of the diaper dandy Jois. He currently leads the Big Sky in Rebounds Per Game with 9.3 One of the biggest success stories of the year for UND is their much improved free throw shooting. It helps when 3 of your players rank in the top 10 in free throw shooting with Anderson (2nd), Schuler (4th), and Wilmer (10th) HISTORICAL MILESTONE With 14 points, Troy Huff will become just the 32nd Player in UND history to score 1000 points, and will be only the 9th Junior to do so. With the way he has been playing as of late, he has a very good chance of getting this mark on Thursday. KEY PLAYERS #55 6-7 F Venky Jois FR (13.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 2.1 BPG, .500 FG%, .682 FT%) I take one look at this Diaper Dandy and say this: The Sky is the absolute limit for this kid. If I had to buy future's stock on players winning the Big Sky Player of the Year awards, I would buy on him being a candidate as soon as next year and for sure his junior and senior years (if he keeps working on his game). A double-double machine just waiting to happen. He can get the Offensive board just as well as he can get the Defensive ones. Oh, and don't try and think about driving down his lane, he turns it back like a regular Bol (4th in the conference in blocks per game, had 6 blocks against Sac State). He is not a threat at all to the outside, but gets the job done reguardless. Not a bad free throw shooter from the line for a big man, but 68.2% is nothing to be amazed with. Once he can get that to around 75-80% if he can, look out. He does a great job in keeping teams honest about sagging to their 3 point style of play. Mitch Wilmer... good luck, you will have to play your very best against this kid to contain him. #24 6-6 F Collin Chiverton SR (10.9 PPG, 2.1 RPG, .407 3P%, .416 FG%, .591 FT%) Here is a guy with length that can stretch a defense. With EWU's style of play, he fits right in as most of his shots taken have been from behind the arch, and has some pretty good success in nailing them. If he is on, he will be tough to deal with. He doesn't really fill the stat sheet in other areas as much, but he cannot be left alone, cause he can sneak 2-3 rebounds at key spots. Free throw percentage is a bit deceiving because of 2 performance (0-2, 1-6) (last year shot .790 from the line), so it might be best to try and keep him off the line. I think he and Huff are going to be a great battle between these two forwards. #12 6-10 F Martin Seiferth SO (7.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.8 BPG, .649 FG%, .477 FT%) The transfer from Oregon is quietly making good of his playing time at EWU. While he doesn't put the ball up a lot, whenever he does it usually goes in. He is a very solid rebounder and a nice secondary rebounding option after Jois. He also does a very nice job patrolling the lanes from anyone driving, as he is one of the top block per game people in the Big Sky. The one thing about this big German kid is this: He has been Shaq at the free throw line. Our bigs are going to have their hands full when going against this kid at Jois. KEYS TO THE GAME 1) Perimeter D: UND has to be very good at closing out on the shooter and limiting the amount of open looks these guys get from behind the arch. Make every 3 pointer contested. The more they do that, the better off they are. If EWU gets open looks, they will go down and we will be in trouble 2) Webb: Needs to keep playing like he did against the Montana Schools. I feel he is turning the corner slowly. If we can get him going like Huff and Anderson, wins are going to start piling up for UND. 3) Rebounding: Need to limit EWU size advantage as much as possible, try and crash and avoid them crashing in the process. I want to see Huff and Webb take control of the rebound if Wilmer isn't going to use his god given size to do so 4) Free Throws: UND needs to win this part of the game and big I feel. They have shot very well this year and need to continue that trend.

Big Sky Standings 1/5 UNC 3-0 MONT 3-1 MSU 3-1 EWU 3-1 SUU 2-1 UND 2-2 SAC ST 1-2 NAU 1-2 PSU 1-3 ISU 1-3 WSU 0-4 Next 4 game will be very tough as they have to play Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington, and Portland State. Oh, and they are all on the road.

Anderson to the line for 2 makes both WSU 59 UND 31

Huff makes both WSU 59 UND 29

Huff to the line for 2 after the MTO WSU 59 UND 27 UND has 2 things going good for them 1) Anderson 2) Free throw shooting

Anderson is playing very well for us WSU 55 UND 27

Anderson to the line for 2 makes both WSU 52 UND 25

Anderson is the only one playing well for us WSU 50 UND 23

WSU 46 UND 21 HALF UND (5-31) 16.1% WSU (16-24) 66.7%

Huff to the line makes both WSU 46 UND 21

Wilmer with the tip WSU 42 UND 18

WSU 38 UND 14 Schuler to the line for 2 makes both WSU 38 UND 16

we are colder than the Antartic in the middle of June

they are making it wayy to easy.. another and 1 swish the and 1 WSU 36 UND 14

Huff to the line for 2 makes both! WSU 33 UND 14

WSU 33 UND 12 7:45 1st