UND got tired of everyone saying they can't win the road, so they decided to do something about it. A domination performance on the boards, a fast start on offense, and clutch free throws at the end led to UND 1st Big Sky win against Idaho State 66-53. Now UND (4-8, 1-2) looks for a rare road sweep, but it won't be easy as they take on Weber State. Tip off is at 8 PM CST
MEDIA
The game will be on Big Sky TV
HISTORY
First Ever Meeting
MILESTONE WATCH With 73 more points, Troy Huff will become the 32nd player in UND history to score 1000 career points. With 44 more steals, Jamal Webb will become the all time leader in UND history in career steals and with 15 more assists, will move to 9th all time in career assists. ABOUT THE WEBER STATE WILDCATS (8-4, 3-0)
The Wildcats are coached by Rande Rahe (7th year). When the season began for Weber, questions were aplenty on how life after Lillard would be for this squad. Consider a lot of those questions answered. Without question, they have been the Big Sky's best team so far this year and if I had to pick right now who would be most likely to win the league and go to the NCAAs, I would be picking Weber today. They have been a real offensive juggernaunt in the Big Sky, as their FG%, 3P%, PPG, and APG all are leading the Big Sky, and in some statistics quite handly. I also feel that this team is very well balanced and has a very nice bench to go along with their team. They are also one of the better defensive rebounding teams in the conference as well. There are a few issues however with this team. One glaring statistic that is a cause for concern is their shooting abilities at the line, which is near the bottom of the conference. While they have a very good free throw shooter on the team, the rest of the team ranges from okay to Shaq-ese. We will see if this crops up in conference play as the reason why Weber didn't win a game or two in the Sky. For UND, these next two games will be the barometer check to see how far away these guys are away from competing for the top of the Sky. To come away with a victory at Weber will turn some heads in the conference. TEAM STAT COMPARISON UND WSU PPG 64.4 77.5 RPG 35.3 36.9 APG 10.9 15.7 FG% .400 .506 3P% .321 .426 FT% .719 .650 MORE STATS!Weber State has two players that are currently in the top 10 in rebounds per game: Joel Bolomboy (8.2 RPG, 2nd) and Frank Otis (5.8 RPG, t-9th). If Bolomboy's rebounding pace was stretched for 40 minutes, it would be a paulty 15.3 RP40 (would top the league) You wonder why Weber is scoring so high and have a high shooting percentage, well you have 3 Wildcats in the top ten in field goal percentage! (Otis, .645 1st, Jordan Richardson .522, 6th, Kyle Tresnak .521, 7th) Jamal Webb continues to help the Defensive cause of UND by still leading the conference in steals per game with 2.4. UND is near the top of the conference in free throw shooting. It helps that you have 2 players currently in the top 10 in free throw shooting in the conference. Aaron Anderson sits in 7th with a .847 free throw percentage, and Josh Schuler right behind him in 8th, with .839 KEY PLAYERS (hard to pick 3) #4 6-2 G-F Sam Bamforth SR (12.3 PPG, 2.3APG, 2.6 RPG, .429 FG%, .421 3P%, .871 FT%)
Here is a guy, senior leadership at its finest. He has really stepped up his game the last 3 games out, and last night he really brought it. He has shot the ball very well the last 3 games, especially from behind the arc. Not only is he deadly from the field, he is just as deadly at the line. Another guy that can get a couple of sneaky assists if you are not careful. If he keeps playing like a 1st team Big Sky player, Weber will be going very far in the conference and could take Weber to the promise land. I think this kid going against Huff is going to be a very fun match up. #5 6-1 G Jordan Richardson JR (9.6 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 3.3 APG, .522 FG%, .550 3P%, .778 FT%)
I am always a sucker for a good guard that can shoot the rock. This kid can really shoot the rock, especially from behind the arc. He has been picking up his game a little bit more lately, with 3 double digit performances the last 4 games. He also is another good dish man, usually getting anywhere between 3 to 7 assists a game. One of these kids that you need to keep in check at the right moments, because he can really string a couple of 3's to really put a hurting on a team. He his also quite effective from the line, so this is one of the kids that you need to keep off the line. #15 6-4 G-F Davion Berry JR (12.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 3.7 APG, .464 FG%, .333 3P%, .618 FT%)
A transfer who has definitely made his impact this season. His biggest moment was his 25 point performance against BYU. Last night against UNC, he didn't do much on the scoring sheet, but did well filling out the other parts of the stat sheets. He has been a very efficient assist man, especially durning conference play so far. He has dropped 7, 7, and 5 dimes in his first 3 games of the conference season so far. When he is on his game, he usually will spend most of his time inside the 3 point line, but can extend his game out and hit the outside shot if we do not pay attention. While he appears to struggle from the line, the stats sometimes can be a bit misleading. If you take out 2 poor performances (a 3 for 8 and a 1 for 5), his stats would be much, much better. Like with most Weber players, he knows his role well, and when needed can take over a game. Other impact players: Joel Bolomboy FR Very good rebounder for the mintues he plays Shoots at a very high percentage Not the greatest shooter from the free throw line
Frank Otis
[*]Another kid who is a good rebounder and again shoots at a very high percentage
[*]Not the greatest shooter from the free throw line
KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Weber O vs UND D: UND needs to be ready to play the best defense of their lives in this game. They need to play 35 seconds of great Defense, rebound and repeat. They gave ISU a lot of open looks and they should feel fortunate that ISU clanged them. If Weber gets those looks tomorrow night, they will put up 100 on us. To quote Golden State coach Mark Jackson: "hand down, MAN down". UND cannot get into a track meet with these guys I feel, because I do not believe we have the shooting horses to keep up. It is up to the D to slow them down and make them earn every point possible.
2) Troy Huff/Aaron Anderson: These two need to be huge, and I mean huge. I loved how Anderson played last night, he wasn't overaggresive in attacking the basket, he was very smart to pick his spots and drove the ball well and got it moving. He also was very effective from behind the arch and at the line. We need that effort once again. Huff has played very well since his return from his jaw injury, but I feel he hasn't has his true breakout game. On the biggest stage of the year, this wouldn't be a bad time to have a 20+ point/10+ rebound game. At the very least, his ability on defense will be needed.
3) Rebounding: We need to keep Weber off of the boards. Everyone on UND needs to be ready to crash the boards. I loved the effort against ISU, but this is a different animal. Wilmer needs to play big and use all of his 6'10 frame. Huff needs to be Huff and be very aggresive on the boards, same with Webb. If we can somehow get a similar rebounding effort from Allard, we might be okay on this part of the game. The more we keep Weber to one and done situations, the better I feel about our chances.
4) Free Throws: UND needs to keep up the good work at the line. They will be going into a tough enviroment so they need to avoid the distractions and make the shots. I feel that UND is going to need to win this statistic if they going to win this game. If this game is close, then we need to take advantage of our chances from the line. For Weber, they need to get their best shooters to the line as much as possible.
5) Shooting: UND needs to come out firing. They need to be shooting very well in order to keep up. They need a SDSU/Hawaii similar shooting performance, which is capable for this team.
Should be a very fun game to watch and I would love to see this team turn some heads with a win against Weber.
