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UND (11-16, 5-9) @ Fort Wayne (17-12, 9-5) 2/28 6:30 PM


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UND, behind the Junior class on Senior Day, took care of business against DU and won their final home game of the season and punch their ticket to Sioux Falls.  Now they head on the road to see how much they can improve their seed as they take on Fort Wayne, who is trying their hardest to hang on to the #3 seed and avoid being on the same side as SDSU. 

The Dons can be defined as a team that has been on streaks in this conference season: They started off 4-0, with a big win at home against SDSU.  Then they followed it up with three straight losses, including being blown out by Western Illinois.  Then they went off for 5 straight wins against a "soft" part of their schedule, but now have dropped two straight against SDSU and Omaha.  A top 2 seed is out of reach, but with a hard charging NDSU squad (who is @ USD) next after UND and knowing that it could be for the #3 seed and avoiding SDSU until the final (even though they have to solve the Omaha problem, 0-2 against them this year), they have to take this game seriously.  With Konchar and Harrell and Holba in tow, the Dons think that they can finally break through and win in Sioux Falls. 

UND has played well in their last two games, but the facts are they did play a team without their best player, ORU, (to be fair, UND was without Avants in that one) and against a DU team who is obviously looking to next year.  They have an opportunity to get a road win against a decent conference opponent and finish the year strong.  UND does have a lot to play for still, as they could improve their seeding and potentially move themselves into a more favorable matchup to pull an upset.  As of now they are tied for 6th (but would currently lose the tiebreaker over USD due to head-to-head, but they do play on 3/2).  There is a chance that if they win both games and get help (ORU losing their final game) they could rise as high as a 5 seed.  Just a single win or WIU loss means they could be no worse than a 7 seed, which could mean a matchup against Omaha or SDSU in round 1.

Milestone Watch:

-Connor Avants season field goal percentage is currently 61.3%, which would be 3rd best in UND history in a single season and would be the highest in UND D-1 history in a single season.  His career 55.5% would be 7th best all time in UND history.

-Billy Brown is shooting 46.9% from 3, which would be 5th best in UND history for a single season

-Aanen Moody 70 3 points ranked 10th in the UND single season list, and still has a chance to catch Q all time D-1 record at 84, but it will be virtually impossible for him to catch the record at 104.

Other games (ranked in importance for UND)

WIU (4-10) @ DU (2-12)

NDSU (8-6) @ USD (5-9)

Omaha (12-2) @ ORU (6-9)

Keys:

1) How does UND deal with Konchar?

2) Can UND hit enough outside shots?

3) Can the UND Junior Class repeat their performance against DU?

The call:

I would love to pick UND in this one, if they were full strength I might pull the trigger on it.  I'm not sure how Avants is health wise when he is playing (how close he can get to 100%) and this question will prevent me from picking UND.  I think they will put a strong performance and will hit their shots, but I think they will fall a bit short. Love to be wrong!

Fort Wayne 82-78

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  • SWSiouxMN changed the title to UND (11-16, 5-9) @ Fort Wayne (17-12, 9-5) 2/28 6:30 PM

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