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UND (7-14, 1-7) @ WIU (4-4, 11-8) 1/23 1 PM


SWSiouxMN

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On 1/22/2023 at 1:43 PM, SWSiouxMN said:

Despite a solid 35 minute effort, ORU just had too many weapons to contain and took over in the final 5 minutes of the game to drop UND to 1-7 in the Summit.

This is a makeup game from 12/23 and since UND plays NDSU on Saturday and WIU had only 1 game this weekend, was a good time to fit it in.

About Western:

It was a mess:

That was the way to describe the WIU program after the 2019-2020 season.  6 straight years of finishing at the bottom or 2nd to the bottom has finally caused a breaking point, sending out Billy Wright.  Of course, then COVID hit and the team began to transfer out.  When they hired former Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter, who at the time was an assistant with Minnesota, he was basically dealing with a program that has started from scratch.

2.5 years in:  It is safe to say that the Leathernecks that made some strides as a program.  Going from 7 wins in 21-22, to 16 wins in 22-23, to an 11-8 record currently.  They have also made steady progress in the Summit, finishing 7th in year 1 and 6th in year 2.

They have a solid core led by Trenton Massner, who is a do it all guard that can score, rebound, and throw dimes. Alec Rosner has been a great addition to the Leathernecks coming from D2 Winona, filling the role of a deadly outside shooter vacated by Will Carius.  Vuk Stevanic and Jesiah West have also been impact transfers, giving WIU a nice frontcourt to build around.  

They get a lot of production from those 4 starters, the bench is a little on the light side of production.

The progression has been steady and they are feeling good about themselves after winning their last two games to even their Summit record at 4-4.  With Massner, who is certainly capable of putting up big numbers and a defense that can guard the 3 quite well (best 3 point defense in the Summit, holding teams to 31% shooting from 3), they might be a team that could cause problems in the 2nd half and in Sioux Falls.

About Rob Jeter (218-209 overall record, 34-39 at Western, 16-24 Summit)

The 3rd year head coach has made nice progress in Malcomb at his 2nd stint as a head coach.  He had a solid record at Milwaukee and made the NCAA tournament twice.  The problem was that he followed Bruce Pearl and for whatever reason, they felt that his record wasn't good enough and got rid of him (guess how that worked out for Milwaukee... not great).  

He has done a good job to take Western from a doormat to the middle of the pack of the Summit.  Now.... can they take the next step in the next few years to the top of the Summit.

Key Player: Trenton Massner (6'2 Senior)

This dude is a playmaker for Western.  He is a guy that can score at all level, not afraid to grab rebounds at a high rate, and create opportunities for his teammates.   HE leads the team in scoring (16.3 ppg), second in rebounding (5.6 rpg, but has shown he can grab double figures in rebounding), and leads in assists (5.2).  He is a top 5 scorer in the Summit currently and leading the league in assists.  He is someone that could easily flirt with a triple double when he is on, UND has to be careful him and need a steady dose of Trent to try and contain him.

Keys:

1) Contain Massner

2) Can UND shoot the ball well enough against the Western D?

3) Can the program continue to make progress?

The Call:

UND finally had the breakthrough against KC and played decently against ORU, the question is now... can they sustain the momentum as they hit the road for the next two weeks.  4 road games against WIU, NDSU, SDSU, and USD.  These games are winnable opportunities on the road and if they are able to sustain their play from this weekend, they can come away with a couple of road wins.  This is an important stretch.  Going 0-fer put them in a tough spot and probably would mean they are playing the Friday games in Sioux Falls.  A split allows them to make up some ground.  If they get all 4.... then things get interesting.

With that said:  If UND can nail shots from the outside, it will put pressure on Western to do the same and that might prove difficult for the Leathernecks.  Historically, these matchups have been close and this will no different.  Now that there has been a breakthrough, I think UND finally wins a close one on the road with another good night from T and Omot

UND 73-71

You can watch the game here

https://goleathernecks.com/watch/?Live=1713&type=Live

Very interesting read - thank you.

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