UND vs St. Thomas 1/15/2026 7PM

[sioux24/7]

UND returns home after splitting the road trip, dropping one to Omaha before hanging on to beat UMKC in a game they did everything possible to give away late. Now the Hawks (KenPom 318) get one of the hottest teams in the Summit when St. Thomas (KenPom 128) comes to The Betty on Thursday at 7PM.

Time for some fun and not so fun KenPom nuggets.

Turnovers have been a real strength for UND so far. Offensively, UND turns the ball over on just 15.5 percent of possessions which ranks 73rd nationally (Division I average is 17.3 percent). Defensively, UND forces a turnover on 20.5 percent of possessions which ranks 34th in the country. For perspective, under Sather this is easily the best turnover defense he has put together. The next closest was back in 2021 when UND forced turnovers on 16.9 percent of possessions and that ranked 285th. Massive improvement and can thank Ty Danielson for that.

On the flip side, when teams do get shots up they are making them. UND is allowing an effective field goal percentage of 56.6 percent which ranks 344th out of 365 DI teams. That has to tighten up but is also in part to the defensive scheme Danielson has in place.

Zooming out, KenPom currently only has UND favored in two remaining Summit League games (Saturday vs USD and then Kansas City at home in February). Even with that, the projection has UND finishing conference play at a respectable 7-9. So every night is going to matter and upsets are baked into the math.

Now onto St. Thomas.

The Tommies are 14-4 overall, 3-0 in the Summit, and riding an eight game winning streak. They do not beat themselves. They turn it over only 13.4 percent of the time, ranking 8th nationally, and they force turnovers on 19.1 percent of possessions, good for 77th. Pair that with elite shooting at 57.3 percent effective FG (23rd nationally) and you see why they are dangerous. They have also beaten UND three straight times.

They are led by Summit League POTY favorite Nolan Minessale (#4), a 6’5 sophomore averaging 20.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. Even if his minutes are limited due to a nagging injury, they have plenty of options behind him.

Freshman guard and Nebraska transfer Nick Janowski (#23) is averaging 15.8 points and 5.3 rebounds and has started Summit play hot. Forward Carter Bjerke (#32) is a familiar 6’9 problem who has hurt UND before and is averaging 9.3 points, 3.2 rebounds while shooting 38.9 percent from deep. Then you throw in #0 Isaiah Johnson-Arigu (transferred from Iowa and Miami), #12 Ryan Dufault who is the annoying winning-player type, #11 Austin Herro (Tyler Herro’s younger brother, came from South Carolina), and #34 Ben Oosterbaan who has started every game. They are deep, balanced, and do not fall off when they go to the bench.

KenPom projects this one to go St. Thomas’s way with a predicted score of 81-72.

UND is going to need all hands on deck and a loud crowd to make this one tight. It is dollar dog night at The Betty so get in the doors early and hope they do not run out in the first 10 minutes. If you cannot make it, catch it on the Summit League Network.

Big opportunity here to make a statement and keep pace in what is already looking like a chaotic Summit race.

[gfhockey]

Love beating taur almost as much as bison

 

like bison coshh ch better then taur but something about that yellow irks me

[SIOUXFAN97]

20 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

Love beating taur almost as much as bison

 

like bison coshh ch better then taur but something about that yellow irks me

@Und Princess please translate

[F'n Hawks]

Dollar Dogs!!!

[SIOUXFAN97]

3 minutes ago, F'n Hawks said:

Dollar Dogs!!!

dollar beer?

[F'n Hawks]

24 minutes ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

dollar beer?

I wish 

[SIOUXFAN97]

31 minutes ago, F'n Hawks said:

I wish 

yeah tipsy cottontops are a little too dangerous.....

no fun police

[ND-fan]

I have watched st, Thomas couple of times they play such old school basketball and are very good. Their coach gets them to play such unselfish basketball and to make the extra pass and players seem to hit when they get extra pass. Also is case they play good defense and play intelligent basketball. If we are going to win this game we need to be hitting our shots and not turn over the basketball. I believe we have people to match up with them but I don’t know if we can make adjustments for the game plan their coach will have prepared for us. In my opinion he is best coach in the summit and he recruits players that he can coach and follow through on his game plans.

[sioux24/7]

40 minutes ago, ND-fan said:

I have watched st, Thomas couple of times they play such old school basketball and are very good. Their coach gets them to play such unselfish basketball and to make the extra pass and players seem to hit when they get extra pass. Also is case they play good defense and play intelligent basketball. If we are going to win this game we need to be hitting our shots and not turn over the basketball. I believe we have people to match up with them but I don’t know if we can make adjustments for the game plan their coach will have prepared for us. In my opinion he is best coach in the summit and he recruits players that he can coach and follow through on his game plans.

Agreed on all this. Tauer built a culture through the D3 days and has done a great job transitioning that to D1.