Okay UND fans… deep breaths.
UND lost to Dixie State, now an answer to a trivia question as to which team did the Trailblazers beat for their first win as a D1 school. You might look at the score and think that this was a nip and tuck game between the two, but a closer look shows a different story.
Before we get to the concerning stuff, lets get to some good things.
-Sueker and Sims were the best players on the floor. Mitchell had a nice game on the floor, showing a little bit of everything that UND was hoping for when he came into the program. 19 points and 8 rebounds isn’t a bad stat line. The 6 turnovers were a concern however. Seybian looked good on both ends of the floor, even knocking down for 3s in the process as well. If this is what UND is going to get from both going forward, that is going to make things way better for UND.
-The team flashed their offensive and defensive potential in the first half, both individually and a team. The first half was better in game 2 than it was in game 1.
-We got a look at Ihrenacho at the point guard spot last night. Despite some rough moments on the offensive side and the ball handling side of things, he did pull down 8 rebounds and went 7/10 from the free throw line. I can see why Sather is high on him.
-Nero dished out 7 assists, definitely a step in the right direction.
-Despite being down, I did like the fact that they did give themselves a chance to steal it at the end, however they just couldn’t make the one play that they needed.
Now for the concerns
-With 15:08 left in the 2nd half, Sims nailed a 3 to extend the UND lead to 9. It was 42-33 and it looked like UND was going to gain the necessary separation. It was this point where Dixie State went on a 35-14 run. How in the world did this happen? Well the offense didn’t get into a very good flow and the defense started getting a step slow. Dixie seemed to give them the slip and were able to get to the hole. The concerning thing was there wasn’t someone who was going to step up and say: This needs to stop, on both ends of the floor. Sather mentioned in the Grand Forks Herald that Dixie came out with more poise. I think at one point Dixie scored on 12 straight possessions. They were either hitting jumpers, getting to the line, etc. Not great.
-14/23 from the free throw line. Half of those made free throws came within the last 4 minutes of the game, so at that point they were 7 of 15 and it just seemed that every free throw was hitting hard off of the back of the iron. For a Sather coached this, this wasn’t very good and brought some bad memories of teams coached under Brian Jones when it came to the free throw line.
-3 point shooting again was an issue: You look at the stats and say 7/18 isn’t terrible, but remember that 3 of those makes was in that last 2 minute flurry. So in the rest of the game they were 4/15. More alarming was that only 1 make was from a guard. Most of the 3 point damage was done by Sueker and Sims. Nero was quiet from 3. Brady went 1 for 3 and missed 2 open looks. Igbanugo made 1 but missed an open look as well. On the other side, Dixie went 1 of 10 from 3… and won. This needs to be a spot where UND needs to improve on. They need to have shooters develop from the guard position.
-No DAE tonight as it was stated he was injured and didn’t make the trip. Sather in his presser stated that he could have him back for the Gopher game or next week before the Dakota Showcase. He was certainly missed on the floor
-Turnovers were high once again. A fair share of them were because of offensive fouls committed by UND. A big reason that G and Sueker were in foul trouble and Rebraca fouling out.
There was a fair share of concern shared by UND fans on the message boards last night and there should be some concern going forward that it might take a while before this team starts to figure things out. This team needs more game reps before conference play. (As this was being typed, it was announced that a UND will play SIU on back to back nights). There have been flashes that this team can become a good team and be a tough foe in the Summit. However, they are not there yet. A trip to the U awaits tomorrow, lets see what goes down.