UND looked to return home for the final time after a disappointing showing in Denver. They had to take on league leading South Dakota, who was coming off a split in Brookings.
Lets just say…. they pulled the stunner of the weekend.
Results
Game 1: UND 85, USD 79
USD had a plan going into the weekend. Double Rebraca down low every chance that they can get. Things looked good for the first 5 minutes for the Yotes in game 1 as they raced off to an 11-4 lead. Stanley Umude led the way with 6 quick points in those 5 minutes, hitting tough jumpers and also stealing and slamming the basketball home.
After that, the two biggest stories of the weekend followed through. UNDs ability to hit the outside shot and the outstanding play of Bentiu Panoam. UND responded by hitting 7 first half 3s, two of them by Panoam, who had 10 points in the first half. It was just Panoam hitting them, Brady Danielson confidently stroked in 2 of his own in a key stretch in the first half to tied the game. UND used this to take a 6 point lead at the half.
In the 2nd half, USD pushed many times, but unlike previous occasions, UND managed to punch back. Cut the lead to 54-49 with 12:23 to go? Bentiu and Tyree hit back to back 3s to push the lead back to 11. USD made another push and cut the lead down to 5 again with 9:39 to go. Once again, UND had another 6-0 run with an Igbanugo 3 and an Panoam old fashioned 3 point play. It looked pretty good for the home team.
Then AJ Plitzuweit happened. In a 1:50 stretch he went on a personal 11-2 run to give the Yotes a 72-71 lead. It was an amazing stretch of play from young Sophomore guard. Perhaps this was the moment that the Yotes would finally pull away. UND had other plans.
First, Ihenacho forced AJ into back to back turnovers. On the first possession on the turnover, Seybian Sims buried a 3 in the corner and in the process, got fouled. He completed a 4 point play. On the 2nd turnover, Panoam shot faked and buried a 19 foot jump shot. Rebraca hit a jump shot to finish a 8-0 run to give UND a 79-72 lead with 2:55 to go. USD got as close as 79-76 with 2:12 left, but couldn’t get any closer. UND sealed the deal with some free throws and picked up a big win.
Game 2: UND 85, USD 81
On the 2nd night, UND was playing with house money, they got their one win. They couldn’t top what they did on Saturday, could they?
Oh they did. The first half was even better and once again was Bentiu Panaom, who had 7 first half points. An even bigger story was the play of Mitchell Sueker, who finally started burying the outside shot, hitting two of them in the first half. UND was a little cooler in the first half from 3, only hitting 5 of them, but they were able to get to the rack at will. They even finished the first half strong, taking a 36-24 lead.
In the 2nd half, the lead stayed within 12 for the first 5 minutes as the teams traded baskets. Panoam was getting to the rim at USD couldn’t do a thing about it to stop it, and he knew it. With 14:59 to go, UND was up 50-38. Then, they did something they haven’t done most of the year, they built on their lead. UND went on a 13-3 run in the next 3:39 to go up 63-41. UND fans were stunned to think that this was even possible. Things look really good.
Then USD began to makes things interesting. Once again, it was AJ doing the damage. He scored 8 straight for the Yotes in the next 4 minutes. UND was able to respond to this push, keeping the lead at 20 with 8:31 to go. USD managed to cut it down to 12 with 5:02 to go behind Kanon Koster, who had 5 points in that stretch. UND responded with 4 Panoam free throws to go up 76-60 with 3:30 to go. You would think that would be enough.
Then AJ went bonkers… again. He scored 17 straight points! He did on the pull up, the free throw line and from 3. This time, UND wasn’t able to answer back fully. They didn’t make another field goal after the Sueker field goal with 5:18 left in the game, so they did it at the free throw line. The problem was they were going 1 of 2 from the line, so USD was able to really cut into the lead. Things really got interested with a minute to go. After an Igbanugo turnover, AJ turned around a buried a 3 to cut the lead to 6. UND responded with another 1 out of 2 trip from the line to push the lead to 7. AJ got fouled on a 3 point attempt and made all 3 at the line to cut it to 4 with 44 seconds left. Was this going to be the biggest heartbreak for UND this season? It was not to be. Sueker got fouled on the next possession, calmly knocked down 2 free throws. AJ missed a 3 on the other end. Ihenacho got fouled and went 1 of 2 from the free throw line. After another AJ jumper, UND broke the press and Rebraca slammed it home for the dagger dunk. After the team traded some free throws and a long Umude 3 later… UND finished the game with an 85-81 win and got that home sweep. Just a little too close for comfort is all.
Overall Thoughts:
UND did three things that they haven’t been able to do all year.
1) Play a 40 minute ball game (they did it twice!)
2) Answer back when the opponents pushed
3) Sweep an opponent
It was amazing and all exciting to see. UND finally saw what this team is fully capable of on both ends of the floor when they are clicking.
For USD, it was a tough one. Umude had to work for his points (credit Sims, Rebraca and Sueker for that). AJ was a stud and is going to be a problem for the next 3 years. Outside of some flashes from Koster, Tasos and Hunt, USD didn’t get a lot from their reserves.
While he didn’t get Summit Player of the Week, what Bentiu Panoam did was special. He was dominate in both games. He dropped 25 points in game 1, nailing 4 3’s in the process. In the 2nd game, he had 22 and did most of his damage driving the basketball and the free throw line. USD had no answer for him all weekend. In the weekend that was to honor the lone senior, he put together a memorable senior weekend. It continues to be an amazing story. Just look at these stats: 23.5 ppg, 68.1% FG (15-22) 60% from 3 (6-10) and 91.6% from the free throw line (11/12).
While Ihenacho was limited on the scoring end, he made an impact with his rebounding and distributing. He had 15 assists and 3 turnovers for the weekend. A 5 to 1 turnover ratio! He averaged 9 rebounds a game this weekend. He came up with some key steals in the first game. It was quite a performance from the freshman.
Rebraca was the key focus this weekend but he still managed to hit his averages. He had a double-double in game 1 (13 points, 11 rebounds) and dropped 17 points in game 2. He held his own against the bigger USD bigs and did a good job on Umude when called upon.
Sims had the assignment of deal with Umude and he did a good job guarding him. He showed his offense by scoring 11 points (hitting both of his 3s and all 3 of his free throws) in game 1. Didnt score as much in game 2 but still had solid defense.
Danielson had his moment in game 1, where he hit back to back 3s. You can really tell that he has more confidence in his stroke.
Nero had a nice stretch in the 2nd game, scoring 13 points off of the bench. He definitely has that in his game where he can take things over for a couple of minutes and is showing more of that.
Mitchell Sueker had a solid weekend. He had to deal with the bigger USD bigs and to be honest, handled it better than Rebraca. His scoring was a big impact in the 2nd game where he had 15 points off of the bench. However, that wasn’t the big story. It was this stat: 4-6 from 3, including going 3-3 in the 2nd game. This is a huge development for UND. If they are going to get this from him, the offense will look even better.
UND went 25-44 from 3 this weekend. 56.8% Hard to imagine a month ago that UND can shoot this well. This hot shooting allowed UND to attack the basket at will or distribute to their shooters.
UND has even their Summit record to .500 and have now matched their win total from last season in conference play. A winning season in conference is in play for the first time since the amazing 2016-17 season. The only thing standing in their way is Omaha, who has beaten UND 11 straight times going back to the days of the NCC conference.