The year was 2014 and NDSU had a few seniors by the names of Taylor Braun, Marshall Bjorklund and especially Trayvonn Wright who made it a habit of punishing the rim with a wide variety of dunks. During one game at some point in the middle of the season, after a particularly ridiculous Trayvonn Wright dunk one of my good buddies made the comment “North Dakota State….more like North Dunkota State” and all of a sudden we were all in. Shirts were made, sign was created and we showed up in Sioux Falls for the Summit League Tournament yelling North Dunkota State every chance we got. While there have definitely been a few great dunkers since that team, there hasn’t been quite the roster where there’s multiple players that can provide that WOW dunk at any given moment on the same team again….until now. Rocky Kreuser and Grant Nelson lived above the rim against Idaho Saturday night, so much so at one point in the broadcast they barely came back from the highlight of one Grant Nelson dunk in time to see the next one live. Add freshman Andrew Morgan to the mix as well and it finally looked like this NDSU offense remembered that it has 3 players 6’10″+ on the roster and took advantage of their size inside. It was a fantastic game to watch as a fan as NDSU cruised to a 90-73 victory. Kreuser, Nelson and Morgan combined for 52 points and 22 rebounds and I believe that sort of stat line from that group is how the Bison will be successful going forward, especially while Griesel is out recovering from surgery. NDSU scored 90 points while only making 3 3-pointers in the entire game. They continued to work the ball into the paint and finish strong. In addition to the 3 bigs listed above, Tyree Eady had by far his best game of the season scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in route to his first double double of the year. Willie Guy look the best he’s looked all year, McKinney was back on the floor, Cook had another solid game and NDSU handled Idaho without needing much from Harden-Hayes, Kallman or Skunberg, all of whom are fully capable of having big games as well. Granted Idaho is not a very good basketball team and NDSU did not perform to their expectation level on the defensive end in the 2nd half but this was the game the Bison needed to get back on track after a tough road trip followed by an incredibly tough and scrappy game at home against Tarleton. One thing is certain, with the 3 bigs making a living above the rim, Harden-Hayes more than capable of highlight reel finishes along with the pending return of Sam Griesel, #NorthDunkotaState is back in full effect. Catch them back in action tomorrow night on the road at Creighton, which is a great opportunity for a quality road victory. Tip time is 8pm CST on FS2. Then the Bison will be back at home Thursday evening for a home game against Northland College where the dunks should once again be high volume so get out to the SHAC to see them for yourself!
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