If you haven’t been to the SHAC for a Bison men’s home game lately you’ve been missing out. We had Griesel absolutely take over and go toe to toe with Cooper Neese and Indiana St and grind out a 7 point win. Then we had the good old fashion rivalry game against UND where native North Dakotan’s Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg had big games to outlast UND and their scoring machine of a freshman Paul Bruns in a game that was tightly played and exciting most of the 2nd half. Last week was the marquee battle in the Summit League with NDSU battling SDSU in a matchup that as of late has been nothing but thrilling games and this one didn’t disappoint. The stars came to play as Greisel, Kreuser and Cook battled Scheierman, Wilson and a big game from Luke Appel in a game that saw NDSU storm back from 20 point deficit with 13:49 left in the 2nd half to tie the game with 41 seconds remaining only to fall short in the final two possessions in a 90-86 loss. One thing is for sure, this Bison team is looking more and more like the team we thought they’d be at the start of the season which is exactly what is needed as they now begin to tackle one of the toughest tasks in college basketball, winning conference games on the road.
As if this team hadn’t faced enough adversity already this season, Covid is back to rearing it’s ugly ahead across the college basketball landscape and has already affected 2 of NDSU’s first 4 conference games. Last Saturday’s home contest against USD was initially cancelled with the Yotes battling Covid in their program but that contest has now been rescheduled for January 31st. Now, the game at Denver that was supposed to be played this evening has been moved to Monday due to Covid issues within the Pioneers program. With the 2 games being moved it means that by time NDSU takes the court again Saturday at Omaha, it will have been 9 days since their last game against SDSU on January 30th. With the conference schedule set up the way it is, it is supposed to be easy for a team to get in a routine with games Thursday/Saturday every week. With Covid affecting scheduling yet again, the routine will once again be that there is no routine and teams will just have to go with the flow. As a fairly veteran team, the Bison should be as well suited as a team can be to handle it but in any case the situation is not ideal. I for one am thankful the Summit League has made the effort to get all of the games rescheduled and played versus the forfeit/cancellation policies that were initially in place, let’s cross our fingers and hope rescheduled does not become the norm over originally scheduled.
On to the task at hand, trying to win a conference road game after 9 days off. The good news for the Bison is with the Denver game getting bumped, their first road contest is against Omaha. Quite simply put Omaha has not been good thus far this season, they only have one D1 win on their record but that did come in conference play against a good Western Illinois team. However, they followed that win up by getting run out of the gym in a 107-62 route at the hands of ORU. Omaha just hasn’t had the firepower to get over the hump and win some games. They only have one double digit average scorer in Felix Lemetti at 10.3ppg and like other teams in the Summit have had a variety of guys in and out of the lineups due to various reasons. Only Lemetti and fellow guard Darrius Hughes (9ppg) have played in all 14 of the Mavericks games this season. If they can get some stability in the lineup there’s a chance Omaha could make a play at a middle of the pack seed by the end of the season but simply put this is a game NDSU should be able to use to get back into rhythm and and to build some confidence on the road before heading to Denver on Monday.
Come Monday the task will become a little more difficult. Denver has been a tough place to play for NDSU over the years as the Bison lost 4 straight in Denver from 2016-2019 before finally winning again in 2020 to open the conference season. In last years Covid schedule, NDSU had the Denver series at home, which they swept, and did not have to go play at Hamiliton Gymnasium. This year’s Denver squad has been almost entirely rebuilt under new head coach Jeff Wulbrun. Junior transfer KJ Hunt leads the way averaging 16.2ppg, the word transfer being the key. Hunt started his college career at the JuCo level at the College of Central Florida, then made his way to McNeese State for his sophomore season before again transferring to Morehead St where he helped lead the Eagles to an Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championship before losing to #3 seeded West Virgina in the NCAA Tournament. After accomplishing all of that he opted to transfer to Denver this offseason and now leading the team in scoring. Denver definitely has some scoring options as JuCo guard transfer Jordan Johnson is 2nd on the team in scoring at 11.1ppg and senior transfer forward Michael Henn, who like Hunt is also on his 4th collegiate team is 3rd in scoring at 9.6ppg. Behind them are 3 talented freshman in guards Coban Porter (9.1ppg) & Tevin Smith (9.0ppg) and forward Touko Tainamo (6.6ppg) who are all playing prominent roles for the Pioneers in their true freshman seasons. This Denver team reminds me of Western Illinois last year under their first year head coach. Wulbrun is changing the culture but with an entirely new roster it takes some time to implement the system and build consistency. The effort has been there on the court for the most part this season and there’s definitely talent to work with so this team will definitely compete and victories against them will have to be earned. Denver thus far is 1-2 in league play with an overtime loss to WIU and a 1 point win over St. Thomas at home before losing 83-66 to ORU in their first league road contest. Denver is 5-11 overall and I believe will only continue to improve through the end of the season, it will be a game NDSU will certainly expect to win but I anticipate it will be a bit of a battle for the Bison to leave Denver with a W on Monday.