To say this season for the NDSU Men’s basketball team has had it’s ups and downs would be the understatement of the year. Guys of been in an out of the lineup all season long for various reasons and just as one player would come back it seemed another would be be out. With everything the team had faced already in the non-conference season, NDSU was poised to enter conference play in decent shape. They went on a 3 game win streak to close out the non-conference schedule, Griesel was back in the lineup and beginning to look like his old self and they were set to get Maleeck Harden-Hayes back from a shoulder injury in their first conference game. Even though freshman big Andrew Morgan was going to remain out for an extended period, this team was as complete as it had been all year long and they started off league play looking like it. They opened with a 10 point win over UND and then battled back from a large deficit but came up just short against SDSU at home in a thrilling game as most NDSU/SDSU games are. If the loss wasn’t bad enough, the Bison sat to sit with it for a while as due to a postponement for their game against USD, they didn’t play another game for 9 days. When NDSU finally got to play again, they hit the road to Omaha, where despite picking up the road win the Bison suffered another significant blow, the unicorn himself, 6’11” freshman star Grant Nelson injured his knee late in the contest. The injury did not look good live but Nelson dodged a bullet as it ended up being a bone bruise and he did not suffer any structural damage. While it wouldn’t be season ending, it was going to keep Nelson sidelined for a few games. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the Bison headed to Denver to complete the road trip and played what is likely the most complete game the Bison had played to that point all season in a 87-69 victory that wasn’t even as close as that score would make it seem. Of course, just as NDSU would start to think maybe things are going there way, another postponement, this time for a home game against St. Thomas, causes a mix up in scheduling and the Bison have to wait a couple more days to get back on the court. When Saturday finally came and NDSU took the floor against WIU it was the complete opposite of the Denver game, WIU absolutely torched the Bison from the get go and got out to a 48-34 halftime lead. Trenton Massner & Luka Barisic both had the games of their seasons scoring 31 and 28 points respectively. Even with WIU playing one of their best games of the conference season the Bison battled all the way back and Kreuser tied the game up with a pair of free throws and sent it to overtime. Unfortunately, the Bison seemed to use up everything they had left in the tank to get to OT as they went nearly the entire 5 minute period without scoring while the Leathernecks rattled off 13 additional points in the extra frame. After a rare and tough home loss for the Bison they had to hit the road again and head down I-29 to take on the Roos of Kansas City. The extremely physical Roos are always a tough play but the Bison seemed up to the challenge out of the gate, NDSU took an early lead and kept the Roos at distance for a good portion of the game. Then the spiral happened, leading by 14 with 13:08 left in the game, the Roos went on a 21-0 scoring run and held the Bison scoreless for over 8 minutes of game time. Again NDSU would continue to battle to the finish as they got back within 3 but a Tyree Eady 3 pointer at the buzzer missed the mark and the Bison would drop their 2nd conference game in a row. After two tough losses in a row, the road to getting back to their winning ways was not about to get any easier as the team headed to the rowdy Mabee Center in Tulsa to take on ORU and All-American guard Max Abmas. This was an absolute battle and a great mid-major basketball game that was tightly contested the whole way through. NDSU’s defense came to play and were able to hold Abmas in check for the majority of the game thanks in large part to a great defensive effort from freshman Dezmond McKinney who saw his first significant minutes in a long time. I for one (along with quite a few others I know) have been clamoring for McKinney to get the minutes that have been going to Willie Guy off the bench as he is significantly better on the defensive end and also brings some more athleticism to the position. The back and forth game of course came down to the wire, even though NDSU led the entire 2nd half, the lead never extended past 6 points and was sitting at 2 points when Abmas, who was 1-11 from the 3pt line up to that point, buried a 3 with 8 seconds left to give ORU a 1 point lead. But, just as the game was setting up to be another crushing loss, Sam Griesel pulled his team out of the jaws of defeat sinking a runner with a second on the clock which was followed up by a missed deep 3 by Abmas and NDSU escaped Tulsa with a 1 point victory.
That brings us to this week. Due to the postponed games, NDSU is set to play 3 games in 5 days, starting with St. Thomas at home on Tuesday night. The best news of the week came in pregame as we learned NDSU would be welcoming Grant Nelson back into the rotation after missing 4 games. After a very slow start for the Bison, a Rocky Kreuser 3 at the 9:11 mark of the first half kick started a string of 7 consecutive made 3-pointers for NDSU and they erupted for a 24-9 run to end the 1st half and take a 12 point lead into the break. It was more of the same in the 2nd half as NDSU poured it on the Tommies leading by as many as 30 at one point in the 2nd half on their way to a 77-56 route. While Nelson was fairly efficient scoring in his time on the floor with 8 points on 3-3 shooting included 2-2 from 3pt land, he showed his rust a bit with 3 turnovers and also fouled out of the game with only 8 minutes played. Obviously not the return he was hoping for but just him being back on the court was a huge boost for the Bison.
The Bison then hit the road for their 2 game series in South Dakota, opening the weekend last night in Vermillion against the Yotes of USD. The Yotes came in riding a 5 game conference win streak after starting conference play 0-3 and doing so without arguably their best player in Xavier Fuller. The game was another absolute battle that saw the teams trade buckets back and forth throughout and led to yet another game coming down to the final seconds. NDSU had the ball in a tie game with 47 seconds left after Kreuser grabbed the rebound on a Perrott-Hunt missed free throw that would have given USD the lead. With plenty of time on the clock NDSU tried to run an offensive set for Kreuser but he ended up turning the ball over without getting a shot attempt up on the possession which meant the Yotes would have the final shot to win the game. USD worked the ball around and ended up getting Kamateros an open look for a game winning 3 which he missed but a scramble for the rebound ended up in the Yotes hands and a pass back to Kamateros gave him another look at it which he buried at the horn appearing to give the Yotes the win. The refs went to the monitor and lucky for NDSU the ball clearly had not left Kamateros’s hand prior to the game clock expiring and we were headed to overtime. This overtime experience for the Bison was the exact opposite of their game against WIU, NDSU game out firing scoring 12 straight to open OT before the Yotes finally got a bucket with 45 seconds left. A couple more made free throws by Boden Skunberg would end the game and the Bison left Vermillion winners of 3 straight conference games and sitting alone in 3rd place in the conference standings.
That folks is where we stand. NDSU will kick off the 2nd half of conference play tomorrow afternoon on the road at Frost Arena against the Jacks who are currently unbeaten in conference play. Thus far, NDSU is the only team that’s finished a game within 9 points of the Jacks and it’s likely to be a tall task for the Bison to pull the upset in Brookings but if there’s a team in this league that matchups up well enough to do it, it’s definitely NDSU. Nearing full strength, the Bison have their sites set on trying to earn one of the top 2 seeds to earn that coveted day off in the Summit League Tournament and while catching the Jacks at #1 is likely out of the question, a win tomorrow night would do wonders for their chances of earning the #2 seed. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, the Bison will head into another 3 game in 5 day sequence next week but this time at home and they’ll need Bison Nation to be loud and proud to give them the boost they need to get to the finish line. With Dez McKinney finally getting the minutes at the backup PG spot, Grant Nelson back in the lineup and from the sounds of it Andrew Morgan nearing a return to provide some reinforcements as well, this team is primed and ready for this stretch fun and will hopefully be playing their best ball of the season come March. I for one cannot wait to see what the rest of the season brings.