On Thursday, the University of St. Thomas fell in Fargo, as they had last year and the year prior to that. St. Thomas just ran into the annual “Richman Reverse*” in Fargo, and was not able to stop Bo Skunberg in the second half when he was let loose. No Summit League team wants to run into the Bison in the final 30 days of the season. St. Thomas each year has 6 regular season games on Interstate-29, and has yet to win in all of those arenas. Fargo is one of them. If the Summit League had a main street, it is I-29. Success on that stretch of pavement connecting Kansas City to Grand Forks is an indicator for how a team will play in another I-29 city, Sioux Falls. Year one they conquered UND and Omaha, year two they went 1-5, and this season they have tallied a win in KC for the first time and are at 2-3 vs the I-29 schools. The opportunity today is to get their first ever road win in Brookings, South Dakota.
*trademark from Tim Hill
The Standings:
St. Thomas is in a tie for the third place seed, with the Bison and Kansas City. With three games left in the year according to the current standings, Kansas City has the easiest road to 3-0 in those games, followed by UST, and then NDSU. UST needs to have a strong finish to avoid being on the bottom half of the bracket. It’s been said a ton, but this is the most open the Summit League has been in a for awhile for a team not ending in “State” or “Roberts” to win the Summit League tournament. UST is in a good position to capitalize, but the momentum going into Sioux Falls needs to start building today in Brookings.
St. Thomas @ South Dakota State
UST had this Jackrabbits team on the ropes, and was up 7 with 2.5 minutes to go January 11th, in St. Paul. The Mayo Miracle in St. Paul was painful. South Dakota State is shooting a top-25 in the country 55% of their 2 point looks. In the prior matchup, SDSU had 26 shots at the rim, compared to UST’s 15. UST won in every defensive stat in that game (steals, turnovers, blocks) except one, defensive rebounds. St. Thomas also in the last game versus the Jack Rabbits let it fly from 3 39 times, compared to SDSU’s 13. That game plan gave UST their best opportunity to win the game, and I do not see why that would not be the case today in Brookings.
Score Prediction UST 76 SDSU 71