THIS WEEK: The Fighting Sioux (11-10) wrap up a four-game road swing looking for their first win away from home since a 77-74 victory at Wisconsin-Parkside on Nov. 29. UND returns to the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center to play Hamline on Monday at 7 p.m. That will be the first match-up between those two teams in more than 50 years.
MEDIA INFORMATION: All Fighting Sioux men's basketball games - home and away - can be heard on Cat Country 100.3 FM and on stations across the Fighting Sioux radio network, with veteran broadcaster Scott Swygman calling the action.
A FREE audiocast and FREE live stats (home games only) are available as well at FightingSioux.com.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: The series has been in hibernation for the previous four seasons after UNC made the transition to Division I and the Big Sky Conference following the 2003 campaign. The former conference rivals from the NCC days have played 56 times on the hardwood with UND leading the series 40-16.
The Sioux have won eight of the last nine meetings as the teams are set to meet for the first time as Division I members. UND has come away with wins in three of its last four trips to Greeley, which included an 82-73 victory in the last contest between the teams on Feb. 22, 2003.
ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO: The Bears will be the second team from the Big Sky Conference the Sioux have faced on the road this season. Montana defeated the Sioux, 83-63, on Dec. 2., and are tied for second in the Big Sky standings, one spot ahead of the Bears, who are 6-6 in league play this season. The Grizzlies are the only common opponent on the schedule for both teams. (MU beat UNC, 68-59 on Jan. 25).
UNC had a break from league play this week, so the Bears scheduled a pair of non-conference games. UNC defeated Johnson & Wales, 68-55 on Tuesday and will face the Sioux in its final non-conference game of the season.
Ten different Bears have started at least two games this season with John Pena leading that category with 24 (out of 26). Forward Jabril Banks leads the team in scoring at 13.0 ppg and has made 20 starts at one of the forward positions. Banks is followed in scoring by two more Bears averaging in double figures: guards Devon Beitzel (12.0) and Will Figures (11.4). Beitzel (42.0 percent) and Figures (41.3) are both connecting on more than 40 percent of their 3-point attempts this season.
NORTHERN COLORADO COACHING STAFF: Head coach Tad Boyle is in the third season of his first head coaching job at the collegiate level - just like his counterpart Brian Jones for UND. Boyle has collected a 28-55 record in those two-plus campaigns at UNC, while helping the school continue its transition to Division I - this is the squad's fifth season at collegiate basketball's highest level.
Boyle returned to his home town of Greeley, Colo., in April of 2006 after spending six seasons as an assistant coach at Wichita State. In his final season with the Shockers, Boyle helped lead the team to its first Sweet 16 appearance in 25 years. Boyle coached under Mark Turgeon, whom he was a college teammate of at the University of Kansas.
Boyle played for the Jayhawks under the guidance of legendary head coach Larry Brown. He has also been an assistant coach at Oregon, Tennessee and Jacksonville State. Boyle's staff at UNC includes assistant coaches B.J. Hill, Shawn Ellis and Brian Tafel.
UND'S LAST ACTION: The Sioux dropped their third-straight game, falling 83-60 at SeattleU on Saturday at the Connelly Center. Playing in front of more than 25 of his friends and family members, senior G Darius Joseph (Tacoma, Wash.) returned to his home state and scored 16 of his career-high 19 points in the second half. Senior F O.J. Harrison (Danville, Ill.) added 13 points for the Sioux, while redshirt freshman Pat Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) scored all 11 of his points in the first half on a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the field. He equaled his career-high for 3-pointers made (three) and field goals made (four) during the opening 20 minutes.
THIS WEEK's HOMECOMING KING: Last week senior G Darius Joseph (Tacoma, Wash.) returned to his home state of Washington to play Seattle University. Joseph played his prep basketball at Mount Tacoma High School, which is just over 30 miles south of Seattle and scored a career-high 19 points in front of a number of friends and family.
This Thursday, another senior guard, Wes Porter (Arvada, Colo.) will get a chance to play in his home state and in front of family and friends as the Sioux face Northern Colorado. Greeley, Colo., which is the home the Bears, is located just over an hour north of Arvada, which is a suburb of Denver. Porter, a co-captain, has started 14 games this season.
TWICE AS NICE: Joseph has a knack for scoring in the second half and that was no different in the Evergreen state when the Sioux point guard scored 16 of his career-high 19 points in the second half of the contest with SeattleU. On the season, Joseph has scored 181 points with 124 of those coming after halftime (68.2 percent).
SWAT MITCHELL: Redshirt freshman F Pat Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) has become the defensive presence the Sioux have needed on the inside. His 26 blocks rank first on the team and that number has grown rapidly in the last seven contests when Mitchell has swatted 15 shots (2.1 bpg). Mitchell has also registered 14 steals during the campaign.
THREE FALLIN': A slight drought cannot keep junior G Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) from remaining in second place on the career 3-point accuracy list in UND history.
Bledsoe, who is just 1-of-5 in the last two games from beyond the arc, is still within percentage points of first place on the all-time list.
In 21 games this season, Bledsoe is shooting a blistering 51.3 percent (40-for-78) from beyond the arc, which is on pace to shatter the school record of 47.7 percent, set by Hunter Reinke in 1999-00.
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE: Bledsoe is also one of the top free throw shooters in program history and enters Thursday's game ranked fifth all-time in free throw accuracy.
In 21 games this season, Bledsoe ranks first on the team, connecting on 83.7 percent of his attempts (41-for-49) from the free-throw line, including making 20 of his last 24 attempts. He made it to the line seven times against Upper Iowa, converting on six of those opportunities.
THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED: The Sioux will play in 11 states during their first season as a Division I team, which makes for a lot of miles to be traveled. That exact figure is 9,754 miles. With a trip to Greeley set for this Thursday, UND will have traveled close to 5,000 miles when they return home from Northern Colorado in the last week. The Sioux took their longest trip of the season this past weekend when they played SeattleU in the Emerald City (1,505 miles).
Through 10 road games, the team has covered more than 15,700 miles via the road and the air. Three of the team's five longest trips of the year are scheduled for the end of the campaign, beginning with the trip to the Northwest. The Sioux will have two road games remaining following the Seattle U contest at Northern Colorado (Greeley, 948 miles) and SIU-Edwardsville (Edwardsville, 937 miles).
HARK THE HERALD SCORER: Senior G Daniel Harkins (Portage, Wis.) is making the most of his final season with the Sioux. The shooting guard is leading the team in scoring at 14.2 ppg and has started all 21 contests for UND.
Prior to the season, his last start came as a redshirt freshman in the 2005-06 season finale vs. South Dakota in the NCC Playoffs. He entered the campaign with a career average of 4.5 ppg and had scored 221 career points. Only 24 of those points came in the last two seasons as he missed the entire 2006-07 campaign and saw action in 23 games as a reserve in 2007-08.
Through 21 games this season, Harkins has eclipsed his previous career total with a team-best 298 points and has led the club in scoring in 11 of those contests. He surpassed the 500-point plateau in his career with 20 points at Southwest Minnesota State (Feb. 3).
