GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Fighting Sioux fans will get a glimpse of a future Big Sky rivalry on Friday night when Sacramento State comes to town to take on North Dakota in men's basketball action at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Hornets will be one of two Big Sky teams (at Northern Colorad, 2/21) that UND will face this season. Tip-off with the Hornest is slated for 7 p.m.

ALL-TIME SERIES vs. SACRAMENTO STATE  

Overall: First Meeting  

In Grand Forks: First Meeting  

Jones vs. Sacramento State: First Meeting  

Last Meeting: First Meeting

• The Fighting Sioux will play their first of two games against Big Sky teams on Friday when Sacramento State visits Grand Forks for the first time. UND will pay a visit to former North Central Conference rival and current Big Sky member Northern Colorado on Feb. 21.

• The Sioux are 0-4 against Big Sky teams under head coach Brian Jones. The Sioux have lost twice to both Northern Colorado and Montana over the past two years. The Bears took an 80-72 decision at home during the 2008-09 season and beat the Sioux 70-63 in Grand Forks last season. UND dropped a pair of contests at Montana over the past two seasons (83-63, 2008-09; and 61-37, 2009-10). 

• UND lost its first contest against a nationally-ranked opponent at the Division I level on Tuesday when 25th-ranked Wisconsin shot better than 62 percent in the 85-53 victory. 

• True freshman Troy Huff led the Sioux with 21 points in the return to his home state of Wisconsin. Huff's mother, Theresa, is still Wisconsin's all-time leading rebounder with 1,201 and ranks fifth on the career scoring charts (1,879).

• Junior Patrick Mitchell added 11 points in the setback, connecting on 3-of-8 attempts from 3-point range. Mitchell is shooting 58.3 percent from beyond the arc in the opening two games (7-for-12).

• Mitchell and Huff also shared team-high scoring honors with 18 points in the season-opening victory over Waldorf. Mitchell went 7-for-8 from the floor and buried all four of his 3-point attempts.

• Huff has made 19 trips to the free throw line in the first two games, making 14 of those attempts. The rest of UND team is 18-for-22 from the charity stripe.

• True freshman point guards Jamal Webb and Aaron Anderson both scored seven points in the loss to the Badgers. Webb had the first four points of the game for UND. Those two each had four assists in the season-opening win over Waldorf.

• Mitchell is the team's top returning scorer after averaging 9.2 ppg during his sophomore campaign. The 2010-11 preseason All-Great West selection upped that average in league play, ranking second on the squad with an 11.8 ppg average. 

• Mitchell turned in the highest-scoring game by a Sioux player last season when he tied a school-record by making 10 3-pointers in a win over NJIT. The Des Moines native finished with a career-high 33 points against the Highlanders.

• Senior Derek Benter (21 starts), sophomore Spencer Goodman (24) and Mitchell (24) are the three returning starters for Jones. 

• Senior Chris Clausen (6.1 ppg) and sophomore Nick Haugen (5.8 ppg) were the top two scoring reserves for the Sioux a year ago. Both are back as part of a roster that features 10 returning letterwinners.

• Those 10 letterwinners will be joined by a freshman class that features two redshirts (Brandon  Brekke and Josh Schuler) and the before-mentioned trio of true freshman (Anderson, Huff and Webb). The previous two recruiting classes redshirted before seeing action for UND, but that is not the case with this year's trio.

• Clausen and Brekke will likely see some action on the court together, which will bring back memories for their UND Hall of Fame fathers, who were teammates on the 1981-82 NCC championship squad. Dan Clausen (2007 inductee) and Steve Brekke (1997 inductee) helped lead the team to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals that season and a 27-5 overall record.

• UND is replacing their top two scorers from last year as seniors Travis Bledsoe (15.5 ppg) and Travis Mertens (9.9 ppg) finished out their respective careers. 

• Bledsoe earned All-Great West first team honors after averaging 21.1 ppg in league games. The sharpshooter finished his career with 184 makes from beyond the 3-point line - a total that ranks fifth in the school annals.

The history between these two clubs has yet to be written, however, there will be plenty to archive in the future. Friday's matchup will be the first between the two schools on the hardwood and it will not be the last though as the Sioux and Hornets will be conference foes starting in the 2012-13 season. That is the season UND joins the Big Sky Conference. The teams will play a non-conference game next season in Sacramento.

Head coach Brian Katz is entering his third season at the helm of his alma mater. Katz began a major rebuilding project when he took over the program prior to the 2008-09 season. The Hornets won just two games that first season with 12 newcomers on the roster. The team increased its win total to nine last season, finishing ninth in the Big Sky with a 3-13 record. 

Katzes' 2010-11 roster features two returning starters and only three returning letterwinners. He has added nine newcomers to the fold as well.

The Hornets are led in scoring by point guard Sultan Toles-Bey, who is averaging 17.5 ppg in his first two contests. Toles-Bey is coming off a career-high outing against Bethany when he scored 21 points in the 84-55 victory.

Sacramento State lost its opener in overtime, falling to Cal-State Bakersfield, 80-78. Toles-Bey had 14 in that contest as he was one of five Hornets to reach double figures. 

Toles-Bey is not a one-man show though as JUCO transfer Alpha N'Diaye has made his presence known in the first two contests. N'Diaye has gone for 16 points and eight rebounds in both of the Hornets' games this season after taking a redshirt during the 2009-10 campaign.

Five of the seven Great West Conference men's basketball coaches chose a different team to win the 2010-11 conference crown. However, it was one of the two teams that did not receive a first place vote that ended up on the top of the tightly-bunched Great West coaches' preseason poll released by league officials in late October.

New Jersey Institute of Technology earned the top spot with 36 points after tying for fifth in the league standings a season ago. The Sioux were picked to finish in a tie for sixth with Utah Valley with 21 points as the top and bottom spots were only separated by 15 points. UND and UVU were two of four teams to receive a first-place tally. 

1. NJIT – 36 points

2. Houston Baptist (1) – 35 points

3. South Dakota (3) – 32 points

4. Chicago State (1) – 29 points

5. Texas-Pan American – 22 points

6. North Dakota (1) – 21 points

    Utah Valley (1) – 21 points

Junior forward Patrick Mitchell (F, Des Moines, Iowa) was one of 12 players named to the Great West's preseason All-Conference men's basketball team. Mitchell earned a spot on the All-GWC second team that was voted on by the league's seven head coaches.

 

Mitchell is the top returning scorer for head coach Brian Jones and the Fighting Sioux. He averaged 9.2 ppg overall and upped that to 11.8 ppg in league action as a sophomore in 2009-10. He ranked third in GWC contests last season in 3-point accuracy, shooting 45.6 percent from beyond the arc (31-for-68).

 

Mitchell also tied the UND school record for 3-pointers made in a game when he connected on 10 in a victory over NJIT on Feb. 23.

The Fighting Sioux appeared on an ESPN network for the first time since moving to the Division I level on Tuesday in Madison. True freshman Troy Huff scored a team-high 21 points as the game between UND and 25th-ranked Wisconsin was broadcasted live on ESPN3.com. Huff returned to his home state and went 6-for-15 from the field and 9-for-13 from the free throw line. 

Junior Patrick Mitchell and freshman Troy Huff have both reached double figures in the first two games of the season. Mitchell and Huff shared team-high honors with 18 points in the season-opening victory against Waldorf College, while Huff went for 21 points off the bench against Wisconsin and Mitchell chipped in with 11.

The 2010-11 true freshman class of Aaron Anderson, Troy Huff and Jamal Webb have jumped right into the mix this season and their scoring output has been stellar. The trio scored 30 points in the season-opening win against Waldorf and contributed 35 of the team's 53 points at No. 25 Wisconsin on Tuesday. That total accounted for 66 percent of the scoring and for the season, the trio has scored exactly half of UND's points.

If the five newcomers to the Fighting Sioux roster were nervous on Friday night, their production sure did not show it. The freshmen quintet accounted for more than 50 percent of UND's points (39 of 77) and the group also combined for 14 of the team's 37 rebounds and 11 of the 13 assists. True freshman Troy Huff led the scoring (18) and rebounding (six) effort, while classmates Jamal Webb and Aaron Anderson each dished out four assists. Webb also added six rebounds to share team-high honors with Huff. Anderson had 10 points to go with his four assists, while redshirt freshman Josh Schuler (seven points, two assists) and Brandon Brekke (two points) also contributed to the victory in their debuts. Schuler logged a team-high 28 minutes as both he and Webb started the contest. 

The Fighting Sioux will join the Big Sky Conference in the summer of 2012 in time to participate as a full member during the 2012-13 academic year. The announcement was made on Nov. 1 in the lobby of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. UND will get a taste of the conference competition twice during the 2010-11 campaign as Sacramento State will be in Grand Forks on Nov. 19 and the Sioux will travel to Northern Colorado to face the Bears on Feb. 21. UNC is no stranger to the Sioux, having been a long-time rival during UND's Division II days as a member of the North Central Conference. Besides Sacramento State and Northern Colorado, the Big Sky is also comprised of Portland State, Northern Arizona, Montana, Montana State, Idaho State, Weber State and Eastern Washington. Southern Utah will also join the league along with the Sioux in 2012-13.

All North Dakota men's basketball games, home and away, can be heard via free audio webcast at FightingSioux.com. Pre-game shows will start 25 minutes prior to tip this season. UND athletics is also pleased to announced that FightingSioux.com will provide a video webcast and FREE live stats for all home men's basketball games this season.

Cat Country 100.3 FM will again be the home of all Fighting Sioux men's basketball broadcasts this season. Paul Ralston will handle most of the play-by-play duties during the season. Pre-game shows for all broadcasts will begin 25 minutes prior to tip.

FightingSioux.com is the official online home of University of North Dakota athletics. FightingSioux.com is a veritable one-stop shop for the most hardcore Sioux fans, featuring breaking news, player profiles, game notes, live and archived video webcasts, game audio, live stats, podcasts, blogs, player profiles, merchandise, photo galleries, news feeds and camp registrations.

The University of North Dakota athletics department and leading technology service provider NeuLion, Inc. (TSX: NLN) announced the launch of UND's official athletics mobile website, www.FightingSioux. com. The new UND athletics destination offers a mobile device-enabled version of the site, amplifying the user experience on the go. The mobile website will deliver a condensed version of the official athletics site to provide latest news and quick updates to handheld devices. North Dakota's official athletics website is available on all web-enabled devices by opening a browser and entering the www. fightingsioux.com URL. Users can get the latest news, scores, upcoming schedule, photo galleries and more.

Back to chronicle another great season of University of North Dakota athletics, the Sioux Sports Extra television made its debut this season on Sunday, Aug. 29. The weekly show, which features highlights, interviews and features on Fighting Sioux teams and student-athletes, is produced by Forum Communications. It airs every Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. on WDAZ in Grand Forks and WDAY in Fargo, and at 11:30 p.m. on KBMY in Bismarck and KMCY in Minot. Sioux Sports Extra will also be seen during the week nationally on Fox College Sports, and regionally on MidcoSportsNet. The show will air on FCS on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. and on Fridays at 3:30 p.m. It will air throughout the week on MidcoSportsNet, including one hour prior to live Friday and Saturday hockey games. Each episode is also available for on-demand viewing at the official UND athletics website, www. FightingSioux.com.