Greeley, Colo. - The Fighting Sioux men's basketball team will have its second encounter with a future Big Sky foe this season on Monday when the Sioux take on Northern Colorado at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavillion. Unlike the other 10 schools the Sioux will be competing against when they join the league in 2012-13, there is a good bit of history between the Sioux and the Bears on the hardwood dating back to their North Central Conference days.

 

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ALL-TIME SERIES vs. Northern Colorado  

Overall: UND leads 40-18  

In Greeley: Series tied 12-12    

Jones vs. Northern Colorado: 0-2    

Last Meeting: UNC won 70-63 (11/27/09)

• UND wraps up its brief two-game road trip on Monday against former NCC rival and future Big Sky foe Northern Colorado. The Sioux and Bears will tip-off at 8 p.m. CT.

• The teams have played each of the past two seasons with UNC coming out victorious in both of those contests. The Sioux dropped an 80-72 contest to the Bears in Greeley during the 2008-09 season, then fell to the Bears at “The Betty” last season, 70-63.

• The Bears will be the second Big Sky foe the Sioux have faced this season. UND defeated Sacramento State at home, 64-60, on Nov. 19.

• The Sioux will join the league for the 2012-13 season. This will be the sixth game against a Big Sky foe since starting the transition to the DI ranks. UND is 1-4 in those outings.

• UND traveled to Colorado from the Beehive State where the club dropped a 67-64 decision to Utah Valley in Great West play. It was the second straight nailbiter against the Wolverines. Unfortunately, both went the way of UVU, who also dealt the Sioux a 107-96 setback in a quadruple-overtime affair on Jan. 20 in Grand Forks.

• Freshman Josh Schuler scored a team-high 15 points and classmate Jamal Webb added 14 in the setback. The duo combined for 24 second-half points and helped the Sioux erase what was a 10-point second half deficit to make things interesting again.

• The Sioux scored the first nine points of the game and raced out to a 12-1 lead before UVU connected on a field goal more than six minutes into the contest.

• UVU worked its way back to grab a 29-27 lead at the break and after relinquishing its 10-point lead, overcame a five-point deficit in the final 3:30 to post its second win over the Sioux this season. Junior Patrick Mitchell had a look to force OT, but his 3-pointer missed the mark. He finished with six points and had a team-high six boards along with Webb.

• Troy Huff was the third Sioux freshman to reach double figures as he scored 10 points against the Wolverines. 

• The Sioux carried the momentum from a 76-73 home win over Louisiana Tech on Wednesday out to Utah. UND trailed by 13 points in the first half, led by as many as 15 in the second half before finally putting the Bulldogs away with free throws in the closing seconds.

• Webb led four UND scorers in double figures with 14 points and also had team-highs in rebounds (9), assists (6) and steals (3). Classmates Aaron Anderson and Huff each added 13 points, while junior Patrick Mitchell chipped in with 11.

• The Sioux won for the first time when shooting under 40 percent from the field.  Reserve forward Jordan Allard went 3-for-3 from the field and added seven points, three rebounds and a career-high three blocks.

First-year head coach B.J. Hill has his Bears near the top of the Big Sky standings with a 10-3 league mark and a 15-10 overall ledger. 

The Bears are a senior-laden squad led by veteran Devon Beitzel, who is averaging 20.2 ppg after pouring in 28 points in an 82-80 victory over New Mexico State in an ESPN Bracket Buster's game on Saturday. 

Beitzel has made 60 of the Bears' 196 3-pointers this season and he is shooting 90.8 percent from the foul line (138-for-152).

Fellow senior Neal Kingman is the only other Bear averaging in double figures at a 10.1 ppg clip. Another of Beitzel and Kingman's classmates, Taylor Montgomery, is the team's top rebounder at 5.9 rpg.

The Bears opened Big Sky play with seven straight wins before dropping a 72-71 contest at Weber State. UNC has split its last six league contests since that flawless stretch. 

The Bears visited Grand Forks last season and left town with a 70-63 victory over the Fighting Sioux. UNC senior Will Figures led all scorers with 16 points and Beitzel added 14 in a game that was tied 34-34 at halftime. The Bears stormed out of the lockerroom though to build a 17-point advantage as UND shot just 37 percent from the floor after the break. Senior Travis Mertens led the Sioux with 14 points, but was the only player to reach double figures. UND made a late rally, but the Bears were able to hold on for the seven-point victory. The teams renewed their rivalry from the North Central Conference days the year before with UNC posting an 80-72 victory over the Sioux during the 2008-09 season.

BIG SKY BOUND: 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 got its first taste of conference competition this season on Nov. 19 when the Fighting Sioux knocked off Sacramento State, 64-60, at home. Three UND players each scored 11 points as the club held off a late rally by the Hornets to post its first win over a Big Sky team in program history. The Sioux had lost their first four against league opponents since moving up to Division I basketball three seasons ago. The Sioux will also face Northern Colorado on Monday night in Greeley. 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. 

SWAT MITCHELL: Junior Patrick Mitchell broke into the UND career top 10 list in blocks earlier this season and he continues to move up the charts. Mitchell currently ranks seventh with 98 for his career after tallying three in the loss at Utah Valley. Through 25 games this season, he leads the GWC with 40 blocks (1.6 bpg). For his career, Mitchell has blocked four shots in a game on seven different occasions, including three times this season. The latest occurence was during the 107-96 quadruple-overtime loss to UVU when he registered a career-high five blocks. He has led the Sioux in blocks in each of his first two seasons of play at UND.

THE WHOLE TRUTH: 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. Huff has reached double figures 16 times, including 13 out of the last 16 games, Webb has 11 double-digit scoring games and Anderson has achieved 10-plus eight times. Huff had his highest scoring output with 22 in the win over South Dakota School of Mines (Dec. 30). Anderson had his season-high of 19 in the quadruple-overtime loss to Utah Valley (Jan. 20) and Webb has a trio of 15-point outings (vs. IPFW, Nov. 23; vs. Mayville State, Dec. 14; and vs. USD, Jan. 15). Huff leads the team in scoring at 11.7 ppg and is averaging 13.6 ppg since being inserted into the starting lineup 14 games ago. Webb checks in at fourth in scoring at 9.2 ppg and Anderson is fifth at 8.4 ppg. 

FROSH BEGINNING: The trio of true freshmen on the UND squad has been joined by a pair of redshirt freshmen to give UND head coach Brian Jones five first-year players in his regular rotation this season. After the Louisiana Tech contest, those five rookies had accounted for 1,068 of the team's 1,631 points, which gives the Sioux the most production (65.1 percent) by a freshmen class in Division I basketball. There are a pair of schools giving chase as both Kentucky and Memphis also get more than 60 percent of their point production from freshmen.

FIVE-GRAND: With 48 points combined against Chicago State on Feb 12, the freshman class surpassed the 1,000-point total for the season. The quintet of Sioux rookies has scored 1,107 points becoming the third class in Division I basketball to reach that plateau. Reserve guard Aaron Anderson also became the fourth member of that class to reach 200 points on the season after scoring 13 points in the non-conference win over Louisiana Tech (Feb. 16). Troy Huff leads the team in scoring and has moved into the top 10 freshman scoring list at UND. He stands in 10th place now with 292 points. Classmates Josh Schuler and Jamal Webb are also moving towards that top 10 list as well with 246 and 230 points, respectively.

NEW LOOK: Head coach Brian Jones has been forced to use five different starting lineups this season - mostly due to injuries - but his latest combination has produced the best results. The Fighting Sioux have won eight of their last 11 games and Jones has used the same starting five in all nine of those contests (Jamal Webb, Josh Schuler, Troy Huff, Patrick Mitchell and Brandon Brekke). Webb (24), Schuler (25) and Mitchell (25) have been constants in the starting lineup with Huff being inserted 14 games ago due to an injury to Spencer Goodman, while Brekke has started 11 straight since Longwood (Jan. 9).

MAGIC NUMBERS: When the Sioux have scored 70-plus points in a regulation contest this season, the team owns a perfect 11-0 record. UND also owns an unblemised record when the team shoots 50 percent or better from the floor - when that happens the Sioux are 7-0.

ICE MAN: Four times this season freshman Aaron Anderson has connected on double-figure free throws in a contest. He leads the team with 100 makes (team-high 120 attempts), including a 80-for-89 effort (89.8 percent) in UND's 13 victories this season. He is 82-for-94 (87.2 percent) in the team's 12 home contests. The reserve guard also leads the team in overall percentage at 83.3. His latest double-digit free throw exploit was in the 76-73 victory over Louisiana Tech (Feb. 16). Anderson scored all 13 of his points in the second half with 11 of those coming from the charity stripe (14 attempts).