FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- The North Dakota men's basketball team starts its second half of Big Sky play on Saturday with an afternoon tilt at Northern Arizona. Tip-off against the Lumberjacks is set for 3:05 p.m.

UND VS. NORTHERN ARIZONA SERIES
All-time: UND leads 5-3
In Flagstaff: UND leads 3-1
Big Sky Regular Season: UND leads 5-3
Big Sky Tournament: Never met
Last Meeting: UND 68, NAU 63 (Jan. 5, 2017) 
UND Head Coach Brian Jones vs. NAU: 5-3
NAU Head Coach Jack Murphy vs. UND: 3-5

WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN/TRACK
TV: Fox Sports Arizona/FCS Pacific
Live Video Stream: www.WatchBigSky.com
Radio: 1440 AM (Grand Forks) | 790 AM (Fargo/Moorhead)
Live Audio Stream: www.UNDSports.com and UND Sports Mobile App
Live Stats: www.UNDSports.com

IN THE PAINT...
• The Fighting Hawks improved to 7-2 at the midway point of its league slate with a thrilling 91-89 win at Southern Utah on Thursday. Big Sky Preseason MVP Quinton Hooker hit the game-winner with 1.1 seconds to play and finished with 23 points.
• The 7-2 start is UND's best in five seasons as a Big Sky member and best overall conference start since the 2001-02 season (DII; North Central Conference).
• Point guard Geno Crandall equaled his career-high for the second time in three games, scoring a game-high 31 points against the T-Birds. He had 20 second-half points as UND scored 59 after the break to rally from a nine-point halftime deficit.
• The 59 points were the most scored by UND in any half this season. The team is averaging 53.7 ppg in the second halves of its current three-game winning streak.
• The Fighting Hawks improved to 5-5 when trailing at the half and have rallied from such deficits in their last three Big Sky wins (six vs. Weber State, one vs. Idaho State and nine from SUU).
• UND has earned a Big Sky split in its first two league road trips and will go for its first sweep at the Walkup Skydome where they are 3-1 all-time.
• In last year's visit to Flagstaff, UND routed the Lumberjacks 101-59 and the 42-point victory was the largest over a Division I opponent for the program since joining that level prior to the 2008-09 season.
• The Fighting Hawks are 7-1 in their last eight games, which is the best eight-game stretch for head coach Brian Jones since his 2007-08 team won eight in a row as part of a 10-game winning streak during the program's final DII season.

ON THE HORIZON
UND wraps up its latest Big Sky road swing with a Saturday afternoon tilt at Northern Arizona (3:05 p.m. CT). The Fighting Hawks held on for a 68-63 win over the Lumberjacks in the first meeting on Jan. 5 and have won three out of four against NAU in Flagstaff since joining the league. In last year's trip to the Arizona mountains, UND routed the Lumberjacks 101-59, scoring its most points in a Big Sky-regular season matchup.

LAST TIME OUT: UND 91, Southern Utah 89 (Jan. 26)
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Senior Quinton Hooker hit a step-back, 16-footer with one second left to lift North Dakota to a 91-89 victory over Southern Utah in Big Sky men's basketball action Thursday at Centrum Arena. Hooker finished with 23 points and sophomore Geno Crandall equaled his career-high with 31 points to lead the Fighting Hawks (12-7; 7-2 BSC) to their third straight win.

This one was not as easy as the Fighting Hawks 95-65 win over the Thunderbirds (4-17; 2-6 BSC) three weeks ago in Grand Forks, but UND picked up the season sweep, handing SUU its sixth-straight setback in league play.

Crandall scored 20 second-half points helping the Fighting Hawks erase a halftime deficit for the third-straight game, but it was the Big Sky Preseason MVP that scored UND's final four points as the visitors matched their best conference start since the 2001-02 season.

HALFTIME DEFICIT, WHO CARES
The Fighting Hawks have trailed at halftime in each of their last five games, but have found a way to win four of those contests, including their last three. The only loss in that stretch was a 76-70 loss at Montana (Jan. 16). In fact, UND owns a 5-5 record this season when trailing at the break. The largest deficit overcome was an 11-point spread vs. CSU-Bakersfield at the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic. UND closed that game on a 16-0 run to win 57-55.

MAGIC NUMBER
UND has a winning formula working this season and the results are an 9-0 record when the Fighting Hawks score 80 or more points in a game. They have reached that figure in five of their last six wins and are only 3-7 when being held below 80 points. UND is second in the Big Sky in scoring at 80.5 ppg.

FAST START
UND's 7-2 record in Big Sky is the program's best start in five seasons of league play and also matches the best conference start for the program since Rich Glas' 2001-02 North Central squad also started 7-2. The last team to start a conference season at 8-2 or better was Glas' 1990-91 squad that began league play at 9-1 and finished 17-1 in NCC play.

WELCOME TO SPLITSVILLE
During the Big Sky conference season, each team has four different road trips with back-to-back games at varying travel partners. Since joining the league, UND has split at least 14 of those trips, swept two of them and been swept just three times. Overall, the Fighting Hawks own a respectable 19-24 in road Big Sky games over the last four-plus seasons.

HOOKER CRACKS TOP 10, PASSES 1,500-POINT PLATEUA
With his seventh 20-plus point game of the season at Montana State (Jan. 12), senior Quinton Hooker moved into UND's top 10 list for all-time scoring. With 23 points in the win at SUU, he surpassed the 1,500-point plateau for his career and now has 1,522 points in 125 games (12.2 ppg).

THE ONE AND ONLY
Senior Quinton Hooker is the only player in program history to score 1,500 points (1,522), grab 400 rebounds (442), dish out 300 assists (369) and net 150 steals (164) in a career. He is second among active Big Sky scorer's trailing only Weber State's Jeremy Senglin (1,723). His 164 steals are tops among active league players.

G-KNOWS SCORING
Sophomore Geno Crandall has been on a scoring surge of late with four 20-plus point scoring games in UND's last five contests. The Minneapolis native had only three in his first 43 career games for the Fighting Hawks. He is averaging 22.4 ppg over his last five contests, which includes being held to just two points in the 25-point win over Idaho State. He is shooting 60 percent from the floor in those five contests and has made 10 or more field goals in three of those contests.

HOME COOKIN'
After another BIg Sky home sweep, UND improved to 7-1 at The Betty this season. The Fighting Hawks are averaging 87.3 ppg and shooting 51.1 percent from the field in those contests at The Betty. Meanwhile, opponents are only averaging 67.0 ppg and shooting only 39.5 percent from the field.

HOOKER COLLECTS BIG SKY PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Senior Quinton Hooker collected his first Big Sky Player of the Week award and third of his career on Jan. 10 after leading the Fighting Hawks to pair of home wins over Northern Arizona (Jan. 5) and Southern Utah (Jan. 7). He averaged 21.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg and 4.0 rpg in those two victories.

20-POINT TRIO
For just the second time as a Big Sky member, North Dakota had a trio of players score 20-plus points in the Fighting Hawks' 90-85 victory over Montana State (Jan. 12). The Bobcats were also the first victim of that accomplishment by UND back in 2012-13 when Jamal Webb (23), Aaron Anderson (20) and Troy Huff (20) achieved the feat in an 86-73 win over MSU in Grand Forks (Jan. 12). In this win over the Bobcats, Quinton Hooker (24), Geno Crandall (22) and Conner Avants (20) all scored 20 or more points for the Fighting Hawks.

PERFECT 10's
After going over 110 years without seeing a triple-double in program history, UND fans have now witnessed the rare feat in back-to-back seasons. Quinton Hooker recorded the initial one last season with a 13-point, 12-rebound and 10-assist effort in a win over Idaho State (Feb. 4). Earlier this season, Drick Bernstine joined Hooker in the exclusive club by registering 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a win over Presentation College (Nov. 20). Bernstine is one of only six Big Sky players with 10 assists in a game this season and also leads the league with seven double-digit rebounding games.

EXTRA INSIGHT ...
• Senior Corey Baldwin saw his career-best stretch of five-straight games in double figures come to an end at Weber State (Jan. 19), but he finished with eight points after going scoreless in three starts against the Wildcats last season. He started a new double-figure scoring streak an emphatic way in the 89-64 win over Idaho State (Jan. 21), drilling a career-best seven 3-pointers en route to a career-high 23 points.
• Baldwin's 20-plus point outing was the fourth of his career and first at home. His initial three all came in road wins last season as a junior.
• Baldwin has made two or more 3-pointers in eight-straight games and went 5-for-8 with a season-high 22 points in last year's road win at NAU. He scored 12 of his 13 points at SUU in the second-half comeback.
• Sophomore Conner Avants has become a shot blocking machine in Big Sky play. After corralling just two blocks in 10 non-conference games, Avants has 10 total in seven league games, including a career-high three in the win over Idaho State (Jan. 21). He missed the SUU game (Jan. 26) after starting the first 18 games of the season.
• With his recent scoring surge, sophomore Geno Crandall is averaging a career-best 15.1 ppg (12th in the Big Sky) overall and 16.8 ppg in Big Sky play (11th). He has reached double figures in 14 of 18 contests this season and eclipsed the 500-point mark for his career in the win over Montana State (Jan. 12).
• Junior Drick Bernstine returned to the starting lineup against Montana (Jan. 14) after missing the first SUU contest (Jan. 7; first missed game of UND career) and playing nine minutes off the bench against Montana State (Jan. 12). Bernstine finished the Griz-game with 11 rebounds, marking his seventh double-digit rebounding effort of the season. He had started the first 45 games of his UND career.
• Bernstine put together a 14-point, nine-rebound effort in the win over the Bengals (Jan. 21). The point total was a season-high and he leads all Big Sky players with 6.1 defensive rebounds per game.
• Sophomore Josh Collins earned his first two career starts in place of Bernstine (vs. SUU, at MSU), but suffered an injury at Montana State (Jan. 12) that kept him out of the lineup against the Grizzlies (Jan. 14). 
• Sophomore Cortez Seales is now 6-for-14 on the season from deep (42.9 percent) after going only 6-for-26 from beyond the arc as a freshman (23.1 percent). In fact, Seales started this season 0-for-5, but has made 6-of-9 since then, including a 4-for-7 clip in Big Sky play.
• The Fighting Hawks improved to 7-3 all-time on New Year's Eve with the eight-point, overtime win at Sacramento State (Dec. 31). 
• UND's 37-point loss to Portland State to open league play was the largest for the program in a Big Sky contest in four-plus seasons. It was only the fifth 20-plus point setback in 39 all-time league losses. The worst previous defeat was a 95-63 loss to Weber State during UND's first season in the league (2012-13).
• Junior forward Solomon Rolls-Tyson left the program during the Holiday break to pursue a professional career in Norway. Rolls-Tyson transferred to UND from Utah State Eastern this past summer and was redshirting.
• Junior Carson Shanks scored a career-high 17 points in 17 minutes of action at Northern Iowa (Dec. 10). Shanks went 8-for-10 from the floor against the Panthers.
• After being held to a season-low four points at NDSU (Dec. 7), senior Quinton Hooker responded with a team-high 22 points at Northern Iowa (Dec. 10). Hooker was held to single digits just twice last season as a junior in 32 games. One of those was a four-point outing at Montana and he responded with 25 points in the next game at Montana State.
• UND's eight-point loss to the Panthers was a 38-point improvement from last season's 97-51 loss to UNI at home. The Fighting Hawks trailed 54-20 at halftime of that contest and led the Panthers 33-29 this year.
• Hooker was named to the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 18.7 ppg during the team's three games at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. Hooker's 29-point outing in the opener vs. North Florida was one shy of his season high of 30 set in the win over Mayville State (Nov. 15).

OPPONENT PREVIEW: NORTHERN ARIZONA
• Northern Arizona head coach Jack Murphy and the Lumberjacks sit at 5-16 overall and 2-6 in Big Sky play after picking up the 63-50 win over Northern Colorado on Thursday.
• The Bear's 50 points were the fewest by a Lumberjack opponent this season and nearly 27 points below what NAU had been surrendering coming into the contest. The Lumberjacks ranks eighth in the Big Sky, allowing 76.1 ppg.
• Senior Jordyn Martin has returned after missing most of last season (played in three games) and is averaging 11.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg (3rd in Big Sky). The 2014-15 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year has also blocked five shots and has 16 steals this season. He is averaging 18.0 ppg over NAU's last two contests.
• Martin and sophomore Marcus DeBerry are the only two Lumberjacks to start 21 games this season. DeBerry nearly led NAU to the road win in Grand Forks in the first meeting between the two teams (68-63 UND win), scoring 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. DeBerry is averaging 9.6 ppg overall and upped that to 10.1 ppg in league play.
• Senior Ako Kaluna has been a mainstay in the NAU lineup over the last four seasons, appearing in 119 games for Murphy. He's averaging 10.0 ppg and is coming off a double-double (14 points-10 rebounds) in the win over Northern Colorado.
• NAU's leading scorer Mike Green missed the Idaho game last Saturday and came off the bench, but did not score in the win over the Bears. Green is averaging 12.2 ppg overall and 14.6 ppg in Big Sky play. His 42 makes from 3-point range top the team. DeBerry is second with 38 makes.
• The Lumberjacks are the top 3-point field goal percentage defense in the Big Sky (32.9 percent), but teams are shooting 53.0 percent inside the arc against NAU this season.

TOUGH SLEDDING
All three of UND's opponents at the MABC Classic in Dayton won 20-plus games a season ago. Cal State-Bakersfield participated in the NCAA Tournament, while North Florida was the Atlantic Sun regular season champion and played in the NIT. In fact, UND's seven Division I non-conference games were all against teams that reached the 20-win plateau a season ago. Five of those teams participated in postseason play. Northern Iowa and Iowa both won a game in the 2016 NCAA Tournament before bowing out in the round of 32. The Panthers loss to Oklahoma in a game that featured a frantic comeback by the Sooners, while the Hawkeyes fell to eventual National Champion Villanova 87-68.

SCORCHING-HOT HOMESTAND
The Fighting Hawks averaged 97.7 ppg during their three-game, season-opening homestand and became the first UND team to reach the 90-plus point plateau in three straight since Rich Glas' 1993-94 squad that cracked the century mark in wins over Dakota State (100-76), Nebraska-Kearney (103-96, ot) and Valley City State (102-63).

CAPTAIN HOOKER
For the second-consecutive season, senior Quinton Hooker will serve as a team captain. The Big Sky Preseason MVP is joined in his captaincy by junior Drick Bernstine, who was the only Fighting Hawk to start all 33 games last season.

HOOKER NAMED BIG SKY PRESEASON MVP
North Dakota senior Quinton Hooker was named the Big Sky Preseason MVP on Oct. 26 in an announcement made by league officials. Hooker was one of six guards voted to the Big Sky Preseason All-Conference Team by media members after averaging 20.1 ppg and leading the Fighting Hawks to a nine-win improvement as a junior. The Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American increased his scoring average to 20.6 ppg in Big Sky play and scored 20-plus points in 15 games overall and 30-plus points on four different occasions last season. The first team All-Big Sky performer was also the first Fighting Hawk to average 20-plus points since the program moved to the Division I level (2008-09) and his pair of 38-point performances are also single-game highs at the DI level.

-- UND --