Summit League Basketball Tournament
Dave Eggen/Inertia

Men's Basketball Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com and Alyssa Konickson, UND Alumni Association

Season Recap: A Year of Firsts

UND men's basketball team finished the season strong under first-year head coach Paul Sather

The 2019-20 season was a year of firsts – and seconds – for the UND men’s basketball team.

With a win over Nebraska, they beat a Big Ten opponent for the first time since 1933. They were first in the nation among all Division I men’s basketball programs in community service hours. And, in his first year as head coach, Paul Sather led the team to a Summit League title game – only the third coach to ever do so. The team – picked to finish the season in eighth place – came in second.

NCAA Men's Basketball 2020: North Dakota v North Dakota State MAR 10
“How we finished – the run we made towards the end of the season – it says a lot about the leaders on the team,” Sather said.

His team had already lost to the University of South Dakota twice this season, most recently one week before the conference tournament, when the Fighting Hawks dropped the regular season finale 77-67. They met up with the Yotes again in the first round of the tournament, getting their revenge and winning the quarterfinal round.

“Beating South Dakota was a big win for our program,” Sather said. “And then getting all the way to the championship game showed the belief the guys had in each other. It was a fun way to end a season, no question.”
SIOUX FALLS, SD - MARCH 8: xxxxxxx at the 2020 Summit League Basketball Championship in Sioux Falls, SD. (Photo by Dave Eggen/Inertia)

They lost to North Dakota State in the Summit League Championship, but it doesn’t leave a bitter taste in Sather’s mouth. 

NCAA Men's Basketball 2020: North Dakota v North Dakota State MAR 10
“I was really proud of our guys and how they continued to fight for this team,” Sather said. “To make a run like that at the end of the season, it says a lot about their character.”

Earlier in the season, the team had beat the Bison in a thriller, with senior Marlon Stewart hitting a game-winning three-pointer with 0.9 seconds left in front of a full house at the Betty on senior night.

Marlon_NDSU_Celebration

Fans of the team will likely talk about that game for years, but it’s not what Sather’s taking away from the season.

“Every day, those guys focused on getting better, being a team, and fighting for each other,” Sather said. “That win was fun, but the day-to-day work that they brought made it a lot more fun.”
NCAA Men's Basketball 2020: North Dakota vs North Dakota State JAN 19

This story was written by North Dakota Athletics in conjuction with the University of North Dakota Alumni Association