Next Game: vs. Oral Roberts
The University of North Dakota will host Oral Roberts at 1 p.m. (CT) inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday afternoon. Fans can follow all the action on Bally Sports North, as well as by tuning into Paul Ralston's call on the Home of Economy Radio Network (1440 AM/790 AM).

Series History vs. ORU
This will be the ninth all-time meeting between the Fighting Hawks and Golden Eagles, with the teams splitting the regular-season series last year before UND fell to the eventual Sweet Sixteen ORU team, 76-65, in the Summit League Tournament Quarterfinal. Currently, the Golden Eagles hold a 5-3 series lead, but are 0-2 in games played at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

Earlier this season, North Dakota battled back from a 14-point deficit early in the second half and tied the game on five occasions in the final minutes but fell 80-76 to Oral Roberts inside the Mabee Center on Jan. 20. In that game, Paul Bruns led the Fighting Hawks with 18 points, followed by Ethan Igbanugo with 17 points, 13 of Igbanugo's points coming in the second half alone. Max Abmas was the top scorer for the Golden Eagles with 19 points, only scoring two in the second half. Kareem Thompson also finished with a double-double for ORU, netting 15 points and grabbing 11 boards.

Despite trailing by 14 early in the second half, UND battled their way back into the game and finished with a 46-34 advantage on the glass. The stellar defense from North Dakota also gave the Hawks a 22-7 advantage in second chance points. Both teams controlled the ball well with only five turnovers apiece, while Oral Roberts won the battle of points in the paint by a 48-36 margin.

Last Time Out
North Dakota fell 80-65 to Kansas City inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Thursday night. Despite trailing by 19 at intermission, the Fighting Hawks trimmed the deficit to single digits on four occasions in the second half before the Ross built a double-digit lead in the final 6:30.

Paul Bruns was the leading scorer for UND, pouring in a game-high 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting. All six of his makes from the field came from beyond the arc and he also finished 3-of-3 at the charity stripe while grabbing a team-high eight boards.

Matt Norman shot lights-out in the second half, netting 15 of his eventual 18 points in that half alone. Brady Danielson just missed double figures with eight points and seven boards, while Brian Mathews also pulled in seven boards to go with five points.

Most Recently for ORU
Despite a 23-point outing from Issac McBride, Oral Roberts dropped a 77-59 decision at North Dakota State on Thursday evening. ORU trailed by as many as 12 in the first half but used a 10-3 run before intermission to trim the deficit down to five at 39-34. The Golden Eagles were able to get within three with 14:31 left in the contest, but by the under-eight media timeout, the Bison had extended their lead back to double digits and never looked back. NDSU went on a 16-2 run to increase its lead by 20 with two minutes to play and then held on for the 77-59 win.

McBride was the top scorer for ORU with his 23 points. Max Abmas was the only other Golden Eagle in double figures with 21 points and four rebounds. Francis Lacis led the team on the glass with six boards and added three points.

Attacking the Glass
As a team, North Dakota ranks fourth in the conference in rebounds per game (35.8) and is fourth in total rebounds (1,001) this season. When it comes to being aggressive on the offensive glass, NoDak shines with 294 boards to sit second in league play. The only team in the Summit League with more offensive boards this season is Western Illinois with 322.

Bruns Tracker
Freshman sensation Paul Bruns currently has a team leading 424 points this season and would need to average 10.4 points per game the final games of the regular season to become the top freshman scorer in UND history. That record is currently held by De'Sean Allen-Eikens and was set two seasons ago when Allen-Eikens netted 454 points as a freshman. In total, Bruns is 31 points away from holding that record outright.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES CAN BE FOUND HERE.