GRAND FORKS, N.D. - North Dakota will take on Western Illinois Thursday morning at 11 a.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Fans can follow all the action on the Midco Sports, as well as by tuning into Paul Ralston's call on the Home of Economy Radio Network.

 

Series History vs. the Leathernecks

Thursday will be the 15^th meeting between the Hawks and the Leathernecks—the series is currently tied at seven wins a side, but UND owns a 5-4 edge in Summit League meetings; and has won the last four meetings between the teams. Earlier this season the Leathernecks defended their home court with a 92-80 win over the Hawks.

 

Last Time Out

North Dakota won their fourth game out of their last five when they defeated Kansas City for the season time this season 81-73. Brady Danielson set a new career high with 20 points, while B.J. Omot added 19 and the two of them made 24 of 27 free throws. After trailing most of the first half, an 11-0 run in the waning minutes of the first half gave the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

It was the first game since 2017 that the Hawks made more than 30 free throws in a game.

It was the first time the Hawks have swept the Roos in a season series and the first time they have swept the season series from an opponent since the 2020-21 season when they took both games from South Dakota.

 

Bench Boost

North Dakota enters the matchup with the most bench scoring in the Summit League and is No. 42 team nationally in that category. The Fighting Hawks are averaging 25.21 points per game from the reserves this season. The next closest bench in the league is Omaha with 23.66.

 

Shaking it up

North Dakota used their ninth different starting lineup combination of the season the last five games (Jalun Trent, Matt Norman, Brady Danielson, B.J. Omot and Tsotne Tsartsidze), which equaled the number of different combinations used last season. On the team, Tsartsidze has the most active consecutive starts currently with 49, followed by Omot with 29. Danielson and has started the last 16 games and Trent the last 14.

 

Watch and Listen

All North Dakota men's basketball games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the Home of Economy Radio Network, as well as through the iHeart Radio app, with Paul Ralston calling the action.

UND home games this season will also all be available through Midco Sports Plus with a subscription. A vast majority of the home games will also be aired on Midco Sports or Midco Sports Two.

 

Follow Us

Receive live updates during all UND men's basketball games by following @UNDmbasketball on Twitter. Fans can also follow the Fighting Hawks on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @UNDmbasketball. FightingHawks.com will have up-to-the-minute stories, stats and more.

Complete notes can be found here.