GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota men's basketball opens its 2024-25 season on Wednesday night inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center as the Fighting Hawks welcome in NCAA Division III Concordia-Moorhead for an exhibition contest. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action live with Fighting Hawks men's basketball radio play-by-play voice Paul Ralston on KSNR 100.3 FM The Cat or on the iHeart Radio app. Live stats will be provided at www.FightingHawks.com.
Although Wednesday's tilt will not count toward UND's overall record, the Hawks and Cobbers have matched up 30 times in games that did count. The Hawks lead that series 22-8, winning 14 of the 18 games contested inside the BESC, and have won the past two meetings which includes last season's 87-56 result (Nov. 28) in Grand Forks. UND is 3-0 in exhibition games under head coach Paul Sather with wins over Mayville State (2021-22), Waldorf (2022-23) and Northland College (2023-24).
The Hawks are coming off of the program's best year as a Summit League member since joining the conference for the 2018-19 season. UND won 18 games a season ago, finished third in the regular season standings behind a 10-6 record, and earned a second-straight trip to the Summit League Tournament.
UND returns preseason All-Summit League selections Treysen Eaglestaff and Amar Kuljuhovic ('23-24 Summit League All-Newcomer Team) in addition to 2023-24 Summit League All-Defensive selection Eli King and three other Hawks (Deng Mayar, Mambourou Mara, Brian Mathews) which saw minutes for Sather in 2023-24.
The Hawks will benefit from the return of four players (Zach Kraft, Ryan Erikson, Matthew Bothun, Anthony Doppler) that redshirted a season ago.
Sather supplemented his roster with five newcomers which includes Mier Panoam (Tulane), Dariyus Woodson (Tyler JC), Reggie Thomas (Hastings College), George Natsvishvili (Tbilisi N35 Public School, Republic of Georgia) and Greyson Uelmen (Minnetonka HS (Minn.)).
Last season, Concordia-Moorhead posted a 16-10 record overall with a 12-8 mark in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Cobbers return 11 players from last season's roster including All-MIAC standouts Rowan Nelson and Jacob Cook.
For more information on North Dakota men's basketball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmbasketball.
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