North Dakota vs. LMU || 11/22 (9 p.m.)
2nd meeting; LMU lead series 1-0
Los Angeles, California (Gersten Pavilion)

FULL GAME NOTES ARE HERE

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - North Dakota trips to the west coast for a Friday night matchup against Loyola Marymount from inside Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. Fans can follow the action live with UND men's basketball radio play-by-play voice Paul Ralston on KSNR 100.3 FM The Cat or on the iHeart Radio app, while the action will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be provided at www.FightingHawks.com.

SERIES HISTORY
UND and LMU meet for just the second time in program history. The Hawks and the Lions first met in Missoula, Montana, on November 14, 2009 as part of the Karl Tyler Chevrolet Grizzly Basketball Classic. The Lions bested North Dakota 83-60.

LAST TIME OUT
North Dakota and Notre Dame met on the hardwood for just the second time ever after an inaugural meeting in 1941. It was a commendable effort by the Fighting Hawks as they trailed by just seven points at the half of the 75-58 loss to the Fighting Irish.

The Hawks were locked in early in South Bend as an active Eli King denied the Irish's first bucket of the evening, drew an offensive foul a couple of possessions later and then assisted Amar Kuljuhovic inside for a 5-4 North Dakota lead. UND got on the board with the game's first points on a Mier Panoam trifecta and then grabbed a 7-4 advantage on a soft touch floater along the baseline by Treysen Eaglestaff.
 
Notre Dame answered with a 7-0 run which grew to 15-2 and a 17-9 lead with 11:20 to play in the first half. The Hawks would not go away quietly as a 7-0 run which included an inside bucket by Kuljuhovic, three free throws from Panoam after he was fouled in an attempt beyond-the-arc and a driving layup by Eaglestaff pulled North Dakota to a single point of the deficit at 17-16 at the 9:48 mark of the first half.
 
The Irish' advantage would grow to only seven down the stretch, while the Hawks pulled as close as three in the final 60 seconds prior to the intermission as Eaglestaff knocked down a triple try to bring UND to within a possession at 34-31.
 
The Fighting Irish opened the second half on a 13-3 run as part of a 15-7 start to the final twenty minutes. Eaglestaff hit a pair of second-half three-point attempts as did Dariyus Woodson, while George Natsvishvili sank an attempt as well. Woodson's pair came within 90 seconds of each below the under-8 media and kept the Hawks within 14 of the host.

LA LA LAND
Friday night's tip-off in L.A. will be the 13th contest played by the Hawks in The Golden State since becoming a Division I member in 2008-09. UND is 3-9 in its previous dozen matchups in the state with half of those coming against Sacramento State when both were Big Sky foes. It will be the sixth game for UND in California under Sather. The Hawks are 1-4 in their previous five.

ROAD HAWKS
North Dakota opened the 2024-25 season in Colorado and following a pair of in-state games, the Hawks are in the midst of a five-game road trip that began in South Bend, Indiana, and will play seven of their next eight away from the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

Friday's tilt out west signifies the first time in UND's DI era that the Hawks will have tipped off in each of the four time zones of the continental United States prior to December.

BIENVENIDOS A CANCÚN 
The matchup with LMU marks the first stage of the Cancun Challenge. Stage two sees the Hawks flock south across the border to Riviera Maya, Mexico for contests with Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday, November 26 and the Southeastern Louisiana/Gardner-Webb winner on Wednesday, November 27. 

UND will leave the continental United States for the first time since opening the 2017-18 season at the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Hawks will hoop on international soil for the first time since a mid-August preseason tour of Europe in 2015 that took UND to Italy and France. UND's action in Mexico will be the first countable contests not on U.S. soil since a narrow 46-44 win at Manitoba College on January 16, 1948. 

TIP TOP TREY
Eaglestaff's efforts in two games last week (24.0 ppg, 51.9% FG, 16-of-17 FT, 7 asst., 5 rebs., 1 stl.) earned him the fourth Summit League Peak Performer of the Week award of his career. His 31 points in the win against Utah Valley are the most for the Bismarck native inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center and are the most by a Hawk at home since Marlon Stewart went for 35 against North Dakota State (2/22/2020). His 31 points are the most in a game by a Summit League player this season. 

Through four games, Eaglestaff ranks second in scoring average among Summit League players at 18.3 points per game which stands as a top 90 scoring mark nationally. His 73 total points are the seventh most in the league. His 49% field goal success rate is the fourth-highest in the Summit League. 

PERIMETER PROTECTION
North Dakota's perimeter defense in the early going of the campaign has been among the best and is currently the best three-point guarding effort in the country.

Opponents are shooting just 18.8% and the Hawks are one of only two teams forcing opponents to knock down less than 20% of their attempts from range. All four UND opponents this season have shot less than 23.5% from beyond-the-arc and all have attempted 17 or more threes. 

PANOAM, GET TO KNOW HIM
Sophomore transfer guard Mier Panoam is enjoying a solid start to his first season in Grand Forks. The Alaska native has scored in double figures in three of four games with a season-high 11 points against Notre Dame. 

He leads the team in rebounding with 6.3 and has recorded five or more in all four contests. Additionally, Panoam has recorded four assists, four steals and three blocks and is one of four Hawks averaging 24 or more minutes per game. 

THE BOOK OF ELI
There's plenty to read when it comes to an Eli King stat line. The junior guard has been everywhere and done a little bit of everything for North Dakota in four games this season.

In 102 minutes, the second-most among Hawks, King leads the team in offensive rebounds with eight, which included six against Notre Dame, owns the second-highest rebounding average at 5.5, and holds team-high marks in steals (4) and blocks (3). King paces UND in offensive fouls drawn this season with four.

NODAK NOTABLES
In addition to their ability to guard from range, the Hawks are ranked third among Summit League opposition in both rebounds per game (39.25) and scoring defense (70.5).

The Hawks have grabbed 37 or more rebounds in three of four games this season including 50 against Dickinson State. It is the most rebounds by a UND team since grabbing 54 against Crown College on November 7, 2019, Sather's UND coaching debut. 

North Dakota ranks 81st nationally in fouls averaging just 15.5 per night. It's the fourth lowest rate among Summit League members. 

Treysen Eaglestaff and Amar Kuljuhovic have both made 16 free throws through four games this season. That mark is good for the eighth-most among Summit League players. Dariyus Woodson's 84.6% success rate ranks seventh among SL players and Eaglestaff follows with the eighth-highest clip at 84.2%. 

SCOUTING THE LIONS
LMU enters the matchup at 1-2 overall. The Lions opened the campaign with a convincing 99-56 win over Life Pacific University, before dropping consecutive contests against UC Irvine (66-51) and Saint Louis (77-71).

The Lions are lead by fifth-year head coach Stan Johnson. Johnson is 56-60 in Los Angeles after taking over LMU following assistant roles with Marquette, Arizona State, Drake and Utah among others. Johnson played collegiately at Southern Utah before closing out his final season at Bemidji State. 

LMU was picked to a sixth-place finish in the WCC Preseason Poll sandwiched in-between hoops-only members Washington State and Oregon State. 

The Lions' Jevon Porter was tabbed to the All-WCC Preseason Team and rightfully so. Porter is one of four Lions averaging double figures in scoring with 14.0 points per game. He nearly averages a double double with a team-leading 9.5 rebounds per game and is tops on the team with 33.5 minutes per game. 

Will Johnston ranks 21st nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 6.50 and is leading the team in three-point percentage at 47.4%. That clip along with his 3.00 makes from deep per game are both inside the top 80 nationally. He leads the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game behind a team-best 48.4% shooting. 

Alex Merkviladze's 8.3 rebounds per game leads LMU among players with action in all three contests to start the season. His total rebounds average and his 6.00 defensive rebounds average are both inside the DI top 100. Aaron McBride is averaging 2.00 blocks per game, a top 40 mark in the country. 

Similar to the Hawks, the Lions are inside the top 100 in fouls per game at 16.0. LMU's free throw percentage of 77.8% ranks 40th in DI and leads the WCC. The Lions are averaging a top 60 mark in the DI in three-point attempts per game at 28.3, while they are connecting on 34.1% from range. LMU leads the WCC with a top 75 mark nationally in three-pointers per game at 9.7

LMU is shooting 42.3% from the floor and defending at 41.9%. Additionally, the Lions protect the basketball with a turnover margin of +4.7 which is inside the DI top 50. The commit just 11 turnovers per game, while forcing 15.67 which rates 70th in DI. 

UND BY THE NUMBERS
28- The number of times an opponent, under HC Paul Sather, has shot 23.5% or worse from beyond-the-arc. Notre Dame shot 17.6% (3-17) from deep. Opponents are just 15-for-80 from three-point range this season.
12- The number of times UND has played in the state of California since its inaugural Division I season of 2008-09. Of the dozen contests, UND has matched up with Sacramento State in half of those when both were Big Sky members.
8- The number of times a Fighting Hawk has been named the Summit League Peak Performer of the Week. Treysen Eaglestaff's fourth career appointment is the most for a player under Sather. Amar Kuljuhovic (1) and Marlon Stewart (3) own the other 4.
4- The number of time zones the Hawks have tipped off in once the action commences in Los Angeles on Friday night. UND's non-conference slate marks the first time in program history that the Hawks have contested in all four time zones prior to December.
1- UND's national rank in three-point percentage defense. In 160 minutes this season, the Hawks are holding 
opponents to just an 18.8% success rate from
beyond-the-arc.

A UND WIN WOULD
» Push the Hawks above .500 at 3-2 & even the series standing with LMU at 1-1
» Be the 64th win for Sather at UND and the 28th away from Grand Forks
» Improve the Hawks' DI record in California to 4-9
» Be better than a loss