North Dakota vs. Bethune-Cookman || 11/26 (2 p.m.)
1st meeting
Riviera Maya, Mexico (Hard Rock Hotel)

FULL GAME NOTES ARE HERE

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - North Dakota crosses international borders for a countable contest for the first time in 76 years as the Hawks tip-off against Bethune-Cookman in the Cancun Challenge from the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It will be the furthest south that the Fighting Hawks have ever played. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 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 FloCollege. Live stats will be provided at www.FightingHawks.com.

SERIES HISTORY
UND and BCU meet for the first time in program history. The matchup with the Southwestern Athletic Conference foe is the third for the Fighting Hawks who hold a 2-0 record against SWAC members. North Dakota first matched up with a SWAC opponent on November 26 in Salt Lake City, Utah. UND beat Alabama State 75-68. The Hawks defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 80-71 on November 13, 2017 at the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. 

LAST TIME OUT
Plenty of stars were out for the Fighting Hawks in Los Angeles as four players finished in double-figure scoring in the 77-73 win over Loyola Marymount led by junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff's game-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
 
North Dakota carried a four-point advantage into the intermission behind a 45.5% shooting effort from the floor. The  Hawks led by as many as seven points on four different occasions in the final 8:30 of the opening twenty and were still firing at a rate of 52% at the third media stoppage with under six minutes remaining before the break.

UND outlasted LMU in a second half that was blanketed with four lead changes and five tied scores. With under four minutes remaining and UND again trailing, the Hawks didn't turn to any one player but platooned their lineup for multiple game-changing efforts on both ends of the floor. Panoam gave the Hawks a 63-62 lead that UND would not surrender as the fearless guard drove inside drawing contact and glass for a tough finish. The Hawks were just getting started as Woodson hit a nearly uncontested three (66-62) and Panoam made a pair of free throws to push the Hawks out front 68-62.
 
Within that sequence, King picked up a pair of steals for added possessions and Eaglestaff hammered another trifecta from the left wing on a helper from Kuljuhovic that increased the Hawks' lead to nine with 2:07 left in the game. LMU closed and pulled to within three at 71-68 in the final minute, but Panoam took over with a short jaunt from the top of the key straight inside and finished with the left hand moments before the Hawks finished off the Lions at the line.

OF NOTE: UND attempted a season-high 67 shots and matched season highs in made shots (30), assists (13) and blocked shots (5)...The Hawks' 30 made shots mark just the second instance  under Sather that the Hawks have netted 30 makes against a Division I non-conference opponent in a winning effort with the first coming against Elon (30) in the second game of the 2023-24 season...North Dakota posted its most efficient three-point effort of the season shooting .368 from beyond-the-arc with seven makes; the Hawks have hit five or more threes in all five games this season...In the final 2:36 of play, the Hawks went 6-for-7 from the line with two-make trips from Panoam, King and Eaglestaff...UND is now 19-for-24 in free throw attempts in the final five minutes of a single-digit game...

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 five of their next six away from the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. For the first time in program history, the Hawks tipped off in each of the four time zones of the continental United States prior to December.

BIENVENIDOS A CANCÚN 
Stage two of the Cancun Challenge 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 leaves 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
Bismarck native Treysen Eaglestaff continues his hot start to the season. Through five games, Eaglestaff leads all Summit League players at 19.2 points per game which stands as the 55th best scoring mark nationally. His 96 total points are the fifth most in the league. His 49.3% field goal success rate is the fourth-highest in the Summit League. 

Eaglestaff's effort in wins against Dickinson State and Utah Valley (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 UVU are the most for Eaglestaff 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. 

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 20.7% and the Hawks are the only team forcing opponents to knock down less than 21% of their attempts from range. Four of UND's five opponents this season have shot less than 23.5% from beyond-the-arc and all have attempted 17 or more threes which includes Loyola Marymount's opponent-high 31 attempts. LMU's attempt total marked the seventh time an opponent has attempted 30 or more three-point shots against a Sather-led team. 

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 four of five games with a season-high 16 points against LMU. 

He leads the team in rebounding with 6.4 and has recorded five or more in all five contests and has grabbed seven or more three times. He leads the team in offensive rebounds (10),  Additionally, Panoam has recorded six assists, five blocks and four steals 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 five games this season.

In 129 minutes, the second-most among Hawks, King is second on the team in offensive rebounds with nine, which included six against Notre Dame, owns the second-highest rebounding average at 5.8, and holds a team-high mark in steals (6) and paces UND in offensive fouls drawn this season with four.

He scored in double figures for the first time this season, and for the tenth time in his career at UND, with ten points in the road win at LMU.

NODAK NOTABLES
In addition to their ability to guard from range, the Hawks are ranked second among Summit League opposition in rebounds per game (40.0), defensive rebounds per game (27.60) and blocks per game (3.2) and third in scoring defense (71.0), field goal percentage defense (44.8%) and offensive rebounds per game (12.40).

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 86th nationally in fouls averaging just 15.8 per night. It's the fourth lowest rate among Summit League members. 

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Bethune-Cookman heads to Cancun 1-4 on the season. The Wildcats' lone victory came in their home opener in Daytona Beach: a 75-62 decision against South Caroline State. BCU has suffered losses to Texas Tech, Nebraska, Purdue-Fort Wayne and Tulane. 

The Wildcats are under the leadership of fourth-year head coach Reggie Theus who led BCU to 17 wins a season ago. Theus, an All-American on the court at UNLV, a 1978 first round pick of the Chicago Bulls, and a 13-year NBA veteran, has also led programs at Cal State Northridge and New Mexico State in addition to a one-year stint as head coach of the Sacramento Kings. 

BCU was picked to an 8th place finish in a wide open 2024-25 SWAC MBB Preseason Poll. The Wildcats were one of eight teams to receive first-place votes and the squad's two were the third-most behind preseason favorite Grambling State (10) and Texas Southern (3).

BCU is shooting 39.7% from the floor this season with opponents connecting at a rate of 43.0%. The Wildcats' three-point percentage of 29.5% is ninth in the SWAC. Bethune-Cookman averages 32.4 rebounds per game and carries a rebound margin of -8.4.

Brayon Freeman, who has collegiate experience at George Washington, Rhode Island and Coastal Carolina, leads BCU in scoring at 15.0 ppg which ranks third in the SWAC. His 87.5% rate at the stripe leads the SWAC and his 70 field goal attempts are the fifth-most in the league. 

Reggie Ward Jr. paces the Wildcats in rebounding with 37 total rebounds and in defensive boards per game with 5.8. His 7.4 rebounds per game leads the SWAC and is a top 160 mark in DI. Trey Thomas carries top five marks in steals (10) and steals per game (2.0) among SWAC players and Gianni Hunt leads BCU with 19 assists, 3.8 assists per game and a 1.73 assists-to-turnover ratio. 

UND BY THE NUMBERS
76- The number of years since the Hawks have played in a countable international contest. UND went north of the border to play Manitoba on January 16, 1948. Tuesday's tip-off is the furthest south UND has ever played. 
40- The number of rebounds the Hawks are averaging per game. The mark ranks second among all Summit League foes and ranks 81st nationally of 355 programs. Six players have grabbed 20+ boards this season led by Panoam's 32.
19.2- Junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff's ppg through five games this season. The average leads all Summit League players and he is the lone player in the league with a 30-point game this season. He is one of five players in the SL to make 10 or more shots in a game this season.
17- The number of times senior forward Amar Kuljuhovic has led the Fighting Hawks in rebounding. Kuljuhovic grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in 25 minutes at Loyola Marymount. In 36 career games for the Hawks, he has 19 games with 8+ boards.
1- UND's national rank in three-point percentage defense. In 200 minutes this season, the Hawks are holding opponents to just a 20.7% success rate from beyond-the-arc.

A UND WIN WOULD
» Improve the Hawks to 3-0 all-time against SWAC members
» Be the first win on international soil since 1948
» Give the Hawks their third-straight season with four DI wins in the month of November
» Be better than a loss