North Dakota vs. St. Thomas || 1/4 (1 p.m.)
19th meeting, UND 10-8
Grand Forks, N.D. (Betty Engelstad Sioux Center)

FULL GAME NOTES ARE HERE

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Opening weekend of Summit League play concludes on Saturday in Grand Forks as North Dakota aims to get into the win column with an afternoon tip-off against St. Thomas who opened league play with an 89-85 win in Fargo. Tip-off in the Summit League opener is set for 1 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 can be seen on Midco Sports and will be streamed on the Summit League Network. Live stats will be provided at www.FightingHawks.com.

SERIES HISTORY
The Hawks welcome in the Tommies for the 19th meeting all-time in a series that began in January 1923. The two sides split last season's regular season series with each road team claiming a victory. UND leads the series 10-8, while it's deadlocked at 3-3 since the two be-came league foes beginning with the 2021-22 season which marked the first matchup since 1962. The Hawks are 6-3 against the UST in Grand Forks. 

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ST. THOMAS
1) St. Thomas leads the Summit League in scoring average at 85.3 ppg, while its 11.9 scoring margin ranks second.
2) UST leads the league in field goal percentage netting 49.5% of their shots from the floor and 39% of their shots from three-point range which ranks second as does the squad's 10.8 made threes per game. 
3) Miles Barnstable leads the Tommies in scoring average at 13.7, while three other UST players hold top 25 scoring marks in the Summit League.
4) Drake Dobbs leads the SL in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.6) and total assists (57), while ranking second in assists per game (3.6).
5) The Tommies head west into Grand Forks riding a Division I-era best seven-game winning streak

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore guard Mier Panoam produced a career-high 24 points on a career-best eight made shots, but Omaha never trailed on Thursday evening inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center as the Mavericks used hot shooting in the opening half and a 50% effort from three-point range for the game to handle North Dakota 95-85 in the Summit League opener for both teams.
 
Omaha (7-9, 1-0 SL) opened the contest on a 7-0 run as the Hawks committed a trio of turnovers to find themselves in an early hole, but UND rallied and made their next five shots to close the deficit to 12-11 at the under-16 media stoppage with 14:09 remaining before the intermission. The Mavericks' lead was just four points at the under-12 timeout, but by the under-8 timeout, the advantage had grown to a dozen as UNO led 30-18.
 
The final media break of the half saw the Mavericks leading 38-28 behind a 70% shooting clip from the floor, while the Hawks had managed to hit just two of its 13 attempts from range. Following the final four minutes, UNO carried a 45-34 lead into the break shooting 30% better than the Hawks in the opening twenty minutes.
 
The Hawks responded in the second half using a 6-0 run in less than 90 seconds to pull within five, 49-44, at the 16:11 mark. That effort was spurred by Panoam who scored eight points; all of which came off of tough, contact-laden drives to the basket. UND finished the final twenty minutes with a 51.6% effort from the floor.
 
Two free throws from junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff pulled UND to within a possession at 49-46 with 15:43 remaining, but that is as close as the Hawks would get to the UNO lead. The Mavericks netted several responsive attempts from three in the final 15+ minutes of play in addition to shooting 8-of-12 from the stripe in the final 2:30 of play to fend off any potential UND rally.

PEAK CHASIN'
In early October, North Dakota was tabbed to a sixth-place finish in the Summit League preseason poll. The Hawks were one of six teams to receive a first-place vote and totaled 283 points in a wide open Summit League rankings. North Dakota was just 22 points back of projected No. 5 Oral Roberts which received two first-place nods. St. Thomas edged the Golden Eagles for fourth, while Kansas City (17), South Dakota State (12) and North Dakota State (3) went 1-2-3. The squad's sixth-place appointment, the second highest for UND under Sather, in the preseason rankings is one spot back of last season's fifth-place selection and matches the Hawks' placement prior to the start of the 2020-21 season.

The nine-member mid major league produced a collective non-conference record of 69-64. Four Summit League teams, including North Dakota, enter league play on winning streaks with North Dakota State's eight-game streak pushing the Bison to a league-best 11-4 start. Kansas City has won four-straight, while Omaha joins UND as winners of their past two.

THE BIG O
Following his historic effort against #6 Alabama and a home win over South Dakota Mines, junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff was named the Summit League Peak Performer of the Week for the second time this season and for the fifth time in his career. 

Additionally, Eaglestaff's efforts were recognized on the national stage as he was one of five players named an Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games of the week ending Sunday, Dec. 22. Eaglestaff was joined by Donovan Dent (New Mexico), Caden Pierce (Princeton), Erik Reynolds (Saint Joseph's) and Bruce Thornton (Ohio State). He is the first Hawk to receive the honor since the award's inception began during the 2009-10 season.

DROPPED 40 & PICKED UP 1K
Eaglestaff's scoring clinic against Alabama ended on a step back, near corner triple try that tickled twine to not only bring UND to within three points of the Crimson Tide lead late, but gave him a Betty Engelstad Sioux Center scoring record and a career best single-game effort in addition to pushing him to 1,000 career points. He is the 39th player in program history to reach the mark and the 12th to do it in UND's Division I era (2008-09).

TOP SCORER
Eaglestaff is the top scorer in the Summit League leading with 19.8 points per game (18th DI) and is third in the country in total  points with 316. He ranks seventh nationally in field goals (108) and field goal attempts (241) both of which lead the Summit League.

Additionally, he ranks 13th nationally in three-point attempts (120) and 27th nationally in three-point makes (44). Both marks are league bests. His 2.75 made three-pointers per game lead the league and are a top 85 mark nationally. 

Eaglestaff has scored in double-figures in all 16 games this season crossing over the 20-point mark in seven of those. He finished his sophomore campaign reaching the double-figure scoring mark in the final six games for an active streak of 22 games with 10+ points. 

HOT PURSUIT
Eaglestaff eyes a move up the program record books as he is currently eighth in career three-pointers with 181 which makes him the program's leader in made three pointers among players that played their entire career in UND's D1 era. The Bismarck native is 19 made threes away from becoming the fourth player in program history with 200 career made three-pointers. Additionally, Eaglestaff moved into third all-time on the Hawks' D1 three-point attempt list and he is currently sixth on the all-time list. Eaglestaff continues his climb up the scoring charts and sits at #39 with 1,053 career points. He is 47 points away from entering the program's top 35. 

KRAFTHREE
Grand Forks locals and those around the Red River Valley are no stranger to the game of redshirt freshman guard Zach Kraft. Those that aren't aware, should take notice. The former Red River HS standout's emergence as a key player off the bench for North Dakota developed quickly in the month of December. 

Kraft made his collegiate debut in the season opener at Colorado State, scored his first career points against Dickinson State in Bismarck and through the first nine games that he appeared for the Fighting Hawks, he totaled just over 48 minutes played, attempted seven shots with six from deep to go along with two makes and added two rebounds and two assists. 

Enter Alabama. Kraft delivered nine clutch points from beyond-the-arc in the battle with the Crimson Tide. He entered the contest with two made three point attempts in his young career and proceeded to hammer a trio of triple tries and added a steal in a career-high 18 minutes of action. His first make put the Hawks up 19-12 at the 11:27 mark of the opening half, his second three increased UND's lead to four at 32-28 with 4:44 remaining before the half and his final trifecta cut the Hawks' second-half deficit to five and was a key make in UND's answer to a 14-2 Alabama run.

Over the past four games, Kraft has totaled 65+ minutes (16.3 mpg) and is shooting 46.4% from the floor (13-of-28) with a 48% clip (13-of-27) from three-point range. He has netted three three-point shots in each of last four games, which includes career highs in three-pointers made (4) and points (12) in the non-conference finale win over Waldorf.  

1KULJUHOVIC
Senior forward Amar Kuljuhovic reached a personal milestone at Utah Valley. The Waterloo, Iowa product crossed over 1,000 career points in his collegiate career with a 13-point night against the Wolverines. He recorded 624 points in two seasons at Lake Land College and currently has 426 points in 47 games as a Fighting Hawk. 

The scoring milestone isn't the only one in reach for Kuljuhovic as he is 113 rebounds shy of 1,000 for his career. He registered 511 at LLC and currently has 374 as a Fighting Hawk with 32 coming on the offensive end of the floor. 

Kuljuhovic's rebounding efforts through 16 games has him rated third among Summit League players in total rebounds with 109. He also ranks third in offensive rebounds per game (3.06) and in rebounding average (6.8). Additionally, Kuljuhovic ranks fifth in free throw attempts with a team-leading 72 and 10th in made free throws with 46. 

DARIYUS FROM DEEP
First-year Fighting Hawk, Dariyus Woodson, a TJC transfer and Baytown, Texas native, holds a pair of top 10 rankings among Summit League three-point shooters as league play commences. Woodson ranks third in the SL in three-point attempts with 98 and seventh in makes with 30. His 2.00 makes per game ranks 11th in the SL, while his overall scoring average of 11.3 ppg is a top 25 mark among all league scorers. 

ROAD HAWKS
Eight of North Dakota's 15 non-conference games were outside the state. UND's meeting with Eastern Washington bookended a five-game stretch away from Grand Forks with three of the five standing as true road contests. The Hawks' west coast tip-off against Loyola Marymount marked the first time in program history that UND men's basketball contested in each of the four time zones of the continental United States prior to December.

Including UND's in-state neutral site affair against Dickinson State in Bismarck, the Hawks flocked nearly 11,000 miles during the first five weeks of the season. The Hawks' first-semester travel totaled over 16,200 miles during its non-conference slate.

BUSY STRETCH
The Hawks endured a busy ten-day stretch prior to the Christmas holiday. North Dakota started with UVU in Orem (L, 57-80) and capped the stretch on Friday, December 20 against South Dakota Mines (W, 80-48) in Grand Forks. In between, the Hawks traveled to Texas-San Antonio (Dec. 13; L, 76-80), hosted Texas-San Antonio (Dec. 15; L, 85-95) and battled #6/7 Alabama to the very end (Dec. 18; L, 90-97) inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

NOW BOARDING
The offensive glass has been controlled by UND in 12 of the squad's 16 games and the Hawks have been out-rebounded on the offensive glass just once. 

UND has grabbed 12+ offensive rebounds in every game but its season opener at Colorado State. Eight Hawks have recorded 10+ offensive boards this season led by Amar Kuljuhovic's 49. Brian Mathews follows with 37 and Mier Panoam rounds out the top three with 23.

North Dakota ranks 10th nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 15.13; a mark that leads the Summit League. The squad's overall rebounding average of 40.38 leads the league and is in the top 35 nationally. Overall, the Hawks have out-rebounded their opposition ten times this season. 

SEEING DOUBLE
A Hawk had yet to record a double-double of any kind entering the Big Sky-Summit Challenge on December 4. However, following a pair of matchups with Big Sky opposition, two different Hawks got in on the double-double production. The following week, two Hawks finished with double-doubles in the road loss at UTSA and two days later Deng Mayar joined Amar Kuljuhovic as Hawks with two such efforts so far this season. 

Amar Kuljuhovic produced 17 points and a dozen rebounds in a road loss at Eastern Washington. He added two assists and a block in 31 minutes. It was his ninth double-double as a Hawk. 

Three nights later, Natsvishvili played two dozen minutes and erupted for a dozen points and ten rebounds in a career night for the sophomore and first-year Hawk. He the contest having scored just seven points with 11 rebounds across seven games totaling 60 minutes.  

Against the Roadrunners, Kuljuhovic produced his tenth double-double as a Hawk with ten points and 11 rebounds with nine on the offensive glass. Deng Mayar matched the effort with ten points and 11 boards of which seven were on the defensive end of the floor and two nights later Mayar recorded a second double double with 14 points and ten rebounds.

FEAR MIER
Sophomore transfer guard Mier Panoam has provided a big spark for the Hawks in year one in Grand Forks specifically with his ability to get to the basket. On Thursday night, he delivered a career-high 24 points and matched his single-game career-best with eight made shots. Panoam ranks second on the team with a top 20 scoring mark in the Summit League at 11.9 ppg. He holds top 10 league rankings in free throw attempts (72, 5th) and free throw makes (50, 8th) and is responsible for five of UND's 13 three-point plays. 

MORE MAYAR
Deng Mayar registered back-to-back double double efforts in a weekend home-and-home with UTSA. In two games against the Roadrunners, Mayar averaged 27.1 minutes and shot 53.3% (8-of-15) from the floor with a 50% (3-of-6) rate from three-point range. He went 5-of-7 from the line to average 12.0 points over the pair of contests. Mayar led UND in rebounding with 10.5 boards per game, including the second-most offensive rebounds at eight. 

THE BOOK OF ELI
Junior Eli King knows his way around a box score. The Caledonia, Minnesota native has been active on both ends of the floor and done a little bit of everything for North Dakota in 16 games this season.

King has played 30+ minutes in nine games this season. He recorded a career-high 37 minutes in the home win over Weber State. In that victory, he scored in double figures for the second time this campaign with a season-high 13 points to go along with two rebounds, two steals and an assist. The double-figure scoring effort was the 11th of his UND career.

In 453 minutes, the second-most among Hawks, King is fourth on the team in offensive rebounds with 22, which included six against Notre Dame, and owns the second-highest rebounding average at 5.0. King's 80 total rebounds ranks eighth in the SL. He has ten games this season with 5+ rebounds and three games with 3+ steals including five vs. Waldorf. He holds a team-high mark in steals (23) and paces UND in offensive fouls drawn this season with a dozen. His total steal count ranks third in the Summit League and his steals average of 1.44 ranks fifth. 

UND BY THE NUMBERS
316- The number of points scored by junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff in 15 games this season. It is currently the third-most in DI and is a result of the seventh-most made field goals (108) which comes courtesy of a top 30 three-pointers made mark (44).
33- The number of Summit League wins for the Hawks under head coach Paul Sather. The Hawks won a program-best 10 Summit League games a season ago and have won seven or more league games in a season three times under Sather.
10- UND's national rank in offensive rebounds/game. The squad's mark of 15.13 leads the Summit League. UND has grabbed a dozen or more offensive rebounds in 15 of 16 games this season. The most games with 12+ OREB under Sather is 17 last season.
5- The number of three-point makes needed by junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff to move into fifth-place outright on the program's career list. His 181 makes from range are the most among Hawks who played their entire career at the DI level. 
2- The number of rostered Hawks that have scored 1,000 collegiate points. Amar Kuljuhovic, across action at Lake Land College during his first two collegiate seasons, reached the mark at Utah Valley, while Eaglestaff joined him against Alabama.

A UND WIN WOULD
» Be the 11th all-time against St. Thomas and fourth as Summit league foes
» Improve UND to 34-52 against Summit League foes under Sather
» Be the 39th home win for the Hawks under Sather
» Be better than a loss