North Dakota at Omaha || 2/6 (7 p.m.)
106th meeting, UND leads 58-47
Omaha, Neb (Baxter Arena)

FULL GAME NOTES ARE HERE

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - North Dakota men's basketball heads back out on the road as the Omaha-Kansas City swing is due up for the Fighting Hawks this weekend. The league-leading Mavericks await the Fighting Hawks on Thursday night inside Baxter Arena. 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 the Summit League Network. Live stats will be provided at www.FightingHawks.com.

TIPPING OFF
The Mavericks enter tied atop the Summit League standings at 8-1 and boast a 7-2 mark at home inside Baxter Arena. UND aims for consecutive league wins for the first time this season and its first win on the road at UNO since 2021. 

The Mavericks rank third in 3FG% at 35.9% in 24 games with the league's second-highest mark in league action at 41.3%. JJ White has been the top 3pt shooter in the SL in league play with a 46.9% clip from range. 

Two of the top three shooters in the Summit League meet on Thursday night as UND's Treysen Eaglestaff paces the SL in total points (438) and FGA (362) and ranks third in FGM (147). UNO's Marquel Sutton has a league high 151 FGM and ranks second in attempts (324) and total points (423). Both players hold top five scoring averages. 

On the glass, two top five rebounders will tangle in UND's Amar Kuljuhovic who ranks fourth in rebounding average (6.8), while Sutton ranks second (7.5). 

SERIES HISTORY
The Fighting Hawks and the Mavericks meet for the 106th time on Thursday in Nebraska. UND holds the lead in the series, which began December 20, 1934, at 58-47. It will be the 48th matchup in Omaha with the home team holding a 30-17 advantage in those games which includes a 79-61 win by the Mavericks last season. UND aims for its first win on the road against the Mavericks since February 20, 2021. The Mavericks have won two straight against the Fighting Hawks including this season's Summit League opener on January 2 in Grand Forks. 

MOST RECENTLY VS. UNO
UNO's Marquel Sutton and Tony Osburn combined for 47 of the Mavericks' 95 points in January's matchup as Omaha shot 57.1% from the floor, while making half of their twenty attempts from beyond-the-arc. North Dakota never led in the contest and trailed by as much as 15 points late in the second half, despite the Hawks pulling to within four points of the visitor's advantage five and a half minutes after the intermission. UNO rode an early groove and used multiple possessions in transition (+12 in fast break points) to limit the Hawks at home. UND was led by sophomore guard Mier Panoam who scored a then career high 24 points on eight made shots and eight made free throws. The Hawks committed a dozen turnovers and have only done that on two other occasions in SL play.

LAST TIME OUT
vs South Dakota State; W, 80-75
A hot start to the first half, which saw UND shoot 69% and finish at +9 in TO margin after committing none to build a 50-35 lead at the break, was enough for the Hawks on Saturday as the season-high 55.2% clip from the floor aided North Dakota in snapping a lengthy losing streak to the Jackrabbits. UND was guided offensively by all five starters who finished in double figures and were led by a career afternoon from junior guard Eli King who dropped a career best two dozen points. Leading by 11 at the under-12 media of the second half, the Hawks buckled down defensively and pestered the Jackrabbits into a 1-of-9 shooting effort and a three-plus minute scoring drought that allowed UND to stay in front by 13 at 66-53 with 7:32 to play. UND's lead grew to 16 and the Hawks weathered a late SDSU run with key free throws. 

LONG TIME COMING
North Dakota's five-point win over the Jackrabbits snapped an 18-game losing streak to SDSU. It was the first win against South Dakota State since an 89-70 decision on December 15, 2011 in Grand Forks. It marked the first Summit League win for UND against the Jackrabbits and just the second in its Division I Era (2008-09).

CROWN HIM
Known for his all around ability to fill up any stat column in a box score, junior guard Eli King's scoring prowess was on full display on Saturday against SDSU. His career-best 24 points, the fourteenth time he has crossed over double-figures in his UND career, came behind career highs in shot attempts (16) and shots made (10). With his effort on Saturday, King has now led UND at least once in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in a single game this season.

MIER-IAD OF POINTS
Sophomore Mier Panoam's first season in Grand Forks can be labeled with multiple descriptors. One of which is impactful. The Tulane transfer enters the final stretch of Summit League play with the tenth best scoring average overall (13.8) and the fifth highest scoring average (18.2) against league opponents. Panoam has scored in double figures 18 times this season with six twenty-point games and a career-high 28 in UND's road win at Denver. 

SCORING NUGGETS
While effort on the defensive end of floor has been the focus of late for the Hawks, scoring has not been an issue. Some scoring nuggets to consider as the Hawks roll down the stretch of Summit League play:

*Treysen Eaglestaff is one of just two SL players to score 40 points in a game this season with his career-high 40 coming against Alabama and he is one of just two players with multiple games of 30 or more points (NDSU's J. White).
*Four SL players have made 12 or more shots in a game this season. Two of them reside on UND's roster in Eaglestaff (league-best 15 vs. Alabama) and Mier Panoam (12 vs. Denver).
*Four different Hawks have recorded 20-games this season (Eaglestaff, Panoam, Woodson, King)

HANDLE WITH CARE
North Dakota committed just six turnovers in the win against SDSU, none of which occurred in the first half. 

The Hawks are +2.78 in turnover margin in Summit League play which is currently the third-best such mark in the conference and only the fourth above even. UND has turned the basketball over less than nine times in six of its nine league contests and has committed nine or fewer turnovers in eight of their past 11 games. UND's 1.41 assist-to-turnover ratio in nine SL contests is the second-best clip in the league.

NOW BOARDING
The offensive glass has been controlled by UND in 19 of the squad's 24 games and the Hawks have been out-rebounded on the offensive glass three times. 

UND has grabbed 12+ offensive rebounds in 21 of 24 games. Nine Hawks have recorded 10+ offensive boards this season led by Amar Kuljuhovic's 73. Mier Panoam follows with 47 and Brian Mathews has added 41.

North Dakota ranks 12th nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 14.08; a mark that leads the Summit League. The squad's overall rebounding average of 38.25 ranks second in the league and is in the top 60 nationally. Overall, the Hawks have out-rebounded their opposition 15 times this season. 

THE BIG O
Following his historic effort against #6 Alabama and a home win over South Dakota Mines, junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff was 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.

PO1NTS, PO1NTS, PO1NTS
Eaglestaff's 40 points against Alabama, the 20th such game by a Fighting Hawk all-time, vaulted the junior guard into the 1,000-point club at UND. He became the 39th player in program history to reach the mark and the 12th to do it in UND's Division I era (2008-09). Currently, Eaglestaff is No. 26 on the scoring list with 1,175 points. He is 25 points shy of becoming the 21st player in program history to reach 1,200 and he is 55 points shy of moving into the program's top 20.

A SCORING STORY
Eaglestaff has developed into one of the league's top scorers as he ranks third among Summit League players with 18.3 points per game, while his 438 total points are a top 20 total nationally and the league lead. He ranks third in the Summit League in field goals (147) and first in field goal attempts (362), which ranks 12th nationally.

TR3Y-POINT LAND
Eaglestaff eyes a move up the program record books as he is currently fifth in career three-pointers with 195 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 five 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 fourth on the all-time list. 

This season, he ranks third in the Summit League in made three-pointers (58) and fourth in three-pointers per game (2.42). He leads the league in attempts from range (173). 

KRAFTHREE
Redshirt freshman Zach Kraft has placed himself firmly in UND's rotation after totaling just 48 minutes with two three-point makes in six attempts through the season's first nine games. Since jumping onto the scene with a memorable performance against Alabama (9 pts), Kraft has seen action in each of UND's 12 games and during that time he is shooting 44% from deep (22-of-50) and 48.2% overall from the floor, while averaging 14.4 minutes per. 

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 523 points in 55 games as a Fighting Hawk. 

The scoring milestone isn't the only one in reach for Kuljuhovic as he is 59 rebounds shy of 1,000 for his career. He registered 511 at LLC and currently has 430 as a Fighting Hawk with 156 coming on the offensive end of the floor. 

3DARIYUS
First-year Fighting Hawk, Dariyus Woodson, a TJC transfer and Baytown, Texas native, ranks seventh with 131 attempts from three-point range and 13th with 41 makes from three.  

HELPING HANDS
Two Hawks have recorded 50+ assists this season and one more is closing in. Mier Panoam leads UND with 57 assists, while Treysen Eaglestaff and Eli King each follow with 51. 

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. 

UND BY THE NUMBERS
35- 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.
18.2- The average number of points per game scored by Mier Panoam nine games into Summit League action. He delivered three-straight games of 20+ points to start conference play, five total since January 1 and has a pair of double doubles.
12- UND's national rank in offensive rebounds/game. The squad's mark of 14.08 leads the Summit League. UND has grabbed a dozen or more offensive rebounds in 21 of 24 games this season which is the most by a Sather-led UND team.
5- The number of three-point makes needed by junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff to reach 200 for his career. He would become the fourth player in program history with 200 or more makes from three-point range and the first exclusively Division I player in program history to do so.
2.78- North Dakota's turnover margin in nine Summit League games which is third overall in the league and second among teams that have played nine contests. The Hawks have turned it over nine or fewer times in six of nine SL games.

A UND WIN WOULD
» Be the 59th all-time against the Mavericks
» Be the Hawks first win at Omaha since Feb. 20, 2021
» Give the Hawks consecutive league wins for the first time this season
» Keep UND in the middle of the pack in the SL standings
» Be better than a loss