NDSU and UND Prepare For New Years Hoops Showdowns

North Dakota and North Dakota State Basketball Will Play Against Each other Friday and Saturday Night

FARGO– NDSU and UND Women’s Basketball are both 2-0 in conference heading into Saturday’s showdown and subsequently sit at the top of the Summit League standings. North Dakota has a slight edge at 9-3 overall to North Dakota State’s 8-4 record this season. Neither team has lost a home game all season.

NDSU has won the last seven games between the two rivals and holds the advantage 42 wins to 40 in the series all time. Coach Mallory Bernard and the Fighting Hawks know they’ll need to bring their A-game to Fargo Saturday to hand the Bison their first home loss of the season but feel prepared for the challenge.

There’s a mentality able to win games and and just that feeling that we can you know we can win some top bout every situation you could imagine over the five pre-nonconference schedule and so she’s going to Fargo and be confident we were able to do what we know they’re a good team there’s no hiding that we know that they kind of had a number of the last several years and so of course there’s not. There’s a lot that goes into this, but knowing what we are capable of and having been in some of the situations helps,” said Bernhard.

Meanwhile the men’s teams prepare for their Friday night meeting in Grand Forks. Both teams feature new look rosters and are looking for their first wins in Summit League Conference play.
NDSU holds the all-time series record, 14 wins to 6 over the Fighting Hawks. The Bison have won the last two meetings. The Fighting Hawks however come into the game with a 6-8 record with the Bison struggling to a 3-11 record. Coach Paul  Sather however feels that the Bison are a much stronger team than their record and recognizes the challenge NDSU represents.

<Well their front line is really good you know, Grant Nelson is phenomenal, he’s I think in two conference games on the road he’s 19 of 30 from the field. He’s averaging 12 and a half rebounds. He’s shooting at a high percentage. He’s finishing at high percentage. He presents rim protection along with Morgan,
so their front line is as good of a front line in our level of division one as you’ll see. So that’s where it starts, I think they’re a team that has shown that they can throughout games they can be really effective defensively,” said Sather.