Weekend preview: NDSU and Omaha
Here’s a look at what’s ahead this weekend for the South Dakota State basketball teams. I’ll be live from Brookings on Saturday afternoon for the men’s game against North Dakota State, the start of the second half of the Summit League schedule:
Men (15-6, 6-2)
Saturday vs. NDSU (16-4, 7-1), 2:05 p.m.
Sagarin says: Bison by 1
Streaks and such: SDSU has won 25 games in a row at home
Of note: NDSU is No. 14 in this week’s mid-major poll, while SDSU is 19th. … The Bison beat the Jacks by three in Fargo earlier this season, riding a 19-6 start and 8 of 8 shooting by post Marshall Bjorklund. Bjorklund leads NCAA Division I in field-goal percentage at 71.7. … NDSU will again be without leading scorer Taylor Braun due to a foot injury. He had a pin put in to help stimulate blood flow. … These teams haven’t split a regular-season series since 2005-06. … The Bison are 10th in D-I in scoring defense (56.2 ppg). … Jacks senior point guard Nate Wolters is 10th in the nation in scoring (20.7) and 27th in assists (5.8). … I’ll have a more extensive preview of this game in the Saturday edition.
Women (14-6, 6-1)
Saturday at Omaha (14-5, 4-3), 2 p.m.
Sagarin says: Jacks by 9
Streaks and such: The teams haven’t met since 2003-04 when both schools were in the NCAA Division II ranks.
Of note: SDSU fell one spot to No. 18 in the mid-major rankings after splitting two home games last week. … Omaha guard Jamie Nash recently topped 1,000 career points. She also holds the school record for career steals. She leads the Summit in assists while teammate Paige Frauendorfer is tops in rebounds. … The Mavs were picked last in the preseason poll, but have more wins than anybody other than SDSU. Their strength of schedule: 341. … Omaha leads the Summit in field-goal percentage and defensive field-goal percentage.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
