North Dakota will have its first home game of the 2022-23 season on Tuesday night. The Fighting Hawks and Tigers will square off inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center at 7 p.m. Fans can follow all the action by watching Midco Sports, as well as by tuning into Paul Ralston’s call on the Home of Economy Radio Network.
Series History vs. the Tigers
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between North Dakota and Pacific. The Tigers took the most recent contest by a score of 93-76 on Dec. 1, 2014, at the Oregon Multi-Team Tournament. UND’s lone win of the series was on Dec. 7, 1978, a 72-67 win in Grand Forks. The first game of the series came on Dec. 5, 1977, when Pacific won 77-65 in Stockton.
Home Sweet Home
North Dakota has only lost one home opener since its move to Division I, that loss coming last season on Nov. 9, a 75-60 loss to Milwaukee. In total, UND is 14-1 in its last 15 openers. Before last season, the most recent home opening loss came on Nov. 21, 2006, to Northern State (88-84).
Last Time Out
No. 9 Creighton defeated North Dakota, 96-61, inside the CHI Health Center Omaha on Thursday evening. Despite trailing 53-22 at intermission, the Fighting Hawks shot 60.0 percent in the second half and were only edged on the scoreboard by a tally of 43-39 in the final 20 minutes of play.
Tsotne Tsartsidze paced UND in scoring with 16 points, knocking down a career-high four triples in the second half. He also had the first 11 points for North Dakota after intermission.
Watch and Listen
All North Dakota men’s basketball games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the Home of Economy Radio Network, as well as through the iHeart Radio app, with Paul Ralston calling the action. UND home games this season will also all be available through Midco Sports Plus with a subscription. A vast majority of the home games will also be aired on Midco Sports or Midco Sports Two.
Attacking the Glass
As a team, North Dakota finished last season ranked No. 4 in the Summit League in rebounds per game (35.5). When it came to being aggressive on the offensive glass, NoDak shined with 10.2 rebounds per game to sit third in league play.
Jalun’s J’s
Jalun Trent enters the season as a potential projected starter for North Dakota after spending the previous two seasons at Cochise College in Arizona. He averaged 9.4 points per game, 8.0 assists per game and 7.2 rebounds per game while at Cochise and shot 78.3 percent from the free throw line and 61.0 percent from the field in the NJCAA. Trent was named the ACCAC & NJCAA Region I Defensive Player of the Year in 2021-22 and earned both First-Team All-ACCAC and NJCAA All-Region I honors. Trent had his first official minutes in a North Dakota uniform at Incarnate Word and dished out a team-high six assists.
Splash Norman
Last season, Matt Norman appeared in 30 games with 21 starts, 17 of those starts coming in the final games of the season. He averaged 9.1 points per game and led the team in free throw percentage, hitting at 83.0 percent (44-of-53). He finished the year second on the team in scoring with 274 points, recording 12 double-digit performances and four 20-point games. In 2021-22, Norman erupted for a career-high 27 points against Western Illinois on Jan. 13, netting 20 points alone in the second half. He also knocked down a career-best seven triples against North Central on Dec. 14. Norman already had his first double-digit performance of the 2022-23 season in the season opener, piling up a team-high 14 points at Incarnate Word. He also knocked down a game-high three triples against the Cardinals.
