Any North Dakota fan will tell you that over the past couple of years, winning on the road has been a huge weakness. On Wednesday night, they almost won a big one.
Playing again without star Troy Huff, UND was thisclose to beating South Dakota State, losing 71-70 on a last-second, difficult three-pointer from the Jackrabbits Chad White.
SDSU got off to a 10-0 run to begin the game, but it was tight after that. UND eventually built a 70-66 lead with 1:57 to play, but they couldn't score the rest of the way. With 12 seconds left, Jamal Webb got a steal and was fouled, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. That led to this:
Such ended the heartbreaker for UND, but they do have plenty to feel good about. For one, SDSU is a darn good team. They won the Summit League last year (if I recall), and return a guy in Nate Wolters that is one of the best Mid-Major players in college basketball. For UND to have them on the ropes is a great sign, especially without Huff.
It was a balanced effort for UND, with four guys in double figures, led by 13 from Josh Schuler.They shot 51% from the field, while holding the Jackrabbits to 38.5%. The two keys were that UND put SDSU on the foul line 30 times (compared to 16 for them), and turned it over 15 times.
The Big Sky has been put on notice, because there are not a lot of teams from the conference that could go into Frost Arena and play like this.
Follow me on Twitter @bigskybball
No comments:
Post a Comment