Bison Start Three-Game Road Trip at Missouri State and No. 7 Xavier

Sunday, November 27

Springfield, Mo.

3 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Missouri State

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

Bison Start Three-Game Road Trip at Missouri State and No. 7 Xavier

11/25/2016 12:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Complete NDSU Game Notes
Nov. 27 at Missouri State Video | Live Stats | Audio
Nov. 29 at Xavier Video | Live Stats | Audio

The Games: The North Dakota State men's basketball team (5-1) begins a three-game road trip with games at Missouri State on Sunday, Nov. 27, and at nationally ranked Xavier on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
                Nov. 27 at Missouri State              3 p.m. CT
                Nov. 29 at Xavier                              6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT

Where to Watch: The Missouri State game will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. The Xavier game will be on national television on Fox Sports 1, with Steve Physioc (play-by-play) and Dickey Simpkins (analyst) calling the action.

Radio: All NDSU men's basketball games will be broadcast on 107.9 The Fox this season, as well as being streamed on the Bison1660 and 107.9 The Fox apps and on GoBison.com/allaccess. Jeff Culhane will call the action.

About Missouri State: The Bears are 3-1 this season and coming off a 68-66 loss at DePaul on Wednesday. Missouri State went 13-19 overall and 8-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference last season.
                Junior guard Ronnie Rousseau III leads the Bears with 13.0 points per game this year. Junior forward Alize Johnson is averaging 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. Head coach Paul Lusk is in his sixth season at Missouri State with a record of 74-91.

About Xavier: The Musketeers are 5-0 this season with a home game vs. Northern Iowa on Nov. 26 before they meet the Bison. Xavier defeated Missouri, Clemson and Northern Iowa to win the championship of the Tire Pros Invitational in Orlando on Nov. 17-20.
                The Musketeers are ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll and No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches poll. Trevon Bluiett is averaging 18.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while J.P. Macura is posting 17.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest.
                Head coach Chris Mack is in his eighth season at Xavier with a record of 167-77. Xavier was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season before falling to Wisconsin in the second round.

First Meetings: North Dakota State has never played Missouri State or Xavier.

Impressive Victory: High Point's 44 points on Nov. 20 were the lowest total for a Bison opponent since NDSU held North Dakota to 42 on Dec. 13, 2014. The 26-point margin was the second-largest margin of victory for the Bison over a Division I opponent in the Richman era.

Hot Hand: A.J. Jacobson leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage, making 13-of-16 attempts from beyond the arc this season (81 percent). He went a perfect 6-for-6 from three-point range vs. UNC Greensboro on Nov. 19, scoring 18 points to lead all players.

Steady Shooting: The Bison have shot between 48.9 percent and 52.2 percent in all six games this season, with three games at exactly 50 percent.

Dexter Steals the Show: Dexter Werner leads NDSU with 14 steals already this season. His previous high for an entire season was 25 steals in the 2015-16 campaign.

Compared to Last Year: NDSU has registered 27 blocked shots through the first six games of the season, compared to 15 blocks in the first six games last year. The Bison are shooting 38 percent from three-point range, an improvement over 29 percent in the first six games last season.

Home Court: NDSU is 53-3 at home since the start of the 2012-13 season. The Bison set a Summit League record with 31 consecutive home wins from Dec. 2, 2013, to Jan. 3, 2016.

Tourney MVP: Junior guard Paul Miller scored 25 points in NDSU's 70-44 victory at High Point on Nov. 20 for the second-best scoring output of his career. He was named Tournament MVP after also tying his career-high with 10 rebounds vs. the Panthers. Miller scored a career-high 27 vs. North Carolina A&T on Nov. 28 of last season.

Season Opener: The Bison posted a 76-66 victory over Arkansas State in the regular season opener and the inaugural game at the Scheels Center on Nov. 11. NDSU used a 19-0 run over an eight-minute stretch of the second half to pull away and earn the win. Arkansas State led 48-47 with 11 minutes remaining in the contest, but the ensuing 19-0 Bison run gave NDSU a 66-48 advantage with 3:20 to play.

Career Highs: Junior A.J. Jacobson set new career highs in rebounds (9), steals (4) and blocks (3) vs. Arkansas State on Nov. 11. He set another career high with 4 blocks against Minnesota Morris two days later.

Exhibition Result: The Bison turned in a strong performance in the first-ever event held at the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex, cruising to a 90-53 win over Concordia-Moorhead in exhibition action on Nov. 2.
                Nine different Bison scored five or more points in the game, led by sophomore guard Khy Kabellis with 16 points. Redshirt freshman forward Deng Geu scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and senior forward Dexter Werner nearly recorded a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Picked Third: NDSU has been picked to finish third in The Summit League this season, according to the annual preseason poll of league head coaches, sports information directors and media.
                NDSU junior guard Paul Miller was voted to the preseason All-Summit League first team, while senior forward Dexter Werner claimed a spot on the second team.
                Fort Wayne topped the preseason poll with 491 points and 18 first-place votes. South Dakota State came in second with 424 points and nine first-place votes, and the Bison were third with 422 points and four first-place votes.

Four Straight 20-Win Seasons: The Bison have four straight 20-win seasons for just the second time in school history. NDSU won 20-plus games each year from 1993-97.

Four Straight Championship Games: The Bison have played in four consecutive Summit League Tournament championship games, winning the title in 2014 and 2015.

Mid-Major Poll: The Bison were ranked 19th in the preseason College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Preseason Summit League favorite Fort Wayne was voted 15th in the poll. NDSU opponents South Dakota State and Missouri State also received votes.

Returning Stats: The Bison returned 83 percent of their scoring and 76 percent of their rebounding from the 2015-16 season.

Under Richman: David Richman has been a member of the NDSU coaching staff for six 20-win seasons, as well as producing 14 all-league players and eight of the top 17 scorers in NDSU history. In all, the Bison are 218-128 (.629 win percentage) in his 11 years as a full-time member of the staff.