2017-18 Hoops Season Begins with Bison at UC Santa Barbara, No. 10/11 USC

Saturday, November 11

Santa Barbara, Calif.

3 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

2017-18 Hoops Season Begins with Bison at UC Santa Barbara, No. 10/11 USC

11/7/2017 5:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

NDSU Basketball on Twitter
Complete NDSU Game Notes
Nov. 11 at UC Santa Barbara Video | Live Stats | Audio
Nov. 13 at USC Video | Live Stats | Audio

The Games: The North Dakota State men's basketball team will open the 2017-18 season with a road trip to southern California, taking on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Saturday, Nov. 11, and the nationally ranked USC Trojans on Monday, Nov. 13.

Sat., Nov. 11 at UC Santa Barbara 3 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. PT
Mon, Nov. 13 at #10/11 USC 10 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. PT

Where to Watch: Saturday's game at UC Santa Barbara will be streamed free online at BigWest.TV. Monday night's game at USC is available to subscribers of the Pac-12 Networks.

Radio: Saturday's game at UC Santa Barbara will be broadcast on 96.9 HITS FM due to the overlap with the NDSU football broadcast. Monday's game at USC -- and the remainder of the men's basketball games this season -- will be broadcast on 107.9 The Fox, as well as being streamed on the Bison1660 and 107.9 The Fox apps and on GoBison.com/allaccess.

History with UC Santa Barbara: The Bison and Gauchos have met one time previously on the basketball court, with NDSU scoring a 68-60 neutral site victory in Eugene, Ore., on Nov. 13, 2010.

History with Southern California: USC won the only previous meeting between the Bison and Trojans -- a tight 61-57 contest at the Galen Center on Dec. 20, 2008.

Bison Against Ranked Opponents: Monday's game at USC will make it six consecutive seasons that the Bison have played a Top 10 opponent. It will be NDSU's 15th game against a ranked opponent in Division I play, with the Bison holding a 3-11 record in those games. (Rankings are USA Today Coaches/Associated Press)

at #13/15 Wisconsin W, 62-55 Jan. 21, 2006
at #9/8 Marquette W, 64-60 Dec. 2, 2006
vs. #20/21 Oklahoma W, 80-75 OT Mar. 20, 2014 NCAA

Good Half Decade: With 112 victories over the past five seasons, the Bison are in the midst of the most successful five-year stretch in program history.

Picked Third: NDSU has been picked to finish third in The Summit League this season. South Dakota State topped the preseason poll with 339 points and 13 first-place votes. South Dakota came in second with 327 points and the remaining 12 first-place votes. The Bison were third with 246 points.

Preseason Honor: NDSU senior guard Paul Miller was voted to the preseason All-Summit League first team for the second straight year.

Season Openers: North Dakota State has a 73-45 record in regular-season opening games. The Bison are 7-6 in season openers since beginning Division I play in 2004-05.

When It Counts: NDSU's 43 conference wins over the past four seasons are the most in The Summit League during that time.

Championship Caliber: NDSU has swept the Summit League regular season and tournament titles three times in the past nine years (2009, 2014, 2015), winning a school-record 26 games in both 2008-09 and 2013-14.

More Often Than Not: David Richman's .646 overall winning percentage is the second-best by an NDSU coach since the 1920s.

Crowds Growing: The NDSU men's basketball team recorded the 11th-largest attendance increase in the nation for the 2016-17 season. The average attendance for Bison home games increased by 1,054 over the 2015-16 season, as NDSU's average home attendance was its best since 1994-95.

Academic All-American: NDSU junior A.J. Jacobson was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first team in 2016-17 with a 3.99 cumulative GPA. Jacobson is the first Bison to earn first-team Academic All-America honors in men's basketball since Brett Winkelman was named Academic All-American of the Year in 2009. Jacobson was also a third-team honoree as a sophomore in 2015-16.

Multiple Threats: NDSU returns four players who shot 40 percent or better from three-point range in league play last season – Tyson Ward, Paul Miller, A.J. Jacobson and Jared Samuelson.

Miller, Jacobson Beyond 1,000 Points: Seniors Paul Miller and A.J. Jacobson both surpassed 1,000 career points in the first half of NDSU's win over Denver on Feb. 11 of last season. Jacobson became the 33rd Bison to reach the milestone, and Miller was the 34th.

Home Court: NDSU is 61-5 at home since the start of the 2012-13 season.

Eighty-Plus: The Bison scored 80-plus points in 12 out of 16 Summit League games last season. NDSU only reached 80 points in a league game one time in the two years prior.

Never Give Up: Ten times in the past two seasons, the Bison trailed by double digits before coming back to win.

Against The Summit League: NDSU is 50-21 in its last 71 games against Summit League opponents.

Into the Top 10: Seniors Paul Miller (8th) and A.J. Jacobson (9th) both moved into NDSU's all-time top 10 in three-pointers made during the 2016-17 season.

Court Time: Seniors A.J. Jacobson and Paul Miller are both averaging more than 31 minutes per game for their careers.

Four Straight: The Bison recorded four straight 20-win seasons for just the second time in school history from 2012-16. NDSU also played in four consecutive Summit League Tournament championship games during those years, winning the title in 2014 and 2015.

The Richman Era: The Bison are 232-138 (.627 win percentage) in David Richman's 12 years as a full-time member of the NDSU coaching staff.

Pro Bison: Five former North Dakota State basketball players are currently playing professionally: Taylor Braun ('14, NBA G League), TrayVonn Wright ('14, Greece), Lawrence Alexander ('15, Denmark), Kory Brown ('16, Germany) and Dexter Werner ('17, Germany).