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Complete NDSU Game Notes
Nov. 6 at New Mexico State  Watch  |  Listen 
 
The Opener:  The North Dakota State men's basketball team will open the 2018-19 season with a road trip to take on New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M., on Tuesday, Nov. 6. The Aggies are the defending WAC champions and this year's preseason favorite to win the league. Tip is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CT / 7:30 p.m. MT inside the Pan American Center (capacity 12,572).
 
Where to Watch: The game will be streamed pay-per-view through NMStateSports.com. It will also be broadcast live on Fox Sports Arizona Plus and tape delayed on Fox College Sports Pacific.
 
Radio: Tuesday's opener will be broadcast on 107.9 The Fox, as well as being streamed free on the 107.9 The Fox app and GoBison.com/allaccess. Jeff Culhane will call the action.
 
First Meeting: This will be the first meeting between the Bison and Aggies.
 
Making Shots: NDSU ranked among the top 60 teams in the nation in all three shooting categories last season. The Bison were 33rd in free throw percentage, 50th in three-point percentage, and 58th in field goal percentage.
 
Good Run: The Bison are averaging 21 wins per season over the past six years.
 
Experience: Junior Tyson Ward is NDSU's most experienced returner, having played in 62 games for an average of 23.6 minutes per game over the past two seasons. Junior Deng Geu is next on the list, playing in the same 62 games over two seasons, averaging 12.0 minutes.
 
Picked Fifth: The Bison were picked to finish fifth in The Summit League this season, according to the annual preseason poll of league head coaches, sports information directors and media. South Dakota State topped the preseason poll with all but two first-place votes. South Dakota came in second, Denver was third, and Purdue Fort Wayne was fourth in front of the Bison.
 
Preseason 2nd Team: Tyson Ward was voted to the preseason All-Summit League second team. Ward is NDSU's top returning scorer (11.8 ppg), and he led the Bison in rebounding as a sophomore last season with 5.9 boards per game.
 
High Percentage: Deng Geu posted a .623 field goal percentage last season as a sophomore, ranking ninth on the NDSU all-time single-season list.
 
Three-Point Record: The Bison set a school record with 294 three-pointers made last season, breaking the previous high of 284 set in the 2002-03 season. NDSU averaged 9.2 three-pointers made per game.
 
At The Line: The Bison were historically good at the free throw line last season, shooting 76.1 percent for the year. That percentage ranks second-best in school history.
 
Sharpshooter: Junior guard Jared Samuelson enters the season ranked eighth on the NDSU career list for three-point percentage. Samuelson is shooting 41.3 percent from beyond the arc for his career.
 
Exhibition Numbers: The Bison cruised to an 81-49 exhibition victory over Concordia-Moorhead on Nov. 1 at the Scheels Center, with three freshmen among the top four scorers for the Bison. Freshman Sam Griesel scored 11 points to lead all players. Bison freshman Jaxon Knotek and redshirt freshman Tyree Eady both added 10 points for NDSU, as did junior forward Deng Geu.
 
Newcomers: The Bison introduce six newcomers to the squad this season, with four coming from the Twin Cities area: junior Vinnie Shahid (Minneapolis, Minn./Hopkins HS/Western Nebraska CC), sophomore Jordan Horn (St. Paul, Minn./Tartan HS/Siena), freshman Jarius Cook (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Park Center HS), and freshman Odell Wilson IV (Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis North HS). NDSU also added freshman Sam Griesel from Lincoln, Neb., and freshman Jaxon Knotek from River Falls, Wis.
 
Horn Can Play: Bison sophomore guard Jordan Horn has been granted a waiver by the NCAA and will be eligible to compete immediately for the Bison, head coach David Richman announced eight days prior to the season opener. Horn played in 30 games and made 13 starts for Siena as a true freshman last season, averaging 7.9 points per game. He led Siena with 48 three-pointers made on the season, including eight treys in a game at Memphis on Dec. 20.
 
Overseas Action: Bison junior Deng Geu played three games for Uganda's national team in FIBA World Cup qualifying this summer, averaging a double-double and leading the tournament in rebounding. Geu averaged 13.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
 
Top Attendance: For the second consecutive season, the Bison led The Summit League in attendance at home games. NDSU topped the league in both attendance categories – overall average, and average for conference games. The Bison averaged 3,159 fans at conference home games in 2018 – the only Summit League school to top the 3,000 mark for the second straight year.
 
Top 3-Point Shooting League: For the second season in a row, The Summit League was the top three-point shooting conference in all of Division I. Summit League teams combined to shoot 37.2 percent from beyond the arc in the 2017-18 season. In 2016-17, the Summit League led all conferences by more than one full percentage point, shooting 37.9 percent for the year.