Complete NDSU Game Notes
Feb. 27 vs. SDSU  Watch  |  Listen  |  Live Stats
Feb. 29 vs. Omaha  Watch  |  Listen  |  Live Stats
 
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The Games:  The North Dakota State men's basketball team (20-8 overall, 11-3 Summit League) hosts the South Dakota State Jackrabbits (22-8, 13-2) on Thursday and the Omaha Mavericks (15-14, 8-6) on Saturday to close out the 2019-20 regular season.
 
What's at Stake: A pair of wins this week would give the Bison a share of the Summit League regular season title with a 13-3 league record. If South Dakota or Omaha finish third in the league standings, NDSU would also clinch the No. 1 seed for the Summit League Tournament.
        The Bison have won three Summit League regular season titles -- 2009, 2014 and 2015.
 
Where to Watch: Thursday's game will be broadcast on Midco Sports Network and streamed on ESPN+. Saturday's game will be broadcast on Midco Sports Network 2 and streamed on ESPN3. Brian Shawn (play-by-play) and Greg Stemen (analyst) are on the call.
 
Radio: Both games will be broadcast on 107.9 The Fox and Bison1660, as well as being streamed on the 107.9 The Fox app, the Bison1660 app, and on GoBison.com/allaccess. Jeff Culhane and Jeremy Jorgenson will call the action.
        All Bison conference games are also carried on KYCR 1440 AM in the Twin Cities.
 
History with South Dakota State: Thursday will be the 225th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota State dating back to 1909-10.  NDSU leads the series 117-107. The Jackrabbits have won six straight over the Bison, but NDSU has won 11 of the past 14 meetings in Fargo.
 
Last Time vs. South Dakota State:  The Bison cut their deficit to three points on three different occasions in the second half, but South Dakota State ultimately prevailed 78-73 on Jan. 22 at Frost Arena.
        Senior Tyson Ward finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists for NDSU.
        South Dakota State got 21 points from sophomore forward Matt Dentlinger and 20 from junior forward Douglas Wilson. The Jackrabbits shot 56 percent for the game, compared to 48 percent for the Bison.
        SDSU led 34-22 at halftime after the Bison shot just 33 percent in the opening half. NDSU stormed out of the gates in the second half, pulling within three at 41-38 with 15:00 remaining.
        A three-pointer by Ward cut the SDSU advantage to 55-52 with just under eight minutes left, but the Jackrabbits scored the next six straight points to push it back to 61-52.
        Kreuser hit a three-pointer to make it 64-60 SDSU with 4:27 on the clock. NDSU came up empty on the next two possessions, and never got closer than four the rest of the way.
 
History with Omaha: Saturday will be the 84th meeting between North Dakota State and Omaha dating back to 1935-36. NDSU has a 50-33 lead in the series. The Mavericks won both regular season meetings last season, but NDSU defeated Omaha 73-63 in the championship game of the Summit League Tournament.
 
Last Time vs. Omaha:  The Bison scored 50 points in the second half to pull away for an 86-78 road victory over Omaha inside Baxter Arena on Feb. 5. It was the third road win for the Bison in the span of a week.
        Bison senior Vinnie Shahid finished with 24 points, and senior Tyson Ward had 22 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Jared Samuelson scored a season-high 16 points – with 13 coming in the second half – playing near his hometown of Gretna, Neb.
        NDSU shot 54 percent for the game and made 11-of-25 (44 percent) from three-point range.
        The first half saw six lead changes, with neither team leading by more than four points. It was tied 36-36 at halftime.
        Leading 43-40 with 17 minutes remaining, NDSU went on a 9-2 run to go ahead 52-42. Ward scored three buckets in the paint, and then Samuelson hit a three-pointer to push the margin to 10.
 
Good Company: NDSU's recent seven-game win streak was the longest streak for the Bison since winning 10 in a row at the end of the 2013-14 season, when NDSU won the final seven regular season games, two in the Summit League Tournament, and defeated No. 5 seed Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament.
 
20 Wins: NDSU has achieved its seventh 20-win season in the Division I era. This is the third 20-win season under head coach David Richman, tying Saul Phillips (2007-14) for the second-most by a head coach in NDSU history. Richman also owns a pair of 19-win seasons.
        Former head coach Tom Billeter posted four straight 20-win seasons from 1993-97 in the Division II era.
 
Approaching 1,000: With 31 more points, Vinnie Shahid will reach the 1,000-point mark for his NDSU career, becoming only the second Bison to ever score 1,000 points with only two seasons in Fargo. Former NBA draft pick Lance Berwald scored 1,134 points from 1982-84 after transferring to NDSU from Nebraska.
        There are 35 members of the 1,000-Point Club at NDSU, with Tyson Ward joining most recently on Nov. 7 of this season against Mayville State.
 
All-Around Player: NDSU's Tyson Ward is one of only two players in The Summit League who rank Top 10 in points, rebounds and assists in league play.
 
11-2 Start: After winning 77-74 at South Dakota last week to improve to 11-2 in Summit League play, NDSU matched its best conference start through 13 games since the 2013-14 season.
 
Kickstart: The Bison are 15-4 since defeating East Tennessee State on Dec. 7 in Fargo. The Buccaneers are now 25-4 and ranked 2nd in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll.
 
Rare Occurrence: NDSU's loss at North Dakota on Feb. 22 was the first time Vinnie Shahid didn't attempt a free throw in a game since Nov. 17 vs. Stony Brook. It has only happened three times this season, and the Bison are 1-2 in those games.
 
Dynamic Duo: Vinnie Shahid (18.3 ppg) and Tyson Ward (15.8 ppg) are on pace to become the first NDSU duo since Ben Woodside and Brett Winkelman in 2008-09 to average over 15 points per game for the season. Woodside averaged 23.2 points, and Winkelman averaged 18.6 for the first Bison team to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
At The Line: NDSU is No. 2 in the nation in free throw percentage, making 79.5 percent for the season -- which would surpass the school-record mark of 77.7 percent set last year. The Bison are 231-of-278 (83.1 percent) at the charity stripe in Summit League play.
 
Ball Security: The Bison rank 10th in the country for fewest turnovers per game at 10.5.
 
500 in a Season: Vinnie Shahid is the 18th Bison player to score 500 points in a season. Shahid also joined Ben Woodside (2007-08, 2008-09), Taylor Braun (2013-14) and Paul Miller (2017-18) as Bison to record 500 points and 75 assists in a Division I season.
 
Winning The Arc: NDSU is 39th in the nation (and first in The Summit League) with 8.9 three-pointers made per game. The Bison also allow the fewest three-pointers per game in the conference at 5.8 per game in league play.
 
Road Dubs: Following the victory at South Dakota on Feb. 19, the Bison have eight road wins already this season -- tied for the 15th-most in Division I.  The 2013-14 Bison squad was the best of the last decade on the road, winning 10 times.
 
Few Freebies: The Bison foul the least often of any team in The Summit League, committing just 16.5 fouls per game in conference play.
 
Mr. Reliable: Vinnie Shahid has scored at least 19 points in 11 of 14 conference games.
 
Strong Ratio: Among players who are averaging at least 25 minutes per game, Tyree Eady ranks second in The Summit League for assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Over the 7-Game Win Streak:

• Vinnie Shahid made 58-of-64 (91 percent) at the free throw line.
• Vinnie Shahid averaged 23.9 points.
• Rocky Kreuser averaged 13.1 points -- 2.5 above his season average.
• Jared Samuelson was 10-for-24 (42 percent) from beyond the arc.
• The Bison shot 83.6 percent at the free throw line.
• The Bison limited opponents to 34-percent three-point shooting.
• The Bison averaged +6 in the rebounding battle.