Complete NDSU Game Notes
Feb. 8 vs. ORU  Watch  |  Live Stats
 
The Game:  The North Dakota State men's basketball team (17-7 overall, 8-2 Summit League) hosts the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (12-11, 5-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon inside the Scheels Center on the NDSU campus. NDSU brings a four-game winning streak into the contest.
                  Saturday, Feb. 8              vs. Oral Roberts            1 p.m. CT
 
Where to Watch: Saturday's game will be broadcast on Midco Sports Network 2 and streamed on ESPN3. Brian Shawn (play-by-play) and Greg Stemen (analyst) will call the action.
 
Radio: The game 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 will also be carried on KYCR 1440 AM in the Twin Cities.
 
About Oral Roberts: The Golden Eagles are 12-11 overall this season and 5-5 in The Summit League, after losing 74-68 at UND on Thursday night before the trip to Fargo. ORU is 3-10 in road contests this year.
          Senior forward Emmanuel Nzekwesi leads ORU with 16.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, followed up by the guard combo of senior Deondre Burns (15.2 ppg) and freshman Max Abmas (14.4 ppg).
          As a team, the Golden Eagles rank 18th in the nation with an average of 13.0 offensive rebounds per game, and they are 50th-best in the country in rebounding margin.
 
History with Oral Roberts: Saturday will be the 28th meeting between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts dating back to 1967-68, with the Bison leading the series 14-13. NDSU has won nine of the last 13 meetings, sweeping all three games last season, but losing in Tulsa on Jan. 9 this year.
 
Last Time vs. Oral Roberts:  The Bison erased a 13-point deficit to take a lead in the second half, but NDSU ultimately lost 79-73 at Oral Roberts on Jan. 9 of this season.
          NDSU senior Vinnie Shahid led all players with 25 points, and Tyson Ward added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Bison.
          Oral Roberts was led by 22 points from Deondre Burns and 21 from Max Abmas. ORU shot 53 percent overall and 7-of-17 (41 percent) from three-point range. The Bison shot 46 percent and made 11-of-29 (38 percent) from beyond the arc.
          ORU led 41-32 at halftime, but the Bison scored the first 12 points of the second half to go ahead 44-41 with 15 minutes left.  Oral Roberts led 59-52 with just over eight minutes remaining when the Bison strung together a 13-6 run to tie the game at 65-65.
          NDSU junior Cameron Hunter converted a four-point play with 3:45 on the clock to put the Bison up 69-67. Oral Roberts won the game with nine free throws in the final two minutes.
          The Bison and Golden Eagles were even in the rebounding battle at 30-30. NDSU limited ORU – one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the nation – to just six offensive boards.
 
8-2 Start: After winning 86-78 at Omaha on Wednesday night to improve to 8-2 in Summit League play, NDSU has matched its best conference start through 10 games since the 2014-15 season.
 
Strong 2nd Half: In three of the last five games, the Bison have scored 50-plus points in the second half. NDSU scored 51 at SDSU on Jan. 22, 53 vs. Denver on Jan. 25, and 50 at Omaha on Feb. 5. The Bison are outscoring their opponents 235-195 in the second half over that five-game stretch.
 
At The Line: NDSU is No. 7 in the nation in free throw percentage, making 78.6 percent for the season -- which would surpass the school-record mark of 77.7 percent set last year. The Bison are 156-of-189 (82.5 percent) at the charity stripe in Summit League play.
 
Ball Security: The Bison rank 5th in the country for fewest turnovers per game at 10.3.
 
Winning The Arc: NDSU is 40th in the nation (and first in The Summit League) with 9.0 three-pointers made per game. The Bison also allow the fewest three-pointers per game in the conference at 5.9 per game in league play.
 
Road Dubs: Following victories at Western Illinois (Jan. 30), Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 1) and Omaha (Feb. 5), the Bison have seven road wins already this season. Last year, NDSU finished the season with four road wins. 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 15.9 fouls per game in conference play.
 
Mr. Reliable: Vinnie Shahid has scored 20-plus points in six of the past eight games.
 
Hunter Explodes for 20: Junior Cameron Hunter scored a season-high 20 points in NDSU's win at Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 1, including 14 points in the final 6:30 of the game. It was his highest scoring output since his 35-point game at South Dakota on Jan. 6, 2018.
          The Bison are 8-0 this season when Hunter scores at least 10 points.
 
Shoot The Rock: Rocky Kreuser shot 50 percent for the month of January, and his 97 points scored in the month were his most ever in a single month of his career.
 
Over the Past 5 Games:

• Vinnie Shahid has made 35-of-38 (92 percent) at the free throw line.
• Rocky Kreuser is averaging 13.6 points.
• Cameron Hunter is 8-for-19 (42 percent) from beyond the arc.
• The Bison are shooting 80.4 percent at the free throw line.
• The Bison are committing only 9.8 turnovers per game.
• The Bison are limiting opponents to 33-percent three-point shooting.

 
Dynamic Duo: NDSU has two players in the league's top seven for scoring in conference play. Vinnie Shahid is No. 4 in the league (21.1 ppg), and Tyson Ward is No. 7 (18.1 ppg) in scoring.