SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Summit League squads are wrapping up the first month of the college basketball season in a variety of places both warm and cold as several are participating in multi-team events with November quickly coming to a close. League members have the tropics covered all the way to the Rocky Mountains and various parts in between as the Thanksgiving Holiday week will see some intriguing matchups.
North Dakota State will be in Alabama for a trio of contests at the Samford Thanksgiving Invitational. North Dakota is in Mexico for the Cancun Challenge. South Dakota State is visiting the Caribbean Sea for the Cayman Islands Classic and Denver is wrapping up play at the Stew Morrill Classic.
Tis the season as all nine teams are gearing up for year two of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge, which will be played during the first week of December this season.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• Omaha’s Marquel Sutton earned the first Peak Performer of the Week honor of his career after averaging a double-double and earning Akron Basketball Classic All-Tournament Team honors (20.3 ppg/10.0 rpg).
• UND’s Treysen Eaglestaff dropped in 23 points in a 77-73 win at Loyola Marymount to open the Cancun Challenge with a victory in Los Angeles. Eaglestaff is leading all Summit League scorers with a 19.2 ppg and now has a pair of 20-plus point games.
• South Dakota split a pair of road games against Mid-Major opponents, winning 80-76 at Western Michigan before falling 92-83 at Southern Indiana. The Coyotes are the highest-scoring Summit team, averaging 88.1 ppg.
• The Coyotes are also among the nation’s leaders in bench points at 42.0 ppg and sophomore Isaac Bruns is leading that charge. He’s averaging a team-high 12.9 ppg off the bench and fellow reserve Dre Bullock is chipping in 10.0 ppg to give USD a quintet averaging double figures overall.
• SDSU’s Oscar Cluff is tied for second nationally with five double-doubles and was just one rebound shy in the Jackrabbits’ other two games. His latest was a 19-point, 14-rebound effort in an 83-82 loss to Boise State.
• Cluff’s 82 total rebounds are tops among Division I players and he’s averaging 17.9 ppg and 11.7 rpg through seven games and has pulled down 14 boards three different times.
• Kansas City’s Jamar Brown (15.3 ppg), the reigning Newcomer of the Year, and Jayson Petty (15.3 ppg), the reigning Freshman of the Year, are the only set of Summit teammates averaging 15.0-plus per game in the early.
• NDSU’s Masen Miller and Darik Dissette each scored 16 points in a win over Minnesota-Crookston, which were Division I career-highs for both players. Miller had 15 points in a game vs. Rice while playing for Indiana State last season. Dissette had just 10 total points before posting double figures for the first time in his career.
• Oral Roberts transfer Sam Alajiki is averaging a career-best 13.7 ppg in his first season as a Golden Eagle. Alajiki scored a career-high 28 in a 90-80 loss at Belmont on Tuesday.
• St. Thomas’ Carter Bjerke leads all Summit players with 21 three-pointers and a 48.8 percentage. Bjerke went 10-for-15 from deep in the Cream City Classic last week.
• Denver’s Nicholas Shogbonyo has reached double figures in four straight, averaging 15.5 ppg during that stretch. His 12.4 ppg average tops the Pioneers in all seven games.
UPCOMING
Date | Stream/TV | Local Time
Tuesday, Nov. 26
Denver vs. Utah Tech% | ESPN+ | 2 p.m.
Bethune Cookman vs. North Dakota$ | FLO | 3 p.m.
SDSU vs. Missouri State^ | FLO | 5 p.m.
NDSU vs. Samford# | ESPN+ | 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 27
SELA/Gardner-Webb vs. North Dakota$ | FLO | TBA
NDSU vs. West Georgia# | ESPN+ | 3 p.m.
South Dakota at Nebraska | BTN | 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 28
NDSU vs. Utah Valley# | ESPN+ | 2 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 30
Abilene Christian at Omaha | SLN | 7 p.m.
Kansas City at SEMO | ESPN+ | 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 1
Denver at Portland | ESPN+ | 2 p.m.
Missouri State at Oral Roberts | SLN | 3 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 2
Dakota Wesleyan at SDSU | SLN | 7 p.m.
Chicago State at St. Thomas | SLN | 7 p.m.
Rankings: (AP/Coaches) | * Summit League game
Key: ACCN (ACC Network); BTN (Big Ten Network); ESPN + (ESPN Plus); FLO (FLO Sports); FS2 (Fox Sports); MWN (Mountain West Network); PEA (Peacock); SLN (Summit League Network)
^Grand Cayman Classic (Grand Cayman Islands); %Stew Morrill Classic (Missoula, Mont.); $Cancun Challenge (Cancun, Mexico); #Samford Thanksgiving Invitational (Birmingham, Ala.)
RESULTS
Tuesday, Nov. 19
Belmont 90, Oral Roberts 80
Notre Dame 75, North Dakota 58
Wednesday, Nov. 20
South Dakota 80, Western Michigan 76
SDSU 101, Southern Miss 76
Thursday, Nov. 21
NDSU 67, Minnesota Crookston 60
Ole Miss 100, Oral Roberts 68
Friday, Nov. 22
Wofford 81, St. Thomas 73#
American 64, Kansas City 60@
Southern Indiana 92, South Dakota 83
North Dakota 77, Loyola Marymount 73
Alabama State 85, Omaha 67$
Saturday, Nov. 23
St. Thomas 91, Portland State 65#
Albany 67, Kansas City 65@
Akron 92, Omaha 84$
Sunday, Nov. 24
Omaha 65, Lamar 59$
SDSU 71, Duquesne 60^
Milwaukee 69, St. Thomas 65#
Kansas City 85, Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 55@
Montana 83, Denver 73%
Monday, Nov. 25
Cal-State Northridge 89, Denver 60%
Boise State 83, SDSU 82^
South Dakota 112, Randall 50
Rogers State 69 Oral Roberts 68
#Cream City Challenge (Milwaukee, Wis.); ^Grand Cayman Classic (Grand Cayman Islands); $Akron Basketball Classic (Akron, Ohio); @Puerto Rico Classic (San Juan, P.R.); %Stew Morrill Classic (Missoula, Mont.)
#SUMMITMBB
