SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- After starting 0-3 in Summit play, which extended its then overall losing streak to six in a row, North Dakota has righted the ship. A two-point win over in-state rival North Dakota State this past Saturday pushed the Fighting Hawks' winning streak to six in a row and more importantly, put them at the top of the Summit League standings along with South Dakota State.

There is not much breathing room, however, between those two tops teams as Omaha, Oral Roberts and St. Thomas are all one game back in a three-way tie for third. If you thought things could possibly not get more jumbled, well, you would be wrong.

The Fighting Hawks open their week with the Mavericks Thursday night in Grand Forks, while the Tommies and Golden Eagles go head-to-head in St. Paul. South Dakota State will be an interested onlooker as the Jackrabbits have Thursday off before Oral Roberts comes to Brookings Saturday for a 3 p.m. CT showdown on CBS Sports Network.

Lurking behind that group of five is Denver and Kansas City, who are just two games behind the League co-leaders. The Pioneers have dropped three straight but will look to snap that skid Thursday at South Dakota, while the Roos are visiting a North Dakota State team they only hold a half-game edge on in the standings and dropped a double-overtime thriller to earlier this season in Kansas City.

All four of Thursday's slate will be be on the Summit League Network.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Thursday, Feb. 8
Denver at South Dakota* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
Omaha at North Dakota* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
Kansas City at NDSU* (WDAYX/SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at St. Thomas* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT

Saturday, Feb. 10
Omaha at NDSU* (WDAYX/SLN) | 1 p.m. CT 
Kansas City at North Dakota* (MS/SLN) | 1 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at SDSU* (CBSSN) | 3 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at Denver* (SLN) | 3 p.m. MT

Thursday, Feb. 15
South Dakota at Omaha* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
SDSU at Kansas City* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
NDSU at Oral Roberts* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
North Dakota at Denver* (SLN) | 7 p.m. MT

Saturday, Feb. 17
NDSU at Denver* (ALT2/SLN) | 2 p.m. MT
SDSU at Omaha* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
North Dakota at Oral Roberts* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT
South Dakota at St. Thomas* (SLN) | 7 p.m. CT

Rankings: (AP/Coaches)
All times local to site
* Summit League game

Key:  ALT2 (Altitude Sports), MS (Midco Sports), CBSSN (CBS Sports Network), ESPN+ (ESPN Plus), MWC (Mountain West Conference Live), SLN (Summit League Network), YT (YouTube)

TEAM TRACKER
DENVER PIONEERS (13-11; 4-5 SL) | @DU_MensHoops
Next Up: at South Dakota* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); St. Thomas* (2/10; 3 p.m. MT)
Previous Game: at Kansas City* (L, 85-71); at Oral Roberts* (L, 82-76)    
The Pioneers dropped back-to-back road games last week, falling at Kansas City, 85-71, and at Oral Roberts, 82-76 ... It marks the first time this season that DU has been below .500 in the League standings as the Pioneers are now tied for sixth with Kansas City at 4-5 ... Touko Tainamo led DU with 21 points against the Roos, while Tommy Bruner was held to a season-low 12 against the Roos but did distribute a career-high nine assists ... Bruner posted his 17th 20-plus piont scoring game in the loss to the Golden Eagles as he went for 22 and Jaxon Brenchley contributed a career-high 20, which also includes 96 career games at Utah ... The Pioneers continue to pace the League in scoring at 84.5 ppg overall and 85.1 ppg in conference games ... DU wraps up a three-game road swing Thursday at South Dakota before returning home to face St. Thomas Saturday afternoon. 

KANSAS CITY ROOS (10-14; 4-5 SL) | @KCRoosMBB
Next Up: at North Dakota State* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); at North Dakota* (2/10; 1 p.m .CT)
Previous Game: Denver* (W, 85-71); St. Thomas* (L, 71-56)
The Roos split a pair of home games last week, picking up a 85-71 victory over Denver before losing to St. Thomas, 71-56 ... In the win over the Pioneers, Tyler Andrews dropped a career-high 25 points, which was his first double-digit outing of the season and eclipsed his previous career-high of 20 set in the opening round of the 2023 Summit League Tournament vs. Omaha ... Andrews backed that up with an 11-point effort in the loss to the Tommies ... Jamar Brown added 23 against the Pios and 15 against the Tommies now has nine straight games in double figures ... Brown is averaging 15.0 ppg and 5.1 rpg in nine Summit League tilts ... Freshman Jayson Petty has started four of the last five games and is averaging 10.4 ppg over that stretch ... In his first 19 games, Petty was putting up just 3.3 ppg ... The Roos take to the road for both games this week starting with a tilt at at North Dakota State Thursday before traveling up I-29 to play North Dakota Saturday.
 
NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (14-10; 6-3 SL) | @UNDMBasketball
Next Up: Omaha* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); Kansas City* (2/10; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at South Dakota* (W, 95-81); North Dakota State* (W, 60-58)
The Fighting Hawks, who started League play with three straight losses, have now reeled off six consecutive victories to move into a share of first place with South Dakota State ... Their latest victory was a grind-it-out, 60-58, win over in-state rival North Dakota State at home ... Sophomore B.J. Omot was held to nine points against the Bison but averaged 24.4 ppg in their first five wins of the streak ... JUCO transfer Amar Kuljuhovic has emerged as a key contributor becoming the third different Fighting Hawk to earn a Summit League Peak Performer of the Week award -- that is the most by any team this season ... He averaged a double-double (14.0 ppg/15.0 rpg) in UND’s two wins last week, including a 17-point, career-high 17-rebound effort at South Dakota ... Former Freshman of the Year Tyree Ihenacho returned to the program after two years at James Madison and he is averaging 17.3 ppg and 3.8 apg per game during UND’s winning streak ... The Fighting Hawks are home this week for two tilts with Omaha visiting Thursday and Kansas City visiting Saturday.
  
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (10-13; 3-5 SL) | @NDSUMBB 
Next Up: Kansas City* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); Omaha* (2/10; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at South Dakota State* (W, 74-73; OT); at North Dakota* (L, 60-58)   
The Bison earned a road split last week, getting a last-second tip in from Noah Feddersen in overtime to beat League-leading South Dakota State, then being on the other end of some late-basket heroics in a 60-58 loss at in-state rival North Dakota ... Boden Skunberg led seven players with seven or more points in the win over the Jacks as he finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds to register his second double-double of the season ... Both of Skunberg’s double-doubles have come in the last four games as he is pulling down more than 8.0 rpg during that stretch ... Forward Andrew Morgan paced NDSU with 14 points against the Fighting Hawks,  while Skunberg and Jacari White each added 12 ... White, who also had 10 in the win over SDSU, came off the bench for the fourth straight game after starting 14 of the first 19 this season ... The Bison are home for both games this week with Kansas City visiting Thursday and Omaha heading to Fargo Saturday.

OMAHA MAVERICKS (12-12; 5-4 SL) | @OmahaMBB 
Next Up: at North Dakota* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); at North Dakota State* (2/10; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at Oral Roberts* (L, 74-67); at Denver* (W, 91-72); St. Thomas* (W, 69-65) 
The Mavericks have won back-to-back League games to move back over the .500 mark and sit in a three-way tie for third with ORU and St. Thomas ... Omaha plays at UND Thursday in a game against one of the League’s co-leaders, who are just one game in front of the Mavericks ... Junior Frankie Fidler is scoring 25.7 ppg in nine League games, trailing only Tommy Bruner, who is scoring 26.0 ppg ... Fidler had 31 in a road win at Denver last Saturday (Jan. 27) and 24 in a home win over St. Thomas in Omaha’s only action last week ... Junior Marquel Sutton was held to single digits against the Tommies, snapping a streak of eight straight games where he had reached 10-plus against League foes ... Sutton’s averaging 16.3 ppg in nine League tilts, including a season-high 22 points in the win over DU ... Point guard J.J. White has also upped his scoring in League play, posting an 11.6 ppg average after scoring 6.9 ppg against non-conference foes ... The Mavericks close out their two-game road trip this week at NDSU Saturday.

ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (11-11; 5-4 SL) | @ORUMBB 
Next Up: at St. Thomas* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota State (2/10; 3 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: South Dakota State* (W, 87-82); Denver* (W, 82-76)
The defending tournament and regular season champion Golden Eagles were in last place at 2-4 in League following back-to-back losses at North Dakota and NDSU (Jan. 18-20), but have reeled off three straight wins and now are just one game behind the co-leading Fighting Hawks and Jackrabbits ... Senior Issac McBride has been the main offensive cog during this three-game winning stretch, averaging 25.0 ppg and 5.0 apg, including a career-high 34-point outing in a home win over Denver this past Saturday, which was ORU’s lone action of the week ... McBride went 10-for-18 from the field, 4-for-6 from deep and 10-for-11 from the foul line ... He has made 29-of-30 from the charity stripe during the win streak ... JUCO-transfer Jailen Bedford is contributing 15.7 ppg and a team-best 7.7 rpg during the winning streak as well ... Bedford scored 16 and pulled down a team-high nine boards against the Pios ... ORU is on the road for two games this week starting Thursday at St. Thomas before playing SDSU on CBSSN at 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. 

ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (15-9; 5-4 SL) | @TommieMBBall
Next Up: Oral Roberts* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); at Denver* (2/10; 3 p.m. MT)
Previous Games: at Omaha* (L, 69-65); at Kansas City* (W, 71-56)
The Tommies split a pair of road games and currently sit in a three-way tie for third in the League standings at 5-4 ... UST will play one of those teams it is currently tied with Thursday when Oral Roberts visits St. Paul ... The Tommies opened the two-game road swing with a 69-65 loss at Omaha where Parker Bjorklund scored 20 to reach that pleateau for the seventh time this season ... Raheem Anthony and Drake Dobbs each added 14 on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor ... In the win over the Roos, Kendall Blue and Ryan Dufault paced the Tommies with 16 points a piece ... Blue pushed his average up to 12.0 ppg against League foes (nine games) while Dufault’s total was a new career-high against a Division I opponent ...  The victory over Kansas City was the 15th of the season for UST, which is tops among all League teams and the Tommies continue to be the only squad allowing less than 70.0 ppg in both overall (63.6) and League (66.3) games ...  UST wraps up the week with a road game at Denver Saturday.
 
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (9-15; 2-7 SL) | @SDCoyotesMBB 
Next Up: Denver* (2/8; 7 p.m. CT); at Omaha* (2/15; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: North Dakota* (L, 95-81); at South Dakota State* (L, 70-67)  
The Coyotes have dropped five straight after falling at home to North Dakota, 95-81, and on the road at in-state rival South Dakota State, 70-67 ... Kaleb Stewart and Paul Bruns both scored 18 against the Fighting Hawks to lead USD ... For Bruns, who has now come off the bench the last four games, his 18 points against his former team was his best output in nine League games and pushed his season average back over double figures (10.1 ppg) ... Bruns added 11 against the Jackrabbits, while Stewart led all scorers with 27 ... The Louisiana Tech transfer is now averaging 22.4 ppg in eight conference games, which ranks fourth among Summit hoopers ... UCF transfer Lahat Thioune added 13 points and 10 rebounds to post his League-leading 10th double-double of the campaign ... Thioune is one of 26 Division I players with 10 or more double-doubles ... USD will look to snap its five-game skid when Denver visits Thursday for the Coyotes’ lone action of the week.  

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (13-11; 6-3 SL) | @GoJacksMBB 
Next Up: Oral Roberts (2/10; 3 p.m. CT); at Kansas City (2/15; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: North Dakota State* (L, 74-73; OT); South Dakota* (W, 70-67)
The Jackrabbits bounced back from a 74-73 overtime loss at home to North Dakota State to post a 70-67 win over in-state rival South Dakota ...  The win over the Coyotes kept SDSU in a share of first place in the League standings and was the 100th of head coach Eric Henderson’s tenure with the Jackrabbits ... Sophomore William Kyle III averaged 14.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg and 4.5 bpg in those two games and is shooting a League-best 70 percent from the floor on the season ... Junior Zeke Mayo scored a season-high 35 points in the loss to the Bison and has 10 20-plus point scoring games to his credit this season ... Mayo is averaging 21.0 ppg in nine League games and had 12 points and six assists vs. USD ... Senior Luke Appel chipped in with 15 against the Coyotes is averaging 12.6 ppg over his last five games ... The Jackrabbits close out a three-game homestand Saturday on CBSSN (3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET) against an Oral Roberts team that has won three straight to move back over the .500 mark in League play.

#SUMMITMBB