In his own words, Amar Kuljuhovic is not a glamorous player. He’s made his name doing the dirty work on the court.
 
“I’m the guy that puts in the most effort,” he said last Saturday. “That’s my game, and I’m going to keep trying to have the energy high, fighting on the floor, getting scratches.” 
 
The problem is, the North Dakota big man described himself like that moments after hitting a game-winning shot to secure a six-game winning streak. All while dropping the Fighting Hawks biggest rival in the process in front of a raucous home crowd.
 
If that’s doing the dirty work, then who would ever want to be clean? 
 
The junior rebounding machine has become one of the biggest stories on the Summit’s hottest team, helping flip the script on an 0-3 start to league play. With seven games to go, UND sits tied atop the conference with South Dakota State, and is very much in the hunt for a league title. 
 
Like Kuljuhovic’s style, it hasn’t always been pretty, but it’s been effective. 
 
That’s just how it played out last Saturday against North Dakota State in the Betty. The Bison defense kept star B.J. Omot largely in check in a grind of game that they led by nine points late in the second half. As the Fighting Hawks chipped away down the stretch, Kuljuhovic found himself locked in a physical low-post battle with NDSU forward Andrew Morgan.
 
That’s when it went beyond the dirty work. Kuljuhovic (11 points, 13 rebounds) hit a jump stop basket with 1:50 left to give UND a 58-55 left, and then made the play of the Fighting Hawks’ season. With the game tied, he corralled a pinball rebound off a free throw miss with 10 seconds left and, in one fluid sequence, raced down the court to set a screen for Tyree Ihenacho. 
 
As he grabbed the return pass, he drove toward the basket and sunk the game-winning shot.
 
“For a second I was frozen, that was my first game-winner in my career,” he said. 
 
That relentless motor has been on display all year, but has revved lately. Kulhujovic is averaging double double in league play (10.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg) while ranking 13th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage. His six double doubles on the year trail only South Dakota’s Lahat Thioune (9) among Summit players. It may not always be conventional, but it certainly doesn’t surprise his coach. 
 
“It’s just pure will,” Paul Sather said to Midco Sports after the NDSU win. “I think I can still jump higher than him some days. It’s not because he’s the world’s greatest athlete. He’s a good athlete, but shoulders up he’s one of the grittiest dudes I’ve ever coached. He’s brought so much more to us than just being a good player.” 
 
That hits at what makes UND an exciting prospect in a wide-open Summit title race. 
 
On its face, it is no surprise the Fighting Hawks are in this position. The players responsible for their hot stretch to end the 2022-23 season largely returned, led by Omot, who has built on the massive promise he showed as a freshman. Coming into last Saturday, the sophomore wing had averaged 24.4 points per game over UND’s previous five games, the bulk of the current winning streak.
 
In October, Sather talked about how the returnees had brought the energy of their 6-3 end to the season into the offseason. But with Kuljuhovic and Ihenacho, who is playing at a first-team all-league level since becoming eligible in December, this version of the Fighting Hawks have that, and something more. 
 
That may not have seemed the case as the team went through its six-game losing streak sandwiched around the New Year. In some cases the offense simply looked lost, like when it only managed 45 points against St. Thomas in a December loss. At other times it couldn’t get a stop, like in a January loss to Northern Colorado where UND gave up 97 points. 
 
But through that all, and the 0-3 start to league play, Sather said the newcomers – Kuljuhovic, Ihenacho and Eli King – played their part keeping the team together. 
 
“Their experience, the toughness they’ve brought to this group, it’s been big-time to us. It saw us through a six-game losing streak,” he said. 
 
It’s now helped fuel the current six-game streak in the other direction. 
 
The offense has caught fire at times during that stretch, especially behind the individual play of Omot and Ihenacho. When the team hits three’s – as it did in a recent win over South Dakota – the Fighting Hawks become very difficult to beat. But that hasn’t often been the case this season, making the second chances Kuljuhovic creates a big part of the Fighting Hawks’ equation. 
 
“I feel like every missed shot we have he gets the rebound. You just know he’s going to give 110 percent every time he’s one the floor,” Ihenacho said after the NDSU win. 
 
During that same postgame press conference, both he and Kuljuhovic mentioned the importance of staying humble while UND rides its longest winning streak since 2017. And with all but one league team within two games in the loss column of first place, there are plenty of ways the regular season could yet shake out. 
 
But Kuljuhovic and the Summit’s hottest team aren’t short of confidence, and for good reason.
 
“We had that six-game losing streak, we didn’t fall apart,” he said. “Now I feel like we’re one team, one unit and no one can stop us.”

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