SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- There are some hot teams in the Summit League right now and two of the hottest collide Thursday in Fargo when South Dakota State pays a visit to North Dakota State. The Jackrabbits, four straight wins, and Bison, five straight wins, currently share third place in league play with 5-2 records after reeling off multiple victories in a row.
These two split their regular season matchups a season ago with the road team winning each of those contests. The tilt with the Jacks begins a top-tier week for the Bison, who travel to St. Thomas Sunday for a clash on CBSSN at 3 p.m. CT. The Tommies are currently in second place in the league standings with a 6-1 ledger.
The hottest team of all resides in Omaha where the Mavericks are the last unbeaten after picking off the Tommies last Thursday at home, then earning their fourth road win of league play at Oral Roberts Saturday. At 7-0, Omaha concludes its first half schedule Wednesday against a South Dakota squad looking to pull even at .500.
The Coyotes are among a group of five teams looking to play catch up this week as North Dakota, Kansas City, Oral Roberts and Denver try to join the top four down the back stretch of Summit action.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• Omaha continued its winning ways, knocking off St. Thomas at home and Oral Roberts on the road to stay unbeaten in league play. The Mavericks’ 7-0 start to Summit play is the best in program history and their nine-game overall winning streak is tops in its DI-era.
• Senior JJ White earned the first weekly honor of his career after averaging 25.0 ppg in those two wins. His career-high 35 points at ORU came only nine field goal attempts (eight makes). He also made 15 free throws, which were the most by a Summit player in a game this season.
• White and teammate Marquel Sutton are both averaging 18.7 ppg in those seven league victories, ranking the duo in a tie for fourth among Summit scorers. Sutton had a game-high 24 in the win over the Tommies and added 21 against the Golden Eagles.
• Omaha travels to South Dakota Wednesday looking to complete an unblemished first half of league play.
• The Mavericks are not the only hot team in league play as North Dakota State (five straight) and South Dakota State (four straight) also own multiple-game winning streaks.
• Those two will face each other Thursday in Fargo where the Jackrabbits won 78-61 a season ago after dropping a 74-73 overtime contest to the Bison in Brookings.
• Senior Jacksen Moni is averaging 21.8 ppg during NDSU’s five-game winning streak and has hit the 20-plus point plateua in five of seven Summit games. His 19.9 ppg clip is tops in overall games and his 22.4 ppg clip in league is second to Oral Roberts’ Issac McBride (22.7).
• A Division I player has recorded 19 or more rebounds in a game 30 times this season and SDSU’s Oscar Cluff owns four of those outings, which is the most by a player. Cluff leads the country in rebounding (12.4/g) and is averaging 18.1 ppg (third) and 14.6 rpg (first) in Summit action. He’s also fourth in assists (3.6/g).
• Cluff added two more double-doubles in SDSU’s wins at Kansas City (23-19) and South Dakota (11-14) last week to his season total of 14 and also equaled his season-high with seven assists in the Jacks’ win over the Coyotes.
• Cluff and North Dakota’s Mier Panoam are the only two players to rank among the top five in scoring, rebounding and assists in Summit action. Panoam is third in scoring (19.0/g), tied for fourth in rebounding (7.0/g) and fifth in assists (3.5/g).
• The Tommies bounced back from their first loss of Summit play to earn a 68-65 road win at Kansas City. Freshman Nolan Minnesale and senior Drake Dobbs hit back-to-back triples in the closing 68 seconds to improve St. Thomas to 6-1 and keep them a game ahead of NDSU and SDSU in the league standings.
• The Tommies open the week Wednesday at home vs. Oral Roberts before playing host to the Bison Sunday in a game that will be televised on CBSSN. UST won the first meeting with NDSU, 89-85, in Fargo on opening night of league play.
• Oral Roberts’ freshman JoJo Moore is the top scoring rookie in Summit play. The freshman has reached double figures in six of seven league games and is scoring at a 16.6 ppg clip after averaging 8.0 ppg in 11 non-conference games.
• Newcomer Chase Forte’s 17.7 ppg clip in league play is tops for South Dakota and he is spearheading an offense that ranks sixth nationally in scoring at 85.9 ppg.
• Denver broke into the win column last Wednesday when freshman Abdulai Fanta Kabba took a feed from fellow rookie Sebastian Akins and flushed home the game-winner with half-a-tick left on the clock at ORU. • Fanta Kabba, who made his season debut in the Pios’ Summit League opener on Jan. 2, has put up his first two double-digit scoring games with 10 points vs. Omaha and against the Golden Eagles.
• The Roos saw their losing streak extend to five straight after suffering a one-point loss to SDSU (65-64) and three-point loss to St. Thomas (68-65). KC will look to snap that skid with road games at Denver and Oral Roberts this week.
UPCOMING
Date | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Jan. 29
Omaha at South Dakota* | MS2/SLN | 7 p.m.
Oral Roberts at St. Thomas* | SLN | 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 30
SDSU at NDSU* | WDAYX/SLN | 7 p.m.
Kansas City Denver* | SLN | 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 1
SDSU at North Dakota* | MS/SLN | 1 p.m.
Kansas City at Oral Roberts* | MS/SLN | 7 p.m.
Denver at Omaha* | SLN | 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 2
NDSU at St. Thomas* | CBSSN | 3 p.m.
Rankings: (AP/Coaches) | * Summit League game
Key: ALT2 (Altitude TV); CBSSN (CBS College Sports Network); MS1/MS2 (Midco Sports); SLN (Summit League Network); WDAYX (WDAY Extra)
RESULTS
Thursday, Jan. 23
SDSU 65, Kansas City 64*
Omaha 89, St. Thomas 78*
South Dakota 102, North Dakota 93*
Denver 70, Oral Roberts 68*
Saturday, Jan. 25
NDSU 87, North Dakota 82*
SDSU 90, South Dakota 71*
Omaha 70, Oral Roberts 68*
St. Thomas 68, Kansas City 65*
* Summit League game
#SUMMITMBB
