SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Year three of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge gets underway Wednesday with nine evening clashes on the slate for the men's basketball programs. Four will be at Summit League sites with Denver, Kansas City, Omaha, and South Dakota all set to host Big Sky squads and start the defense of back-to-back titles.
 
St. Thomas, who is the only unbeaten in two years of the challenge on the men's side, will put its pristine record on the line at Montana State, while North Dakota, North Dakota State, Oral Roberts, and South Dakota State join the Tommies will road tilts to open the challenge. 

The action on the men's side has been ultra competitive through the first two years and nothing different is expected in year three. Both conferences have won 18 overall games and picked up six road wins along the way.
 
Today’s nine games and this weekend's nine games will all be streamed by each conference’s digital partner. The Summit League home games will be streamed on the Summit League Network, while the Big Sky home games will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
Both conference's men's and women's basketball programs are competing in a total of 36 games with a trophy being awarded to the conference with the most points. Home wins are worth a single point, while road wins are worth 1.5 points.  

AROUND THE LEAGUE
• South Dakota improved to 5-3 with an 80-63 victory over Air Force in a neutral-site game played in Summit Arena at the Monument in Rapid City.
• Junior Isaac Bruns scored a career-high 24 points to lead four Coyotes in double figures. 
• USD has scored 80 or more points in all five of its victories this season.
• St. Thomas collected its sixth win of the season and improved to 3-0 at home with an 87-52 win over Lawrence. Carter Bjerke led five Tommies in double figures with 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting from deep.
• The Tommies return their attention to the Division I ranks where they will put an all-time record of 4-0 in Big Sky-Summit Challenge tilts on the line Wednesday at Montana State. 
• St. Thomas is the lone unbeaten of the men’s teams between the two conferences during the challenge over the first two seasons.
• NDSU’s five-game winning streak was snapped in an 85-80 overtime loss at Arkansas State in the Red Wolves’ Thanksgiving multi-team event. 
• The Bison opened the two-game swing through Arkansas with a 56-43 win over Jacksonville State, holding the Gamecocks to just 26 percent shooting from the field.
• Damari Wheeler-Thomas scored a season-high 28 points vs. the Red Wolves, which were the second most points scored by a Summit League player in a game this season.
• Denver takes a 3-1 record in Big Sky-Summit Challenge games into a home game against Eastern Washington Wednesday. The Pioneers went 2-0 last year, beating Sacramento State by 21 at home before outlasting Portland State 68-67 on the road.
• Sophomore Carson Johnson has hit double figures in five straight and leads DU and ranks second among Summit scorers with a 18.1 ppg scoring clip.
• After pouring in 105 points in a win over Georgia State in the campus portion of the Cancun Challenge, the Jackrabbits could muster just 104 total points in a pair of losses to Utah Valley and UC Irvine down in Mexico.
• SDSU junior Damon Wilkinson ranks second among Summit League players in rebounding in the early going, pulling down 6.0 rpg. He combined for 11 in Cancun, including a game-high seven vs. Utah Valley.
• Omaha’s Lance Waddles leads all Summit players with 30 makes from three-point territory and the Mavericks’ guard is also the only player in the conference with a pair of double-doubles.
• In three games last week, Waddles averaged 18.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 4.0 apg while shooting 48 percent from behind the arc (11-for-24).
• The Mavericks will open the Big Sky-Summit Challenge against a Northern Colorado squad that was ranked No. 19 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
• North Dakota’s Greyson Uelmen continues to play well in his rookie season for the Fighting Hawks. He dropped a team-high 19 points in a road loss at Hawai’i, while adding a career-high six rebounds and tying a career-best with three steals.
• Uelmen leads all Summit League freshmen in scoring with a 14.3 ppg clip and has reached double figures in seven straight. The Fighting Hawks travel to Idaho Wednesday for their Big Sky-Summit Challenge opener.
• Kansas City had a Big Sky-Summit Challenge tune-up Saturday, falling 82-61 to Weber State. Jerome Palm scored a season-high 13 points off the bench to share team-high honors with Jayson Petty.
• CJ Evans continues to lead the Roos in scoring at 13.3 ppg as they prepare to host Idaho State in their Big Sky-Summit Challenge opener Wednesday.  
• In three games at the Coconut Hoops Classic hosted by FGCU, Connor Dow averaged 19.3 ppg and went 13-for-26 from beyond the arc for Oral Roberts.
• Dow matched his season-high with 22 in a win over Kennesaw State and has made five or more triples in three contests this season. His 25 total makes rank second among Summit players.

BIG SKY-SUMMIT CHALLENGE#
Game | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Dec. 3
SDSU at Northern Arizona# | ESPN+ | 6 p.m. MT
Idaho State at Kansas City# | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Northern Colorado at Omaha# | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Portland State at South Dakota# | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at Weber State# | ESPN+ | 7 p.m. MT
St. Thomas at Montana State# | ESPN+ | 7 p.m. MT
North Dakota at Idaho# | ESPN+ | 7 p.m. MT
NDSU at Montana# | ESPN+ | 7 p.m. MT
Eastern Washington at Denver# | SLN | 7 p.m. MT

Saturday, Dec. 6
Idaho at SDSU# | SLN | 2 p.m. CT
Omaha at Portland State# | ESPN+ | 2 p.m. PT
Kansas City at Eastern Washington# | ESPN+ | 2 p.m. PT
Denver at Idaho State# | ESPN+ | 4 p.m. MT
South Dakota at Northern Colorado# | ESPN+ | 6 p.m.  MT
Montana State at Oral Roberts# | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Northern Arizona at NDSU# | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Montana at North Dakota# | SLN |  7 p.m. CT

Sunday, Dec. 7
Weber State at St. Thomas# | SLN | 12 p.m. CT

Key: ACCNX (ACC Network Xtra), BTN (Big Ten Network), CBSSN (CBS Sports Network), ESPN+ (ESPN Plus), F68 (Field of 68 YouTube), FLO (FloSports), FOX9+ (Fox 9 Minneapolis), MS (MidcoSports), MWN (Mountain West Network), PC (Peacock), SECN+ (SEC Network Plus), SLN (Summit League Network)

Polls: AP/Coaches

RESULTS
Wednesday, Nov. 26
FIU 74, Omaha 61
Wyoming 101, Denver 59
NDSU 56, Jacksonville State 43
    (ASU Thanksgiving MTE; Jonesboro, Ark.)
Rice 81, Oral Roberts 62
    (Coconut Hoops; Fort Myers, Fla.)
UC Irvine 64, SDSU 52
    (Cancun Challenge; Cancun, Mexico)

Friday, Nov. 28
Hawai’i 92, North Dakota 55
Arkansas State 85, NDSU 80 (OT)
    (ASU Thanksgiving MTE; Jonesboro, Ark.)

Saturday, Nov. 29
Omaha 84, Mid-America Christian 62 
South Dakota 80, Air Force 63
    (Rapid City, S.D.)
Weber State 82, Kansas City 61
St. Thomas 87, Lawrence 52

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