SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Omaha locked up the program's first share of a Summit League regular season title with a pair of wins last week and make it an outright title with a win Saturday in the regular season finale vs. Oral Roberts. Picked to finish eighth in the presason poll, the Mavericks picked up their 12th win of League play after going 7-9 a season ago when they were the No. 6 seed in Sioux Falls.
As all nine teams head towards the final week of conference play, none of the nine seeds are set in stone but the four-five matchup at the PREMIER Center will feature North Dakota State and South Dakota, who also play Wednesday in Fargo. The winner of that tilt will clinch the No. 4 seed.
The outcome of that game is also important to the three teams ahead of them as Omaha, St. Thomas and South Dakota State could all potentially share the regular season title at 12-4. For that to happen, Omaha would need to lose Saturday, while the Tommies win home games with North Dakota and Kansas City and the Jackrabbits post road wins at Oral Roberts and Denver.
Scenarios exist where each of those three teams could be the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament depending on what happens around the rest of the league.
North Dakota currently leads the pack of four teams at the bottom of the standings with a 5-9 mark after knocking off NDSU last Saturday. The Fighting Hawks can avoid the eight-nine contest with a road win at St. Thomas or South Dakota. There is also a scenario where those four teams, which also includes Denver (4-10), Oral Roberts (3-11) and Kansas City (3-11), all finish at 5-11.
The short of it is, there is plenty left to play for as another Summit League regular season comes to a close this week.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• Omaha’s Marquel Sutton emphatically racked up his fifth straight 20-plus point scoring game, dropping a career-high 36 as the Mavericks earned a share of the program’s first Summit League regular season title with a 93-85 win over South Dakota.
• Sutton went 14-for-20 from the field and added 12 rebounds to post his sixth double-double and ninth of his career as Omaha improved to 12-3 in Summit play.
• The Mavericks can earn the outright title and No. 1 overall seed with a home win Saturday against Oral Roberts. Omaha is 10-2 at home this season and 7-0 against Summit foes.
• St. Thomas and South Dakota State enter the final week of the regular season tied for second at 10-4 but both still can earn a share of the regular season title with two wins and an Omaha loss.
• The Tommies dropped down into that share of second after suffering back-to-back losses in Summit play for the first time this season, falling by five points at both South Dakota (85-80) and Oral Roberts (71-66) last week.
• The Jackrabbits bounced back from their first home loss of the season -- a 77-68 setback to North Dakota State Wednesday -- by rallying for a 70-65 win Sunday over Kansas City.
• Sophomore Kalen Garry returned to the lineup after missing the clash with the Bison, scoring 11 points and playing a team-high 35 minutes. The victory kept the Jackrabbits’ hopes alive for a repeat regular season title and the program’s seventh in the past eight seasons.
• SDSU center Oscar Cluff secured his 20th double-double in the win over the Roos with a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. He is the first Summit League player to post 20 double-doubles in a season since former Jackrabbit Mike Daum had 22 during the 2018-19 season.
• NDSU senior Jacksen Moni continues to pace all Summit League players in scoring at 20.6 ppg. The last Bison to win the overall scoring crown was Lawrence Alexander 10 seasons ago when he averaged 18.9 ppg during the 2014-15 campaign.
• Moni had 28 in NDSU’s nine-point win at SDSU, which snapped a 12-game homecourt winning streak for the Jacks.
• South Dakota split a pair of games last week, picking up the program’s eighth Summit League win and clinching a top-five seed.
• Senior Chase Forte scored a career-high 30 points in the Coyotes’ 85-80 win over St. Thomas and added 25 in a loss to Omaha. Forte now has a team-high 12 20-plus point games in his first season for the Yotes.
• North Dakota’s Treysen Eaglestaff scored a game-high 27 points and hit 5-of-6 from deep to lead the Fighting Hawks to a 79-77 win over NDSU. The Fighting Hawk junior is averaging 25.0 ppg over his last four outings.
• With 19 points in a 71-66 home win over St. Thomas, Oral Roberts senior Issac McBride moved into 20th-place on the Summit League’s all-time scoring charts with 1,921 points.
• McBride also surpassed 2,000 career points for his Division I career last week. McBride scored 99 points in his one season at Vanderbilt (2020-21).
• Kansas City has dropped three straight to fall into a tie for eighth with ORU. KC’s latest setback was another single-digit loss to SDSU, 70-65, marking its ninth of League play.
• Senior Jamar Brown led all scorers with 21 and the preseason all-league pick is averaging 21.6 ppg over his last five games.
• The Roos have a pivotal home clash Thursday with Denver, who is currently one game ahead of them in the standings, as those two look to avoid a spot in the 8-9 matchup next Wednesday in Sioux Falls in the first round of the tourney.
• The Pioneers are coming off a 71-60 win over ORU last Wednesday and only traily UND by a game for sixth in the standings.
• Freshman Sebastian Akins led DU with 15 and is averaging 19.3 ppg since moving back into the starting lineup four games ago.
• The top five teams in the standings entering the final week are locks for a 1-5 seed. Omaha, St. Thomas and SDSU each have a seed range of 1-3, while NDSU and South Dakota are locked into the 4-5 matchup on Friday night with seeding to-be-determing. The Bison and Coyotes play Wednesday.
• The bottom four teams in the current standings will occupy the 6-9 seeds. North Dakota’s range is 6-8, while Denver and Oral Roberts could earn a spot in the 6-9 range and Kansas City is in the 7-9 range.
• Six teams are averaging 80.0-plus ppg in Summit games entering the last week. South Dakota and Omaha share the top spot at 84.5 ppg.
UPCOMING
Date | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Feb. 26
South Dakota at NDSU* | WDAYX/SLN | 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 27
North Dakota at St. Thomas* | SLN | 7 p.m.
Denver at Kansas City* | SLN | 7 p.m.
SDSU at Oral Roberts* | SLN | 7 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 1
Oral Roberts at Omaha* | SLN | 1 p.m.
SDSU at Denver* | SLN | 1 p.m.
North Dakota at South Dakota* | SLN | 4 p.m.
Kansas City at St. Thomas* | SLN | 7 p.m.
Rankings: (AP/Coaches) | * Summit League game
Key: ALT2 (Altitude TV); CBSSN (CBS College Sports Network); FOX9+ (Fox 9 Plus); MS1/MS2 (Midco Sports); SLN (Summit League Network); WDAYX (WDAY Extra)
RESULTS
Wednesday, Feb. 19
Omaha 78, Kansas City 66*
NDSU 77, SDSU 68*
South Dakota 85, St. Thomas 80*
Denver 71, Oral Roberts 60*
Saturday, Feb. 22
North Dakota 79, NDSU 77*
Omaha 93, South Dakota 85*
Oral Roberts 71, St. Thomas 66*
Sunday, Feb. 23
SDSU 70, Kansas City 65*
*Summit League game
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