SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – For the first time in program history, Denver has won three straight road games in Summit League play. Two of those came last week in the Peace Garden State, allowing the Pioneers to move back towards the top half of the standings. The top half is a place DU has not finished since 2017-18 when the Pioneers took third with an 8-6 league mark.
At 5-6 in league play, first-year head coach Tim Bergstraser and the Pioneers are currently tied for fifth and have already matched the program’s win total from a season ago when they were the No. 7 seed in Sioux Falls after a 5-11 finish.
The Pioneers host South Dakota State Thursday in the Mile High City before traveling to Omaha to face the Mavericks in a nationally televised tilt on CBS Sports Network. Omaha opens a three-game homestand Thursday with St. Thomas before the tilt with DU – a team they share fifth place with entering a final three-week stretch of regular season play that should provide a lot of movement for teams up and down the standings.
This week’s slate starts Wednesday in Vermillion where the No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the standings go toe-to-toe as North Dakota pays a visit to South Dakota in one of six games on SLN this week. The Coyotes, who are 3-1 over their last four, moved over the .500 mark in league play for the first time this season with a 68-67 win at SDSU Saturday.
The Fighting Hawks follow up their clash with the Coyotes at home Saturday against league-leading NDSU in another game slated for CBSSN. The Bison will have a week to get ready for UND after bouncing back from their first league-loss with an 92-84 win over Omaha.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• With back-to-back wins at league-leading North Dakota State and North Dakota, Denver has now won three straight Summit road games for the first time in program history.
• The Pioneers moved into a tie for fifth at 5-6 with the victories over the Bison and Fighting Hawks as they look to finish in the top half of the Summit standings for the first time since taking third in 2017-18.
• Sophomore Carson Johnson had back-to-back 20-point games to rack up his second Kwik Star weekly honor in the last four weeks. He now has 14 20-plus point scoring games on the season with eight of those coming in Summit tilts.
• Johnson now leads all Summit scorers with a 21.9 ppg average in league play, holding a slight edge on Omaha’s Paul Djobet (21.6 ppg) and St. Thomas’ Nick Janowsi (21.4 ppg).
• Djobet went about increasing his scoring average in a unique way. After being held to single digits for the first time in 10 Summit League games with nine in a road loss at North Dakota, the Miami (Fla.) transfer erupted for a career-high 38, nearly willing his to a comeback victory at North Dakota State.
• The 38 points were the most by a Summit League player in a game this season and second most in Omaha’s Division I era. He scored 24 in the second half as he trimmed a 13-point halftime deficit down to as little as two with just over three minutes to play before the Bison closed out the game with a 12-6 spurt.
• NDSU earned a split after bouncing back from the DU loss to score 90-plus against a Summit foe for the second time.
• Noah Feddersen led five Bison in double figures with 18 against the Mavericks. Feddersen is averaging 9.5 ppg off the bench to rank among the top-scoring reserves in Summit action.
• Feddersen averaged 5.5 ppg in his first six games off the NDSU bench after starting all 15 non-conference games. In his last five, he has reached double figures in each and is averaging 14.4 ppg.
• South Dakota vaulted over the .500 mark in Summit action for the first with back-to-back wins last week. The Coyotes are now in fourth place at 6-5 after earning an overtime win at Kansas City Wednesday and edging in-state rival SDSU 68-67 in Brookings Saturday.
• Jordan Crawford led the way with 19 points against the Jacks and has reached double figures in nine straight.
• Cameron Fens had back-to-back double-doubles for the Yotes and pushed his league-leading total to nine on the season -- seven of which have come in Summit play.
• USD’s win over the Jacks snapped a 10-game losing skid and handed SDSU back-to-back home Summit League losses for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
• Joe Sayler led the Jacks in scoring in both of those games and ranks fifth among league scorers with 18.5 ppg. He had 21 against the Coyotes, producing his fifth 20-plus point game of Summit play and sixth overall.
• St. Thomas has won three straight and moved within a game of league-leading NDSU. Sophomore Nolan Minessale had his best games of the Summit season, averaging 27.0 ppg in a road win at SDSU and home win over Oral Roberts.
• Minessale now leads the league with 18 games of 20-plus points on the season and pushed his overall season average back over 20 at 20.2 ppg.
• Minnesale (525) and DU’s Johnson (506) are two of 14 Division I players that have reached the 500-point plateau this season.
• The Tommies are the top-scoring unit in Summit play, averaging 85.5 ppg to lead a pack of four at 80.0-plus ppg.
• North Dakota split a pair of home games last week to remain in third place, two games behind NDSU, who the Fighting Hawks play Saturday, and a game behind the Tommies for second.
• Redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen moved into the top five of Summit scorers with back-to-back 20-plus point games. He has his average in league play up to 18.5 ppg after scoring 21 vs. Omaha and 24 vs. Denver.
• Oral Roberts’ Ofri Naveh had his second double-double of Summit play, scoring 17 points and pulling down 12 rebounds at St. Thomas. The West Virginia transfer is averaging 12.5 ppg and a team-best 5.7 rpg in his first season at ORU.
• ORU’s Ty Harper is averaging 20.3 ppg over his last three outings. The Golden Eagles are still in search of their first league win and will be at home for four of its final six.
• Kansas City was edge in overtime in its only action last week, falling 82-75 to South Dakota.
• Chris Dockery led the Roos in scoring for the first time this season with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor. He also added a team-high eight rebounds.
• Babacar Mbengue added a career-high five blocks for KC, which were the most in a Summit game this season.
UPCOMING
Game | Stream/TV | Local Time
Wednesday, Feb. 11
North Dakota at South Dakota | SLN/MS | 7 p.m. CT
Thursday, Feb. 12
St. Thomas at Omaha* |SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Kansas City at Oral Roberts* | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
SDSU at Denver* | SLN/ALT2 | 7 p.m. MT
Saturday, Feb. 14
NDSU at North Dakota* | CBSSN | 1 p.m. CT
SDSU at Oral Roberts* | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at Kansas City* | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Sunday, Feb. 15
Denver at Omaha* | CBSSN | 12 p.m. CT
Wednesday, Feb. 18
NDSU at SDSU | SLN/MS | 7 p.m. CT
Oral Roberts at Omaha | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Thursday, Feb. 19
Kansas City at North Dakota | SLN/MS | 7 p.m. CT
South Dakota at Denver | SLN/ALT2 | 7 p.m. MT
Saturday, Feb. 21
Kansas City at NDSU | SLN/WDAYX | 1 p.m. CT
North Dakota at SDSU | SLN | 2 p.m. CT
St. Thomas at Denver | SLN | 4 p.m. MT
South Dakota at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m. CT
Key: ALT2 (Altitude); CBSSN (CBS Sports Network); FOX9+ (FOX9 Plus Minneapolis); MS (Midco Sports); MS2 (Midco Sports 2); SLN (Summit League Network).
Polls: AP/Coaches
RESULTS
Wednesday, Feb. 4
South Dakota 82, Kansas City 75 (OT)*
St. Thomas 77, SDSU 62*
Thursday, Feb. 5
North Dakota 76, Omaha 73*
Denver 78, NDSU 71*
Saturday, Feb. 7
South Dakota 68, SDSU 67*
NDSU 92, Omaha 84*
St. Thomas 92, Oral Roberts 75*
Denver 98, North Dakota 79*
