Men's Basketball

Uelmen goes for 41 as UND rolls into semifinals

The Basics
Score: No. 3 North Dakota 83, No. 6 Denver 67
Records: North Dakota (17-16, 10-6 SL), Denver (15-17, 8-8 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen scored a career-high 41 points as No. 3 seed North Dakota rolled to a 83-67 victory over No. 6 Denver in last quarterfinal of the Summit League Men's Basketball Championship Friday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Uelmen's 40 points were the most every by a Fighting Hawk freshman and second highest in a tournament game.   

Uelmen nearly distributed his points equally, scoring 19 in the first half as North Dakota opened up a 42-29 advantage on the Pioneers. He would net 21 in the second half to record just the second 40-point game in tournament history after former Fighting Hawk Treysen Eaglestaff scored 51 in last year's quarterfinal win over South Dakota State.

The Fighting Hawks also got 20 points from Eli King, whose defensive efforts helped the Hawks hold the league's highest-scoring offense well below its season average of 83.3 ppg.

Summit League Player of the Year Carson Johnson paced four Pioneers in double figures with 17 points with nine of those coming from the foul stripe as he only hit 3-of-9 shots from the field. Jeremiah Burke chipped in 13, while Shawn Wysocki and Zane Nelson each had 11.

Uelmen went 13-for-19 from the field as UND shot 49 percent for the game and also made 18 trips to the foul line where he converted 12 of those attempts.

North Dakota will play No. 2 seed St. Thomas in Saturday’s second men's semifinal 25 minutes after the conclusion of the first between top-seeded North Dakota State and No. 5 seed Omaha at 7 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.

Turning Point
DU's Jeremiah Burke hit a triple to trim the Pios' defecit to 19-17 12 minutes into the contest but UND would respond with a 9-1 run. Denver would never get closer than seven points the rest of the way.
 
Inside the Box Score 
  • Uelmen's the third Summit League freshman to score 30-plus in a tournament game and finished with 37 -- the single-game rookie scoring record was held by South Dakota State's Noah Friedel, who had 35 in a quarterfinal win over Purdue-Fort Wayne by 2020.
  • Uelmen's previous season-high was also against Denver when he scored 30 in a road win over the Pioneers (Jan. 24) and his 41 points were the most ever by a UND freshman and seventh most by a Division I rookie this season.
  • UND was plus-six in turnover margin, forcing DU into 14 turnovers and scored 23 points off of those miscues.
  • King's 20-point game was his third of the season with 15 of those coming from beyond the arc on 5-of-9 shooting.
News & Notes
  • North Dakota will make back-to-back appearances in the tournament semifinals for the first time in program history -- the Fighting Hawks will have a rematch against St. Thomas. The Tommies won last year's contest 85-69. 
  • UND improved to 5-6 in tournament games, while Denver wrapped up its Summit League Tournament history with a 5-11 record and one title-game appearance.
  • North Dakota's victory over Denver also matched the only previous meeting with the Pioneers in the tournament that finished with the Fighting Hawks ahead 83-68.
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