North Dakota seeks to find offense vs. defensive-minded Nebraska

Field Level Media|published: Tue 19th December, 09:57 2023

Nov 7, 2023; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; North Dakota Fighting Hawks head coach Paul Sather reacts during the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. credits: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska hosts North Dakota in a non-conference game in Lincoln, Neb., pitting two teams off to promising starts to the season.

The visiting Fighting Hawks (8-4) already have two wins on the road this season, most recently beating Utah Tech 79-62 on Saturday.

Sophomore guard Treysen Eaglestaff highlighted his career-high 28-point performance in that game by making 6 of 11 shots from 3-point range. He's shooting 38.4 percent from beyond the arc for the season.

That win also marked the season debut of guard Tyree Ihenacho, who played at North Dakota in 2020-21 before spending two seasons at James Madison. He'd been ruled ineligible by the NCAA as a two-time transfer, but a recent federal court ruling opened the door for him to play.

The Fighting Hawks will need everyone they can get to handle a Nebraska team that is coming off its best defensive performance of the season.

"It's a Big Ten team on the road," North Dakota coach Paul Sather said. "They're going to be bigger, physically, than us. They're going to be really athletic. Anytime you're playing a P5 school on the road ... if you're not ready to play, they'll magnify that."

The Cornhuskers (9-2) recorded a 62-46 victory at Kansas State on Sunday, holding their opponent nearly 35 points below their season scoring average entering the game. The 46 points were the fewest Nebraska had allowed since yielding 38 to Southwest Minnesota State on Dec. 29, 2018.

It helped to have two players with double-doubles including guard Juwan Gary, who had 13 points and a career-high 18 rebounds.

"Juwan Gary has such great instincts of knowing where the ball is coming off," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said of Gary, who had 11 offensive boards.

North Dakota's only other game this season against a power-conference opponent was a season-opening 110-68 loss at Iowa. Its last win against a power foe was a 75-74 victory at Nebraska on Dec. 21, 2019.

A win for Nebraska would get it to 10 before Christmas for the first time since 2018-19, the last season it finished with a winning record.

—Field Level Media

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