No. 6 seed North Dakota (15-17, 9-9) vs. No. 1 seed North Dakota State (24-8, 15-3)
Summit League Conference Tourney Championship, Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Tuesday, 8 p.m. on ESPN2 and 790 KFGO/94.1 FM.
BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota and North Dakota State are prepared to square off in the Championship of the Summit League tournament. The teams split the regular season series at one win apiece. The teams last faced each other on Feb. 22, when the Fighting Hawks shot 46.6 percent from the field on their way to a 71-68 victory.
SENIOR STUDS: North Dakota’s Marlon Stewart, Kienan Walter and Billy Brown have collectively scored 47 percent of the team’s points this season, including 54 percent of all Fighting Hawks scoring over the last five games.
WINLESS WHEN: North Dakota is 0-12 when scoring fewer than 70 points and 15-5 when scoring at least 70.
ASSIST-TO-FG RATIO: The Fighting Hawks have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Bison. North Dakota State has an assist on 34 of 74 field goals (45.9 percent) across its previous three outings while North Dakota has assists on 39 of 70 field goals (55.7 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The North Dakota State offense has recorded a turnover on only 15.1 percent of its possessions, which is the seventh-best rate in the country. The North Dakota defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 15.8 percent of all possessions (ranked 341st among Division I teams).
SEASON SERIES: NDSU and UND split the regular season. The Bison won at the Scheels Center on January 19, 83-74. Tyson Ward finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds for NDSU, while Marlon Stewart paced UND with 22 points. The Fighting Hawks won the last matchup on 71-68 from the Betty on February 22. Stewart had 35 points on 13-25 shooting from the floor. Ward paced NDSU with 24 points and 6 rebounds.
FIRST TIME FOR SIX SEED: A six seed has never won the conference tournament championship. IUPUI in 2002 and Chicago State in 2006 are the only No. 6 seeds to advance to the championship game.
STATE SUCCESS: South Dakota State and NDSU have combined to win the last 8 Summit League championship games. SDSU won three straight from 2016-18 and 5 in total. NDSU is looking to go back-to-back.
SIOUX FALLS, SD – MARCH 8: Filip Rebraca #12 of the North Dakota Fighting Hawks shoots a jumper against the PFW Mastodons at the 2020 Summit League Basketball Championship in Sioux Falls, SD. (Photo by Dave Eggen/Inertia)
*Courtesy Associated Press
