North Dakota

How to watch: No. 6 Alabama at North Dakota

Published

1 year ago

December 18, 2024

How to watch: No. 6 Alabama at North Dakota

After surviving the gauntlet stretch of its non-conference schedule, No. 6 Alabama will hope a chilly trip to the Great Plains won’t cool down its recent run. North Dakota native Grant Nelson will get a homecoming game as the Crimson Tide travels to face North Dakota on Wednesday night. The matchup will be the first leg of a two-for-one series with the Fighting Hawks traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2025 and 2027.

Wednesday will mark the first matchup between Alabama and UND. Nelson, on the other hand, boasts a 6-1 record against the Fighting Hawks, dating back to his time at North Dakota State. The Devils Lake, North Dakota native averaged 16.8 points and 5.28 rebounds while shooting 56% from the floor, including 10 of 21 (47.6%) from beyond the arc in those seven games. That includes his last outing against UND when he dropped 36 points and seven boards while shooting 13 of 20 from the floor.

Here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday’s game.

How to watch

Who: No. 6 Alabama (8-2) at North Dakota (4-8)

When: 8 p.m. CT, Saturday, Dec. 14

Where: Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Watch: CBS Sports Network (play-by-play: Alex Heinert, analyst: Shon Morris, sideline Missy Heidrick)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (play-by-play: Roger Hoover, analyst: Bryan Passink)

Alabama’s projected starters

Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, graduate

Stats: 17.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.0 apg, 39.0% FG, 31.8% 3-pt

Labaron Philon: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, freshman

Stats: 11.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.8 apg, 53.5% FG, 24.0% 3-pt

Jarin Stevenson: 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 4.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 38.5% FG, 24.1% 3-pt

Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, graduate

Stats: 12.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 51.2% FG, 27.6% 3-pt

Clifford Omoruyi: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, graduate

Stats: 8.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 0.9 apg, 71.4% FG

North Dakota’s projected starters

Eli King: 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, junior

Stats: 6.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.7 apg, 33.8% FG, 34.3% 3-pt

Mier Panoam: 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 11.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 38.6% FG, 24.0% 3-pt

Treyshen Eaglestaff: 6-foot-6, 190 pounds, junior

Stats: 18.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.2 apg, 42.4% FG, 37.1% 3-pt

Deng Mayar: 6-foot-8, 180 pounds, senior

Stats: 4.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.3 apg, 41.0% FG, 35.7% 3-pt

Amar Kulijuhov: 6-foot-8, 2225 pounds, senior

Stats: 11.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.4 apg, 53.4% FG

Focus for a full 40

Nate Oats knows he’ll have far more talent on the floor than his opposition on Wednesday night. The Alabama head coach even admitted as much during his Tuesday press conference. It’s hard to find a betting line for Wednesday’s matchup, but it’s safe to say the Tide is heavily favored.

While Alabama is confident about coming back from North Dakota with a win, Oats is hoping to see his team display better focus than it has at times this season. The Tide played with its food during non-conference wins against Arkansas State and McNeese State in November. Last week, it allowed Creighton to get back into the game twice before polishing off the Bluejays for an 83-75 victory. Regardless of the score Wednesday night, Oats said he wants to see his team play winning basketball for 40 minutes.

“We’ve got some guys that are really talented, want to be good, don’t quite realize the mental side of it, staying locked in on every possession to close the game,” Oats said. “We’ve got to play every possession. We can’t play the score. We’ve got to be locked in and try to get stops every possession.”

A name to know

North Dakota guard Treysen Eaglestaff leads the Summit League averaging 18.6 points per game and has recorded at least 12 points in all of his 12 starts this season. While the majority of that production has come against mid-major opposition, the 6-foot-6, 190-pound junior scored 13 points while shooting 3 of 6 from beyond the arc during a loss at Notre Dame in November.

“He’s a good shooter, can get to the rim, get to the free-throw line,” Oats said. “He’s good, and they know he’s good. They get him the ball all kinds of different ways.”

Oats said Alabama might treat Eaglestaff the way it did North Carolina guard R.J. Davis, by putting a bigger body on him. Davis scored 18 points during Alabama’s 94-79 win at North Carolina earlier this month. However, the Tide was able to hold the reigning ACC Player of the Year to 1 of 11 shooting from beyond the arc.

Game notes

— Wednesday’s matchup will feature two of the best rebounding teams in the nation. North Dakota ranks No. 8, averaging 15.08 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Alabama ranks No. 8, averaging 30.4 defensive boards.

— Nelson currently ranks fifth in the SEC averaging 8.0 rebounds per game.

— Wednesday’s game will be a drop in competition for an Alabama team that has faced eight programs that currently rank inside KenPom’s top 100. Six of those rank inside the top 50.

— Paul Sather is in his sixth season at North Dakota. With 65 victories, he is one of eight coaches in program history to reach the 60-win mark.

— North Dakota was picked to finish sixth in the Summit League while Eaglestaff and Amar Kuljuhaovic earned First Team All-Summit League recognition.

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North Dakota

Broncos won’t repeat as NCHC hockey champs, lose to N. Dakota: ‘We broke down’

Published

5 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Broncos won’t repeat as NCHC hockey champs, lose to N. Dakota: ‘We broke down’

Kalamazoo — There’ll be a new champion in the NCHC.

Will Zellers scored the game-winning goal in the third period as No. 3 North Dakota downed No. 4 Western Michigan, 5-3, Friday night at Lawson Arena. The Broncos never led and trailed all of the third period, though a late push nearly tied the game with the net empty.

“Overall in the game, I thought it was a pretty tightly contested effort. I thought they just scored too easy,” Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “You know, for us, we had a couple breakdowns, and they’re so talented, so good, they took advantage when we broke down.”

The teams finish the regular season Saturday night. Western Michigan came into Friday’s game tied with Denver in standings points and five points behind North Dakota, needing that many to get a share of the Penrose Cup it won last season en route to an NCAA championship, too.

As far as regular season results go, the Broncos will play for second seed in the NCHC Tournament, needing to outpace Denver, which plays Arizona State this weekend.

Western Michigan (23-9-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) goaltender Hampton Slukynsky made 16 saves on 20 shots in the loss while North Dakota’s Jan Spunar stopped 22 of 25 shots. It was a battle of two of the NCHC’s top netminders, and each made key stops in a tight-checking, physical game.

Zellers put North Dakota (25-7-1, 17-5-1) up 4-2 4:42 into the third period off an assist from Detroit Red Wings draft choice Dylan James.

“He kind of made a play out of nothing there,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson, who is in his first season as head coach after being on the coaching staff since 2006. “And that was a really nice kind of moment where you go OK, we got a little got a little leeway here, and we can just kind of play a little bit more free.”

North Dakota took a 3-2 lead into the third period with goals from defenseman Sam Laurila alongside forwards Ollie Josephson and Josh Zakreski. Defenseman Zach Bookman and forward Liam Valente scored for Western Michigan.

One too many times in the second frame, Western Michigan’s blue line let a North Dakota forward in all alone to face Slukynsky, who stopped a couple of rushes in the opening minutes of the period.

With four minutes until the intermission, the Broncos finally got burned. On a feed from linemate Anthony Menghini, Lakreski cut to the glove side of a sprawling Slukynsky and beat him with the backhand. The goal gave North Dakota the 3-2 lead, after a seeing-eye shot from Bookman along the right wall had tied it up two apiece 8:10 into the period.

“I actually thought the second period was our best period,” Ferschweiler said. “… We started to take over. We got the goal, tied 2-2, and are kind of just humming along. Four minutes left, we just hand them a goal. Blown coverage. That was inexcusable, honestly, with some of our better players on the ice.”

The opening period played out as a back and forth track meet through the neutral zone as each side settled in. Laurila put North Dakota up 1-0 with his first career goal. After Slukynsky denied him on a trio of tries earlier in the shift, he fired a shot to beat the Western Michigan netminder 4:40 into the game.

It took just a minute and 34 seconds after Laurila’s opener for Western Michigan’s top line to get it right back. A blue-collar shift from captain Owen Michaels fed linemate Will Whitelaw along the left boards, and he sprung Valente for a breakaway goal that evened up the score.

“I thought we gave it to them too easy a couple times tonight,” Whitelaw said. “And I think when you’re playing a team like that, obviously they’re gonna put it in your net. But I think it’ll be a big lesson for our group going forward.”

For the better part of the first period, the Lawson Lunatics peppered North Dakota defenseman Jake Livanavage with jeers, but he got his own licks in with 7:48 left in the first period as he fed Josephson right at the net for the 2-1 goal. That score held through the first period.

With 2:02 remaining and Slukynsky pulled, forward Zaccharya Wisdom pulled Western Michigan within one. He nearly had the equalizer with 40 seconds on the clock on a backdoor try, but he mistimed the shot. Mac Swanson scored an empty-netter with 20.7 seconds on the clock to clinch the win, and with it the Penrose Cup, presented to North Dakota in the locker room and then paraded around the ice.

“It’s the hardest regular season championship to win, in my opinion,” North Dakota forward Ben Strinden said. “So it’s awesome. Obviously, it’s not our end goal, but we’re going to enjoy it for sure.”

cearegood@detroitnews.com

@ConnorEaregood

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