Associated Press

North Dakota Fightin’ Hawks (4-5) at Utah Valley Wolverines (4-5)

Orem, Utah; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota faces Utah Valley after Mier Panoam scored 22 points in North Dakota’s 80-75 victory against the Weber State Wildcats.

The Wolverines have gone 2-0 at home. Utah Valley averages 13.6 turnovers per game and is 1-2 when it wins the turnover battle.

The Fightin’ Hawks are 1-3 on the road. North Dakota ranks ninth in the Summit League with 9.9 assists per game led by Treysen Eaglestaff averaging 1.9.

Utah Valley’s average of 5.3 made 3-pointers per game is 1.0 fewer made shot on average than the 6.3 per game North Dakota gives up. North Dakota averages 71.2 points per game, 2.7 fewer than the 73.9 Utah Valley gives up.

TOP PERFORMERS: Dominick Nelson is scoring 13.3 points per game and averaging 6.0 rebounds for the Wolverines.

Eaglestaff is shooting 35.1% from beyond the arc with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Fightin’ Hawks, while averaging 18.3 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

BISMARCK, N.D. (KUMV) – Excavators had good luck finding more woolly mammoth bones in northwest North Dakota this fall.

Senior Paleontologist Clint Boyd said they conducted an extensive dig where they previously found mammoth teeth. The location was not specifically mentioned for the privacy of the landowners.

Boyd said he believes they will find more bones if they can dig through part of a garage that lies above the dig site. He said they are requesting funding from the legislature next year to be able to excavate and to refill the area after completion.

“So far, we’ve had very great relationships with the landowner. They are very excited. They set up a holding chair right next to the pit while we were working and watched us the whole time. I would think that would be very boring, but apparently it’s not. It’s been a really great collaboration and discovery so far,” said Boyd.

State Geologist Ed Murphy has been aware of the site since 1988, but construction of the garage prevented further investigation. It was only recently that he connected with a new landowner, who gave him permission to dig around.

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As the wins began to pile up for Kalen DeBoer’s University of Washington football team, the then Husky leader was reminded that he might have trouble hanging on to his assistant coaches in the face of all this sudden success.

DeBoer responded that the University of North Dakota surely would take Eric Schmidt from him whenever it could, that his edge-rusher coach someday would return to his alma mater as the head coach.

That was two years ago.

On Wednesday, Schmidt will be introduced in Grand Forks as the 28th head coach of the Fighting Hawks, after serving a one-season stint as San Diego State’s defensive coordinator since DeBoer made his casual observation in 2022.

Fast rising through the coaching ranks, Schmidt will receive a hero’s welcome home.

He’s a North Dakota native, born in Mandan in the middle of the state, which is roughly 280 miles from his new place of employment.

Schmidt captained the Fighting Hawks’ 2001 NCAA Division II national championship team, earning All-America honors at linebacker as the most prominent player for a 14-1 team.

That season began with a 17-14 victory over Central Washington in Ellensburg, Washington and concluded with a 17-14 win over Grand Valley State (Michigan) in the title game in Florence, Alabama.

And Schmidt coached six seasons as the North Dakota defensive coordinator (2014-19) for the man he will replace, Bubba Schweigert, taking over a program coming off a 5-7 season.

Schmidt and DeBoer first met as assistant coaches at Southern Illinois, and DeBoer brought Schmidt with him first to Fresno State and then to Washington.

Considered a coach with the ability to motivate and come up with results on the football field, Schmidt had Bralen Trice and Jeremiah Martin become first-team All-Pac-12 picks on his watch, and Zion Tupola-Fetui earn honorable-mention honors.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington