THE OPENING TIP
The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team (21-8 overall, 16-6 conference) continues its NSIC Tournament run with a Quarterfinals matchup against Upper Iowa on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 4:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls' Sanford Pentagon.
LAST TIME OUT- TOURNAMENT EDITION
Mother Nature proved to make UMD's first round matchup against Minnesota State pretty interesting long before it ever began.
It was a game that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 6:00 p.m. Impending snow bounced that up to Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6:00 p.m.- or at least that was the first rescheduling. Ultimately, the game landed at 3:00 p.m. on that Tuesday, smack-dab in the middle of the work/school day.
Regardless, when the Bulldogs hit the court against the Mavericks, they did so in the presence of a rowdy crowd of all sorts of members of Bulldog Country- including a full house of a student section.
As it would turn out, that crowd would be treated to quite a show.
It took UMD seven minutes to establish a double-digit lead at 20-10. Credit to the Mavericks- by the 6:06 mark, they'd trimmed their deficit back down to just a single score at 28-26. It was a 16-8 MSU run dating back to that 20-10 score. Only appropriate, then, that UMD would respond in kind with a 16-7 run of their own. This left the Bulldogs up double-figures once again at 44-33 by halftime.
The Mavericks would dig in to start the second frame, working themselves back to within two scores at 52-48 with 15:12 left in the game. Unfortunately for MSU, UMD had another scoring run in the tank. And by the time Charlie Katona potted a pair of free throws to cap off a 14-3 run and leave the score at 66-51 Bulldogs… that was about all she wrote.
UMD's lead would grow and grow, peaking at 25 at a score of 85-60 by way of an Austin Andrews layup with 2:15 on the clock. By the final buzzer, that margin was 20, the score 86-66 Bulldogs.
What a postseason performance it was for Katona, as he tallied a team-leading 23 points on a whopping 8-9 shooting mark. The junior forward paired those tallies with four assists. Drew Blair was close by with 22 points of his own on a 9-14 effort from the field. Joshua Brown had 14 points on 4-7 shooting overall and a 3-6 effort from deep. Jack Middleton was the last of UMD's double-digit scorers with 11 points on the day.
STATS STATUS REPORT
Blair leads all Bulldogs in points per game, clocking in at 19.7 a contest. The guard also leads the club in average assists with 2.2 dimes a night. Tack on five rebounds per game, for good measure. Katona lands at second in the scoring race with 12.3 points a game, those coming on an efficiency clip of 54.6% from the field. The junior forward couples this offense with 5.7 boards a game. Next is Brown and his 11.7 PPG to go along with 5.2 rebounds a night. Last but not least is Andrews, who's working at rates of 11.4 points and 5.7 boards a game while shooting an impressive 58.7% from the field.
ALL-NSIC ACCOLADES
It's just been one of those seasons for Blair.
The vast majority of the season has seen the redshirt-senior manning UMD's scoring throne on the year. But rest assured that Blair was no stranger to getting buckets before this season began- far from it. In fact, over the course of this campaign, the guard's worked himself all the way to third on UMD's all-time scoring list with 1872 total points to his name.
And 39 of those came in a single game, one that proved to be a career effort for Blair. In a tight 84-80 overtime contest between the Bulldogs and St. Cloud State back on Dec. 19, the guard went unconscious from three, a 7-11 effort from beyond the arc proving to be the foundation of those 39 tallies. It was a performance that landed Blair NSIC North Player of the Week honors, his third time earning the moniker in his career.
Any of this would've been impressive in isolation, but when you pair it all together… it's All-NSIC First Team worthy.
But Blair wasn't the lone UMD representative in the All-NSIC family. Enter Katona.
Back in November, the junior forward landed on the Small College Basketball Champions Classic All-Tournament team, averaging 15 points and six rebounds across two tough contests. This was just an appetizer for what would be a humongous week for Katona to kick off December. Across wins against Minnesota Crookston and Minot State, the Shakopee, Minn. native averaged 18.5 points and eight boards to take home his second-ever NSIC North Player of the Week award. Forget "second-evers"- how about an outright career-high? That's what Katona was able to accomplish on Feb. 3. Just in time, too, as the performance came on the road against a then-No. 19 MSU Moorhead squad. A total of 30 points from the junior forward helped propel the Bulldogs past the Dragons 87-67.
Again, looking at these instances as individual pieces is nice enough, but group them onto one resume… welcome to the All-NSIC Second Team, Katona.
DB AND THE ART OF THE THREE
Blair's already put together quite the resume this season, but he's right on the cusp of adding something pretty special.
See, a major reason behind the redshirt-senior's climb towards the top of UMD's all-time scoring charts is his simultaneous movement up a related ladder- the all-time threes list. After two more triples against MSU on Tuesday, Blair now sits with 238 across his entire career. That's already good for third in UMD history- but it gets better than that. Something about that three number it seems, as that's also how many more triples Blair would need to tie the all-time leader in Jordan Nuness with 241. Four, then, would allow the Stevens Point, Wis. native to stand alone at the top.
CATCHING UP WITH: UPPER IOWA
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
UMD's last encounter against UIU proved pretty favorable for the Bulldogs. Of course, it was only the regular season- and played on home soil in Romano- but it's still a good litmus test.
When the Bulldogs took the lead at 6-5 courtesy of a Katona layup with 15:22 left in the first half, they'd go on to hold an advantage for the entirety of the rest of the game. UMD's lead in the first frame would peak at nine when a Mattie Thompson make made it 21-12 with 10:45 remaining. The Bulldogs' advantage was still two scores at 37-31 with only 41 seconds until the break. That's when the Peacocks proved they weren't done fighting just yet, closing things out with four quick points to leave the halftime score at 37-35.
When Blair potted a three to secure the first double-digit lead of the game at 50-40 by the 15:29 mark of the second half, it'd stay at double figures for nearly seven minutes. It took a Lucas Daux layup with 8:56 remaining to trim UMD's hold down to nine- and even then, that was short-lived. In came Joshua Strong to score a triple of his own to make it 66-54 with 8:43 left. Double-digit Bulldog advantage over this one from that point until the final buzzer, a grip that tightened to as high as 20 at 76-56 with 4:11 left. It was a lead that ultimately settled at 18 at 80-62.
Brown ended up at the top of a balanced UMD scoring chart against the Peacocks. The junior guard potted 17 points on 6-11 shooting to go with six rebounds. Thompson put up 14 points on a 4-7 shooting effort. Strong scored 13 on 5-8 shooting, having gone a stout 3-5 from three. Andrews had an efficient 11 points, going 5-7 from the field, while grabbing five boards.
It was Jack Hilmer that led the charge for the Peacocks with a game-high 22 points to pair with six assists. Duax had 11 points to couple with six rebounds.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
UIU's loss to UMD back in January ultimately left the Peacocks with a 9-8 overall mark, a 6-5 record in conference play. The squad would need a strong finish to the season to stay competitive in the NSIC South- and that's exactly what it got. UIU closed the year 7-4 (including wins in each of its final two contests) leaving it with a final record of 16-12, a total conference tally of 13-9. That latter mark proved to be the magic number that led the Peacocks to their first ever share of NSIC South gold, an honor they split three ways with Wayne State and Sioux Falls.
HERE COMES HILMER
At the helm of UIU's operation all season long has been Hilmer- and the numbers certainly indicate that. Exactly 22 points per game, an NSIC-leading mark. All the same, the senior guard found time to dish out 4.9 assists a contest- that was third in the conference. It's numbers like this that led Hilmer to three NSIC Player of the Week Awards, two D2CIDA National Player of the Week honors. It can be difficult to live up to being crowned your division's Preseason Player of the Year- no problem for Hilmer. He ended up earning that accolade for real by the season's end. Top it all off with an All-NSIC First Team appearance.
IN DEFENSE OF DUAX
An offensive force like Hilmer sure would pair well with a strong presence on the other end of the court… enter Lucas Duax. The senior wasn't just any lock-down guard throughout this season- he won the NSIC South Defensive Player of the Year. This was due in large part to Duax being nothing short of a sensational swiper of the basketball. The guard averaged 2.4 steals a contest this season, the best mark in all of the NSIC. He also snagged 5.1 rebounds a game in the process. But none of this is to say that Duax can't shoot the ball himself. The senior averaged 16.8 points in his own right, the 12th-highest clip in the conference- and on a 54.2% field goal percentage, no less. No wonder he was an All-NSIC Second Team honoree.
REID THE REBOUNDER
The last of the Peacocks' All-NSIC noms earned his spot through his work around the glass: enter Nick Reid. The junior forward averaged an impressive 9.4 rebounds thus far, which situates him at a tie for first in the conference in that arena. Add on 14.5 points a contest, and you've almost got yourself a walking double-double. Makes sense that such a statline would land Redi second-team All-Conference honors.
TALE OF THE TOURNAMENT TAPE
The Bulldogs and Peacocks have met each other on tournament time before- and you don't have to rewind the clock too much to find that last outing. Just this past season, a then-No. 12 UMD squad collided with a No. 14 UIU team in a battle of the titans with a trip to the NSIC Championship on the line.
The first half ultimately belonged to the Peacocks, who took an early 12-2 lead and held some form of advantage until the break, though it was often by just a single score. The Bulldogs were still able to keep things interesting even without Andrews, who'd left the game early and would ultimately stay sidelined the rest of the way. And by the end of the half, Upper Iowa's lead was just three at 36-33.
It took UMD less than a minute to secure its first lead of the game at 37-36 courtesy of a Lincoln Meister bucket. The Bulldogs wouldn't maintain this exact incineration of a lead, but they'd hold new advantages several times throughout what proved to be a war of a second half. Several two-score leads were built across the closing 20 minutes of this one on both sides only for them to eventually fizzle out as a result of a scoring run from the trailing squad. For example, at the 5:54 mark, a Middleton jumper capped off a 6-0 Bulldogs run that dug them out of a five point hole at 63-58 to make it 64-63 UMD. This time, though… the Bulldogs wouldn't let go of the lead the rest of the game. Again, it was often by the skin of their teeth, but a lead is a lead. And by the final buzzer, UMD held a 76-73 advantage right when it mattered most.
Blair was huge for the Bulldogs in helping the team secure its first NSIC Title Game appearance in 18 seasons. The guard amassed 29 points in the victory. Duax ended up potting 14 points on 6-7 shooting, Hilmer clocking in with 12 points.
Before that bout, the last time UMD and UIU had played each other in the NSIC Tournament was back on Feb. 26, 2014. That was a contest the Peacocks took 86-81, ultimately leaving the all-time conference playoff mark between these two squads at an even 1-1.
THE BROADCAST
Catch Sunday's action live from the Sanford Pentagon by following the link below:
NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals vs Upper Iowa (Sunday, Feb. 26 @ 4:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3lWOJUM
