THE OPENING TIP

The UMD men's basketball team (23-8 overall, 16-6 conference) is set to play in its second-straight NSIC Tournament Championship against a familiar opponent in MSU Moorhead, whom the Bulldogs met in the title game last season. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
 

LAST TIME OUT- TOURNAMENT EDITION

To be the best, you've got to beat the best.

That's what the Bulldogs were tasked with doing when they ran into outright NSIC Champion Northern State in the tournament semifinals on Monday. And UMD sure started hot, blazing out to an early 13-6 lead. NSU would come storming right back, though, and it wouldn't have to settle for just knotting up the score. By the end of the half, the Wolves held a multi-possession lead of their own at 31-26.

It was an advantage that grew gradually and gradually over the initial portion of the second half, from six (39-33) to seven (42-35) and finally to nine (52-43). That final bucket came by way of a Sam Masten and-one with 12:16 remaining. 

But it'd be the Bulldogs that'd find control down the stretch. A pivotal 12-2 run dating back to that nine-point deficit gave UMD its first lead since 13-12 at 55-54 with 8:24 remaining. With the score still just 66-65 Bulldogs with 2:20 on the clock, UMD was looking to seal the deal. A massive Joshua Brown three-ball with only 47 seconds left did just that, pushing the score to 73-67. UMD would ultimately win by a final of 75-69.
 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

• Drew Blair: 18 points, four rebounds

• Brown: 17 points, 8-13 shooting, eight rebounds

• Charlie Katona: 15 points, 6-10 shooting, nine rebounds 

• UMD shot 20-32 (62.5%) from the field in the second half

 

A DOUBLE DOSE OF DOGS

As you know, the UMD women's basketball team will also compete for an NSIC Tournament title on Tuesday (4:00 p.m.) You may also remember that this isn't the first time we've been here- the teams were in a similar situation last season. In the case of the men's program, last year was the first time it'd made it to the championship game since 2003. 

UMD didn't end up completing a tournament sweep in 2022- but precedent exists for it. Not even just a general touchstone, either- the Bulldogs have done it themselves. The year? 2003. It was the women's program's third tournament championship in four tries in the new millennium, the men's second-straight title. This was the first time any single program had cleaned house in the NSIC Tourney like that- and it's only happened two more times since (St. Cloud State in 2009, Winona State 2011).

Last year, UMD had a chance to push that total to four. The Bulldogs have earned another crack at history on Tuesday. 

 

STATS STATUS REPORT

Blair continues to lead all Bulldogs in scoring with 19.6 points a contest. The guard's also tied for the team lead in average assists with Joshua Strong at 2.2. Katona's scoring 12.7 points a night on 55.6% shooting to go with 5.8 rebounds. Austin Andrews' 11.2 points a game come on a 57.9% clip and are coupled with an average of 5.6 rebounds. Brown's scoring 11.7 points a night.

As a unit, UMD's offense continues to impress at a national level. The Bulldogs hold the nation's 37th best scoring offense at 81.2 points a game all while shooting at a clip of 49.3% that's 20th in the country.

 

THE KING OF THREES

Blair potted two more threes against the Wolves in the semifinals- two more in a career full of a lot of them.

It's beautiful poetry that this would be happening right when it is, but somehow, that's exactly what's happening. Blair enters the NSIC Championship at a perfect tie for first with Jordan Nuness on UMD's all-time list for three-pointers made at 241. Just one more triple, and Blair will stand alone at the top of the Bulldogs' all-time throne when it comes to shooting the deep ball.

 

CATCHING UP WITH: MSU MOORHEAD

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Two meetings this season, two dramatically different outcomes.

The first was a bout in Romano on New Year's Day. As it turns out, this night would belong to the Dragons- something they'd make clear pretty quickly. By the end of the first half, MSUM was already up by almost 20 at a score of 42-25. The Dragons continued to apply offensive pressure into the second frame, their lead growing to as high as 23 at 55-32 with 13:24 to play. The Bulldogs would show a lot of fight here, jumping out to a feverish 17-3 run over the next five minutes and change to cut the deficit down to a single digit at 58-49. Credit 11 of the points in that stretch to Blair. Unfortunately for UMD, it just didn't end up being enough. MSUM would re-establish its grip over the game and ultimately take it 72-58.
 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

UMD

• Blair: 19 points

• Brown: 10 points 

• Katona: nine points, seven rebounds, two steals

MSUM

• Lorenzo McGhee: 18 points, 8-14 FG shooting, 10 reb

• Jacob Beeninga: 16 points, 5-8 3pt

• Gabe Myren: 11 points

• Gavin Baumgartner: 10 pts

• Dane Zimmer: nine points, 12 rebounds, four assists

 

But things couldn't have played out much better for the Bulldogs in Moorhead about a month later on Feb. 3. 

UMD saw the 17-point advantage MSUM (which was now ranked No. 19) had taken in the first half of the initial meeting and decided to one-up it, the Bulldog advantage sitting at 19 at a score of 43-24 through 20 minutes. UMD shot 19-32 from the field in the frame while holding MSUM to just a 9-33 mark. And in the middle of it all was Katona, who already had 21 points and seven rebounds in the first half alone.

Things just didn't much change from that point onwards, as the Bulldogs managed to keep a steady hold over the game until the final buzzer. When that sounded, the final score read 87-69 UMD. 

Katona had been absolutely electric for the Bulldogs in their bid to avenge that earlier loss. The junior forward notched a career-high 30 points on 12-14 shooting in this second meeting with the Dragons to go along with nine rebounds and four assists.

 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

UMD

• Katona: 30 points, 12-14 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists

• Jack Middleton: 17 points, 7-11 shooting

• Brown: 15 points, 5-6 shooting, seven rebounds

• Blair: 12 points, 5-10 shooting

MSUM

• McGhee: 15 points

• Beeninga 11 points

• Logan Kinsey 10 points, 10 rebounds

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

MSUM ultimately closed the regular season with a 22-6 overall record and a 17-5 conference mark. Two more wins have pushed that overall mark go 24-6. The Dragons finished second in both the NSIC North and the NSIC overall behind Northern State.
 

THE PATH TO THE TITLE GAME

MSUM's performance to open their NSIC Tournament run would've made it pretty easily to believe the team would end up where it is now. 

In a quarterfinals matchup against Sioux Falls, the Dragons put on nothing short of a clinic in the first half. By the end of it, MSUM found itself up by almost 30 at 46-17. The Dragons shot 17-31 from the field while holding the Cougars to a 5-33 mark. This was the framework for an eventual 76-56 victory to push to Round Two. 

It ended up being Bemidji State that MSUM would challenge for a shot at the title. The Dragons wouldn't just have their way in this one, but they still started pretty strong. By the end of the first half, MSUM's advantage was 10 at a score of 40-30. But the second frame belonged to the Beavers, who not only drew back to within even but snagged a lead of their own at 65-63 with only 4:13 on the clock. Not having much time to work with can often be a point of tension- but not for Lorenzo McGhee, apparently. With his team down a point at 77-76 with mere seconds left on the clock, the senior guard pulled up for a long two-pointer that found the net before the buzzer sounded. Final: MSUM 77, BSU 76. UMD's prospective opponent had shifted entirely in the span of just a single moment.
 

STATISTICAL STANDOUTS

Beeninga leads all Dragons in scoring with 17.7 points a game. Right behind him is McGhee with 15.4 points a contest to pair with an average of 5.1 rebounds. Baumgartner's potting 13.3 points a contest to couple with 4.3 assists. Zimmer's average point production doesn't quite hit double-digits at 8.3 points, but it's an efficient 8.3, coming at a clip of 65.2%. And it doesn't hurt that the junior forward pairs those tallies with 8.6 rebounds a game. 

A note about the Dragons overall- they are the epitome of ball discipline. MSUM holds an assist-turnover ratio of 1.55, the ninth-best figure in the country and the second best in the NSIC.

 

HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY

 After what was a calculated start to last year's title game where neither team was able to establish much control, it was the Dragons that dealt the first true punch. With 6:19 remaining, MSUM held a game-high lead of seven at 27-20. UMD would ultimately be able to trim that deficit down to two scores at 40-36 heading into halftime.

It was the Bulldogs that proved to control the first chunk of the second half. MSUM held two leads in the first ten minutes of the frame- the one they walked into it with and another that lasted all of a minute. Other than that, UMD either held a lead or kept things level. But it all changed when a Beeninga three re-established an MSUM advantage at 61-60. The Dragons wouldn't relinquish control from that point onwards- and their lead would only grow. It's an advantage that capped at 10 at 81-71 before settling in at nine at a final of 81-73. 

 

GAME STATS DEBRIEF

UMD

• Brown: 25 points, seven rebounds 

• Blair 18 points

• Katona 18 points, 8-12 shooting

MSUM

• Jaden Stanley-Williams: 15 points, 7-12 shooting

• Baumgartner: 12 points, five assists

• Beeninga: 12 points

• Zimmer: 10 points, eight rebounds

 

But 2022 wasn't the fist time the Bulldogs and Dragons met for the NSIC Tournament crown. The matchup before that went a little better for UMD- it was back in 2003. Moorhead had control through 20 minutes back on that day in St. Paul's Gangelhoff Center, too, as it led 37-33. The Bulldogs countered this time around with a 38-29 second half to take the contest 71-66 and secure back-to-back titles. Dusty Decker led the scoring affairs in that one with 28 points on 11-13 shooting. 
 

THE BROADCAST
Catch all of the NSIC Championship action live free-of-charge through the NSIC Network by following the link below:

vs MSU Moorhead (Tuesday, Feb. 28 @ 7:00 p.m.):  bit.ly/3xZqqbz