No. 6 Southern Utah
vs. No. 3 North Dakota
Thursday, March 14, 5:30 p.m.
Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, Mont.
Internet: Big Sky TV
Coaches: Nick Robinson is in his first season at Southern Utah and as a head coach. Robinson has an overall record of 11-19. Prior to taking over in Cedar City, the Stanford graduate was an assistant for three seasons at LSU...North Dakota’s Brian Jones is in his seventh season at the Grand Forks school. He has an overall record of 101-112. Jones guided North Dakota to a 15-15 regular-season record. Prior to coaching at UND, Jones was an assistant coach at Iowa under Steve Alford.
What’s Next: The winner advances to a Friday semifinal.
Season Series: The two teams split their regular-season meetings. Southern Utah won the first meeting in Cedar City 79-67 on Dec. 17, 2012. Jackson Stevenett led SUU with 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Mitch Wilmer had 15 points and 10 rebounds. North Dakota played without junior Troy Huff, who had yet to return from a broken jaw. North Dakota won the rematch 68-61 last Saturday in Grand Forks. Jamal Webb had 19 points with nine rebounds, five assists and four steals in the win. Huff netted 15 points. SUU’s Jackson Stevenett was held to just seven points. A.J. Hess led SUU with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Meetings in Championship: This is the first meeting between the two in the Big Sky Championship, as it is the first tournament game for both schools. Southern Utah and North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference as full members on July 1, 2012.
Notes: North Dakota’s 12 conference wins this season are the most ever by a first-year program in the Big Sky...Southern Utah made the tournament despite losing its last seven conference games. SUU started 3-0 in league, before suffering a five-game losing streak. SUU responded with five straight league wins to get to 8-5 on Feb. 2...North Dakota won the Great West Conference tournament titles in 2011 and 2012...The teams had never played prior to both joining the Big Sky...SUU’s Jackson Stevenett scored in double figures in 23 straight games before being held to seven points last week against UND...UND’s Troy Huff has scored in double figures in 21 of the 22 games he’s played this season, including 10 straight...In conference play, Huff averaged 19.7 points per game, while Stevenett averaged 19.3...SUU ranks second in the Big Sky in rebounding margin and blocked shots...UND leads the Big Sky in steals and is second in turnover margin...This marks the first time that two first-year schools have played each other in a Big Sky tournament game...UND’s Jamal Webb enters the game with 177 career steals, one shy of the school all-time record. Webb leads the Big Sky with 68 steals...Southern Utah went to 14 of the last 15 Summit League/Mid-Continent Conference Tournaments.