The UND Men’s Basketball team will look to build on some late season success from last spring and carry that into the 2023-24 season. Following a rough 7-17 start last season, the Fighting Hawks won six of their final nine outings, losing in the Summit League quarterfinals to Oral Roberts, the eventual conference champion. 

The Fighting Hawks are led by Paul Sather, who will be coaching the Hawks for his fourth season. After going 15-42 in his first two seasons at UND, Sather’s Hawks have begun to turn it around, nearly matching the previous two seasons win total in last year alone.  

Sather has the Hawks primed for further growth this year, returning key players from last season’s squad, bringing back four of its five leading scorers. That includes forward B.J. Omot (So.), who was named to the preseason All-Summit League second team.  

Also included in UND’s returning talent is forward Tsotne Tsartsidze (5th), who led the Hawks in rebounding last season.  

Headlining the Hawks’ newcomers is guard Eli King (So.). King elected to transfer from Iowa State, a Big 12 power, in the Spring. Eli King hails from Caledonia, Minnesota, where he was a finalist for Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball in his senior year of high school. King will look to use his elite athleticism to make an immediate impact for the Fighting Hawks. 

The Fighting Hawks were voted fifth in the Summit League men’s basketball preseason coaches’ poll, behind SDSU, Oral Roberts, NDSU, and St. Thomas.  

UND played Northland College in an exhibition game last Wednesday, defeating the Lumberjacks 107-48.  

The Fighting Hawks open regular season play against the Iowa Hawkeyes, a program frequently in the March Madness mix, on November 7th in Iowa City. 

The Hawks will play their first home game on November 12th against the Elon Phoenix in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Tickets are available to UND students for free via the Green and White website. 

Garrett Webber is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].