The UND men’s basketball team defeated Concordia-Moorhead this past Wednesday with a score of 89-56 in their season-opening exhibition at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
The Fighting Hawks were picked to finish sixth place this season in the Summit League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll. This may come off as a bit of a snub to a team that went 18-14 overall and earned the third seed in the Summit League tournament last season.
The Hawks did have to reload this offseason, after losing three of its top four scorers from last year, which included B.J. Omot, the team’s leading scorer (16.7 PPG). Omot transferred to California-Berkley.
Another key departure for UND was Tyree Ihenacho, the team’s floor general and second-leading scoring (14.5 PPG). Ihenacho transferred to the University of Washington.
Luckily, UND returns two All-Summit League first team selections. Treysen Eaglestaff (Jr.) was the team’s third-leading scorer last year with 14.4 ppg. From the looks of the exhibition game, the junior guard is going to be UND’s top scoring option this season. The Bismarck product is a three-level scorer and someone who any team needs to look out for when he gets hot.
Eaglestaff scored the first eight points of the exhibition for UND. He finished as the game’s leading scorer with 26 points going 11-19 from the field.
The other first team selection is senior forward Amar Kuljuhovic (Sr.). Kuljuhovic is a monster on the boards with tons of offensive upside. The Iowa native led the Hawks in rebounds last season (8.6 RPG) and was the team’s fifth-leading scorer (8.7 PPG).
Eli King (Jr.), who will be a key player this year, did not suit up for the exhibition but is expected to play in the team’s season opener.
With King out, the team’s starting rotation in their exhibition included eight players playing at least 16 minutes. Treysen Eaglestaff, Amar Kuljuhovic, Mambourou Mara (So.), Deng Mayar (Sr.), and Brian Mathews (Sr.) were the returners in rotation.
Three transfers completed this eight-man rotation. Mier Panoam (So.) who is the little brother of Bentiu Panoam, UND’s director of basketball operations, showed out. The transfer guard from Tulane started for the team, scoring 16 points while filling up the stat sheet.
Dariyus Woodson (Jr.), who transferred from Tyler Junior College started and logged 26 minutes. Former NAIA standout, Reggie Thomas (Jr.), came off the bench and played 17 minutes.
“Our three new transfer guys have just really brought a different kind of energy to us,” Head Coach Paul Sather told the Grand Forks Herald. “Mier has that ability, personality-wise and enthusiasm-wise, but Dariyus has that same kind of bubble to him. Reggie’s light switch is always on, and it’s always a little more business. But he’s smiling all the time. He’s fighting every day, but really good energy from those guys.”
Senior forward Deng Mayar transferred to UND last season. He played his first game against outside competition in 10 months. He had 10 points and two rebounds in 18 minutes. He played in 13 games last year for the team before being ruled academically ineligible for the spring semester.
Head Coach Sather is heading into his sixth season with the team. He is 61-94 during his tenure.
“I think these people are excited about this group,” Sather told the Grand Forks Herald, “And I think they have a lot of reason to be. We’ve got a really tough non-conference schedule. We have some really good travel, some really good teams, and it’s going to be fun to see the growth that we have.”
UND freshman forward George Natsvlishvili turned down an offer to play in junior college last year staying in Europe. This decision caused Natsvlishvili to play a year over his allowed gap year. Natsvlishvili is required by the NCAA to sit a year-in-residence.
UND has appealed this ruling. If the decision is not overturned, Natsvlishvili will have to sit the season out.
Redshirt freshmen Zach Kraft, Ryan Erickson, Matthew Bothun, and Anthony Doppler all registered minutes. Greyson Uelmen (Fr.) also got a couple of minutes in the exhibition.
UND men’s basketball will play their first three games of the season on the road. The Hawks’ first home game of the season will be on November 14 against Utah Valley at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Elijah Andrews is the Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
