UND sophomore Quinton Hooker jumps to score last Tuesday against Mayville State at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

It may have been close start to UND’s Tuesday game agaisnt Mayville State, to open the game, but the Green and White made sure it did not stay that way.

In what was the only game played in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in November, the UND basketball team took it to our neighbors to the south, Mayville State, routing the Comets 76-39.

“We always want to come out and put on a show for the crowd, and show them how hard we work,” UND forward Jaron Nash said. “We just want to build our fan base and keep them coming back for the next game.”

While the Betty may have not been packed, the fans that were there got to witness a taste of what this team is striving to do this season.

There were many factors to what led to the blowout victory for UND, the first being solid defense.

The team held the Commets to a 30.4 percent shooting percentage, contesting most of their shots and making it difficult when Mayville State players entered the paint. This was made especially evident when UND limited the Comets to just 15 points the entire second half.

“We just started picking up our defense, and stuck to what we worked on in practice and stuck to the scouting report,” Jaron Nash said. “We got it going, we started getting steals.”

Another factor that led to the ‘W’ was UND’s ability to shift turnovers into points. Mayville State turned over the ball 27 times. UND turned those 27 turnovers into 33 points, almost half of its total score.

“We did a good job of speeding them up and by speeding them up,” UND coach Brian Jones said. “I think it forced their decision making and we were able to knock some balls loose and just beat them to the loose balls. We weren’t gambling by any means. We were in at the right places.”

Defense wasn’t the only thing the team did right.

The final piece that ultimately did the Comets in was the fact that they could not stop UND in the paint.

Players like Jaron Nash, who had his first career double-double, and Josiah Coleman, did not have much trouble producing down low. UND players totaled 30 points in the paint, to Mayville’s 10.

Now that UND has gotten the jitters out of playing in its first home game, the team can focus in on the long road trip ahead.

The Green and White will not see the Betty again until Dec. 19, and, in that time span, the team will face a challenging non-conference schedule, featuring teams such as the University of Minnesota, and in-state rivals NDSU.

While the trip may seem daunting, Jones and his players are doing everything they can to prepare his players for the road to come.

“We know what’s to come,” Coleman said. “But every day we’ve got to take that game and play the hardest we can.”

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].