Thioune leads South Dakota against North Dakota

Published Mar. 1, 2024 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

South Dakota Coyotes (12-18, 5-10 Summit League) at North Dakota Fightin' Hawks (17-13, 9-6 Summit League)

Grand Forks, North Dakota; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: South Dakota plays the North Dakota Fightin' Hawks after Lahat Thioune scored 31 points in South Dakota's 88-68 victory over the North Dakota State Bison.

The Fightin' Hawks have gone 8-5 at home. North Dakota has a 4-1 record in one-possession games.

The Coyotes have gone 5-10 against Summit League opponents. South Dakota ranks second in the Summit League with 25.0 defensive rebounds per game led by Thioune averaging 6.1.

North Dakota is shooting 43.9% from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points lower than the 44.8% South Dakota allows to opponents. South Dakota averages 7.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.1 more made shots on average than the 6.8 per game North Dakota gives up.

TOP PERFORMERS: Treysen Eaglestaff is shooting 38.1% from beyond the arc with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Fightin' Hawks, while averaging 14.1 points. B.J. Omot is shooting 43.4% and averaging 17.8 points over the last 10 games for North Dakota.

Thioune is averaging 14.3 points and 9.6 rebounds for the Coyotes. Kaleb Stewart is averaging 18.3 points over the last 10 games for South Dakota.

LAST 10 GAMES: Fightin' Hawks: 7-3, averaging 76.7 points, 37.7 rebounds, 10.9 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 45.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.2 points per game.

Coyotes: 3-7, averaging 81.4 points, 33.2 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 3.3 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 48.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 84.3 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.