THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State men's basketball team will play its only two road games of the month this week. Third-place NDSU (9-6, 3-2) faces third-place IUPUI (9-9, 3-2) at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 13, at The Jungle (1,215) in Indianapolis, Ind., and eighth-place Western Illinois (6-9, 1-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, at Western Hall (5,139) in Macomb, Ill.
THE SERIES: Thursday will be the seventh meeting between North Dakota State and IUPUI dating back to 2007-08. IUPUI has a 4-2 lead in the series after winning 86-74 in Indianapolis and 66-52 in Fargo last year. The Bison are 1-2 in Indianapolis. ... Saturday will be the seventh meeting between North Dakota State and Western Illinois dating back to 2007-08. NDSU has won five straight and leads the series 5-1 after winning 60-55 in Macomb and 63-59 in overtime in Fargo last year. The Bison are 2-1 in Macomb.
ABOUT IUPUI: The Jaguars are 9-9 overall and tied for third in The Summit League with a 3-2 record after losing 85-71 at Oakland and winning 78-74 at IPFW last week. Three starters and nine letterwinners are back from last year's 25-11 team that placed second in the league with a 15-3 record and advanced to the second round of the College Basketball Invitational. The top returner is junior guard/forward Alex Young, who leads the team in scoring (18.3 ppg), rebounding (6.3 rpg), blocks (14) and steals (28). Senior guard/forward Leroy Nobles is the second leading scorer with 15.7 points per game and junior guard Stephen Thomas is third with 10.6 ppg. Head coach Ron Hunter (Miami Ohio, 1986) has a record of 254-214 in his 17th season at IUPUI.
ABOUT WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Fighting Leathernecks have lost five of their last six to drop to 6-9 overall and are tied for eighth in The Summit League with a 1-4 record after losing 68-55 at IPFW and 79-50 at Oakland last week. Senior guard Matt Lander, the leading scorer at 16.7 points per game, is one of nine letterwinners back from last year's 13-17 team that tied for seventh in the league with a 6-12 record. Junior guard Ceola Clark III is the only other player averaging double figures with 10.7 points and 5.0 assists per game. Clark played in six of the first seven games but has not played since the Oral Roberts loss Dec. 2 and has missed eight contests. Head coach Jim Molinari (Illinois Wesleyan, 1977) has a 28-46 record in his third season at Western Illinois and a 251-232 record in his 17th season overall.
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