Denver (1-10, 0-4) vs. North Dakota State (7-7, 7-2)
Scheels Center, Fargo, North Dakota; Friday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota State looks to extend Denver’s conference losing streak to six games. Denver’s last Summit League win came against the Western Illinois Leathernecks 69-63 on Feb. 29, 2020. North Dakota State lost 82-78 in overtime at North Dakota in its most recent game.
TEAM LEADERS: North Dakota State’s Rocky Kreuser has averaged 15.1 points and 6.9 rebounds while Sam Griesel has put up 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds. For the Pioneers, Jase Townsend has averaged 19.9 points and 4.1 rebounds while Sam Hines Jr. has put up 10.5 points and 6.4 rebounds.
SUMMIT LEAGUE IMPROVEMENT: The Bison have scored 71 points per game and allowed 63.9 points per game in conference play so far. Those are both substantial improvements over the 67 points scored and 72.8 points allowed per game to non-conference opponents.TERRIFIC TOWNSEND: Townsend has connected on 31.1 percent of the 61 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 7 of 22 over his last three games. He’s also made 91.2 percent of his foul shots this season.
COLD SPELL: Denver has lost its last three road games, scoring 57.3 points, while allowing 85 per game.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Pioneers have recently gotten buckets via assists more often than the Bison. North Dakota State has an assist on 28 of 74 field goals (37.8 percent) across its previous three games while Denver has assists on 29 of 73 field goals (39.7 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Denver has attempted the second-most free throws among all Summit League teams. The Pioneers have averaged 19.6 free throws per game and 22.3 per game over their last three games.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
___
This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
