Denver at North Dakota State, MidcoSN/espn3
The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to the Summit League today as the surging Denver Pioneers travel to Fargo to take on the conference-leading North Dakota State Bison in a pivotal game. Just a couple weeks ago, the Bison appeared to be on the verge of running away with this conference. However, losing 2 of their last 3 games, including a home loss to South Dakota, has ND State sitting at 8-3 in league play (16-8 overall), just half a game ahead of 8-4 South Dakota and one game up on 7-4 Denver. The Bison did pick up a win earlier this week, at home against South Dakota State, behind a 26 point and 12 rebound effort from AJ Jacobson. Jacobson had been held to a total of 12 points and 10 rebounds combined in his team’s prior two games, both of which they lost. The Bison will need him and his teammates to step up this afternoon if they want to end the day still in first place in the league standings.
Denver currently sits one game out of first pace and at 15-9 overall. The Pioneers have won four of their last five games, including a three point home overtime win over Fort Wayne last time out (last Saturday). Daniel Amigo had 22 points in that win while Thomas Neff added 21. Amigo had 28 points and 12 rebounds in an earlier home win over North Dakota State. Also keep an eye on Joe Rosga who is averaging 15.8 points per game, 10th in the conference. If the Pioneers can get the road victory this afternoon, they will not only tie the Bison in the conference standings, but hold the tiebreaker over them with the season sweep. Although the Pioneers would still need to catch South Dakota, they have a chance today to put themselves in great position for one of the top seeds in next month’s Summit League tournament.