A Tale of 2 Teams

The NDSU men’s basketball team saw two very different levels of opponents within four days. The Bison opened their season Friday with a decisive 93-47 win over NAIA opponent Valley City State and then traveled Monday to No. 1 Indiana and suffered a humbling 87-61 loss. The Hoosiers were the highest ranked team the Bison have ever faced.

The Bison came out of the gates firing Friday, taking a quick 22-7 lead nine minutes into the game after five straight Taylor Braun points and one of many Mike Felt 3-pointers.

VCSU could not mount any comeback as the Bison played stifling defense and knocked down shot after shot, hitting 59.0 percent of their shots on their way to a 93-47 win.

The Bison looked to bring their hot start and then some Monday as they squared up against the top ranked team in the nation, Indiana.

NDSU challenged the Hoosiers in every facet of the game and were never quite out of it until midway through the second half when Zeller, the preseason player of the year, took over the game.

“We had some fight in us, but not enough,” NDSU head coach Saul Phillips said. “It’s amazing to me, they just kept coming at us in waves. Eventually, they leaned on us and a leg went out.”

The game plan for NDSU was simple: contest every shot and knock down jumpers. That strategy kept the Bison right on the heels of Indiana. With 15:55 left to play, NDSU was only down 48-38. That was when the Hoosiers went on an 8-0 run and NDSU ran out of juice to climb back, losing 87-61.

NDSU (1-1) will return home Saturday for a 5 p.m. matchup with Mayville State.

Quotes courtesy of GoBison.com