Bison Men Take Five-Game Road Losing Streak to Centenary, Oral Roberts

THIS WEEK:  The North Dakota State men's basketball team looks to snap a five-game road losing streak this week when the seventh-place Bison (11-10, 5-6) play last-place Centenary (0-23, 0-11) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, at the Gold Dome (3,000) in Shreveport, La.  NDSU also is scheduled to play fourth-place Oral Roberts (9-14, 6-5) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Mabee Center (10,575) in Tulsa, Okla.

KFGO-AM 790 in Fargo and Bison Radio Network affiliate KFYR-AM 550 in Bismarck will carry Thursday's game live beginning at 6:40 p.m. with Scott Miller calling the action.  KFGO will have solo coverage of Saturday's game at Oral Roberts beginning at 6:40 p.m.  Live stats and a live audio stream will be available for both games on GoBison.com, and live video will be available by subscription to NDSU All Access.

North Dakota State plays four of its next six games on the road beginning this week before closing out the regular season at home against South Dakota State on Friday, Feb. 25.

THE SERIES:  Thursday will be the ninth meeting between North Dakota State and Centenary dating back to 2007-08.  NDSU leads the series 8-0 after winning 76-60 in Fargo on Jan. 8.  The Bison won 73-62 in Shreveport last year. ... Saturday will be the 11th meeting between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts dating back to 1967-68.  The series is tied 5-5 after NDSU's 80-74 win in Fargo on Jan. 6.  NDSU is 1-3 in Tulsa.  The Bison beat ORU 75-72 to win the 2009 Summit League title in the final game of the regular season.

ABOUT CENTENARY:  The Gents are 0-23 overall and 0-11 in The Summit League after losing 76-66 at IPFW and 100-70 at Oakland last week.  Centenary, which will drop to Division III next season, has lost 28 straight games since its 80-78 win at IPFW on Feb. 4 last year.  Maxx Nakwaasah leads the team with 11.7 points per game and is second with 5.7 rebounds per game, and Jeron Trotman is second in scoring (9.1 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.7 rpg).  Adam Walsh (High Point, 2000) is in his first year as head coach after working as an assistant coach on the Centenary staff for three years.  He is also an assistant athletic director for compliance and game management, and supervises the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

ABOUT ORAL ROBERTS:  The Golden Eagles are 9-14 overall and part of a three-way tie with South Dakota State and UMKC for fourth place in The Summit League with a 6-5 record after losing 88-85 at Oakland and 80-77 at IPFW last week.  Leading scorer Dominique Morrison has played in the last four games after missing four games, including the NDSU game in Fargo, with a knee injury.  Morrison leads four players in double figures with 18.4 points per game, Warren Niles is second with 14.1 ppg, Damen Bell-Holter is third in scoring (13.7 ppg) and first in rebounding (7.3 rpg), and Steven Roundtree is fourth in scoring (11.8 ppg) and second in rebounding (6.4 rpg).  Head coach Scott Sutton (Oklahoma State, 1995) has a 213-153 record in his 12th season at Oral Roberts.

CARLSON NAMED CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  North Dakota State forward Eric Carlson was named Summit League men's basketball co-Player of the Week by the league office on Monday, Jan. 31.  Carlson averaged 25.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in a pair of home wins.  He scored 19 points in the 87-75 win over Southern Utah had career highs of 32 points and 12 rebounds in the 89-88 double-overtime win against UMKC.  Carlson had 17 points in the first half against UMKC to lead the Bison to a four-point halftime lead.  He grabbed a season-high five offensive rebounds in the game, including a key putback with seven seconds left in the second OT that broke an 85-85 tie.  Carlson assisted Michael Tveidt's game-winning layup with 1.7 seconds left with a lob pass of a sideline inbounds play.  He had three assists and two steals in the game.  Carlson was the first NDSU player to score 30 points in a single game since Ben Woodside scored a tournament-high 37 points against Kansas in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament. Carlson has scored in double figures three straight games after being limited to single digits in six of the previous seven contests.  He shared the award with IPFW guard Frank Gaines, who came off the bench to get 19 points and seven rebounds in a win over Centenary and followed with 19 points and four blocks in a win over Oral Roberts.  Gaines shot 70.6 percent from the floor and was 11-for-11 from the foul line.

BISON SUFFER BIGGEST BLOWN LEAD IN FIVE YEARS:  North Dakota State led by as many as 18 points late in the first half of the 84-80 loss to IPFW on Thursday, Jan. 20.  That was the biggest lead NDSU has blown in a loss since Dec. 3, 2005, when the Bison blew a 23-point lead in a 91-87 overtime loss at Idaho State.  That came four days after blowing a 16-0 lead at Green Bay in a 60-55 loss on Nov. 29, 2005.

HOME AND AWAY:  North Dakota State lost its fourth and fifth straight road games on its last road trip to Western Illinois and IUPUI, but the Bison won seven straight at home before back-to-back losses to IPFW and Oakland.  The Bison are 8-2 at home but just 1-8 on the road this year with the only road win coming in the Summit League opener Dec. 4 at South Dakota State.  Here's a comparison of NDSU's stats at home and on the road this year:

BISON 30th NATIONALLY IN 3-POINT SHOOTING:  North Dakota State is 30th nationally in 3-point shooting (.389) in the NCAA Division I statistics through Sunday, Jan. 30.  NDSU was ranked 10th in the nation before going 1-for-14 against Oakland.  The Bison have shot at least 40 percent from the arc in 10 of their 21 games but have been under 40 percent the last five straight games.  Michael TveidtMike Felt has 26 made and a .473 percentage.  The Bison also rank among the top 50 in two other categories.  NDSU is 36th in scoring offense with 76.8 points per game and 40th in field-goal percentage shooting 47.3 percent. has 33 made 3-pointers and a .478 percentage, and

BISON IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE STATS:  North Dakota State ranks fourth in The Summit League in scoring offense (76.1 ppg) and eighth in scoring defense (75.0 ppg) in the league-only statistics through Saturday, Jan. 29.  The Bison are sixth in field-goal shooting (.467), sixth in 3-point shooting (.333), third in free-throw shooting (.742), and third in total rebounds (34.3 rpg).  Individually, Michael Tveidt is ninth in scoring (15.8 ppg) and tied with TrayVonn Wright for 10th in blocks (0.6 bpg), Mike Felt is sixth in 3-point shooting (.500), and tied for seventh in 3-pointers per league game (2.0) and, Marshall Bjorklund is eighth in offensive rebounds (2.4 rpg) , Taylor Braun is 10th in field-goal shooting (.567), and Freddy Coleman is tied for third in steals (1.6 spg).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK FELT TIES TWO RECORDS:  North Dakota State guard Mike Felt was named Summit League men's basketball Player of the Week by the league office on Monday, Jan. 10, after shooting 11-for-17 from the 3-point line and 10-for-10 at the free-throw line in home wins over Oral Roberts and Centenary.  Felt scored a career-high 22 points in the 80-74 win over ORU.  He went 4-for-6 from the arc and made eight straight free throws in the final 65 seconds to seal the win.  Felt was 7-for-11 from the 3-point line and scored a game-high 21 points in the 76-60 win over Centenary.  He tied the NDSU single-game record for most 3's made in a game held by five other players, and tied the single-game record for free-throw percentage going 10-for-10 against ORU.  It was the first career award for Felt, who entered the week averaging 3.5 points per game and 9-for-20 from the 3-point line.

TVEIDT 16th ON SCORING LIST:  Senior forward Michael Tveidt became the 28th NDSU player to reach 1,000 career points against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 13 when his third of five 3-pointers gave the Bison an 11-2 lead at the 14:51 mark of the first half.  Tveidt ranks 16th in school history with 1,281 points through 112 games.  The last player to reach the milestone was guard Mike Nelson in 2007-08.

RECORD HOME CROWD:  North Dakota State set a single-game home attendance record on Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Fargodome when a crowd of 10,709 turned out to see the Bison and the University of North Dakota meet for the first time as Division I opponents.  That passed the estimated crowd of 8,500 against UND on Jan. 31, 1981, and the exact count of 7,002 against South Dakota State on Feb. 9, 1996.  It was the first meeting between the longtime Division II rivals since the teams split a home-and-home North Central Conference series in January and February 2004.  UND leads the series 156-127.

MOST OFFENSIVE BOARDS IN 11 YEARS:  North Dakota State's 25 offensive rebounds in the 82-75 win at South Dakota State were the most for an NDSU team since a Division II game against Montana State-Billings on Dec. 11, 1999.  The Bison converted 28 second-chance points and had a 55-37 advantage in total rebounds.  NDSU freshman TrayVonn Wright had nine of the offensive boards and his 15 total rebounds were the most by a Bison player since February 2008 when Brett Winkelman hauled in 15 caroms in a home win over Western Illinois.

TVEIDT NAMED CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  North Dakota State forward Michael Tveidt was named Summit League co-Player of the Week on Nov. 15 by the league office after averaging 18.7 points, 3.7 rebound and 2.0 assists per game in the Basketball Travelers Invitational.  Tveidt shot 53.8 percent from the floor including 69.2 percent from the 3-point line (9 of 13).  He scored a game-high 27 points in the five-point overtime loss to Oregon and also led the Bison with 18 points and a career-high five 3-pointers against UC Santa Barbara.  South Dakota State guard Nate Wolters shared the award after averaging 18.0 points and 6.0 assists in road wins over Eastern Illinois and Iowa, including career highs of 25 points and nine assists at Iowa.

OVERTIME GAMES:  North Dakota State is 6-4 in overtime games since 2007-08, including a 1-1 mark in OT this year.  NDSU lost 97-92 in this year's regular-season opener at Oregon but defeated UMKC 89-88 in double overtime on Jan. 29.

FIRST LOSING SEASON:  North Dakota State won at least 16 games each of its first five years as a Division I program, but the Bison are coming off their first losing season after an 11-18 finish last year.  It was the first sub-.500 team since 2001-02 under first-year head coach Tim Miles and only the fifth since 1972-73 when coach Marv Skaar took over the Bison program.  NDSU's 18 losses were the most since 1971-72 and the second most in school history.  The Bison finished sixth in The Summit League with an 8-10 record and lost to Oral Roberts in the Summit League quarterfinals, 65-64 in overtime.

TVEIDT, CARLSON PRESEASON PICKS:  North Dakota State's top two scorers from a year ago were both named to the Preseason All-Summit League team by a vote of the league's coaches, sports information directors and media.  Senior forward Michael Tveidt was picked to the first team and junior forward Eric Carlson was picked to the second team.  Tveidt was NDSU's leading scorer with 15.7 points per game last year and ranked fifth in The Summit League.  Carlson was NDSU's second leading scorer (14.8 ppg) and led the Bison with 6.9 rebounds per game.  He ranked sixth in the league in scoring and rebounding.

BISON PICKED FOURTH IN SUMMIT:  North Dakota State was picked to finish fourth out of 10 teams in The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's coaches, sports information directors and media.  Defending champion Oakland received 29 of 34 first-place votes, Oral Roberts was picked second with three first-place votes, and IUPUI was third with two top votes.  South Dakota State, IPFW, Western Illinois, UMKC, Southern Utah and Centenary rounded out the fifth through 10th spots in order.

THE SUMMIT LEAGUE:  This is North Dakota State's fourth season in The Summit League after spending three seasons as a Division I independent.  Other members are Centenary College in Shreveport, La.; Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI); University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC); Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.; Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.; South Dakota State University, Southern Utah University; and Western Illinois University.  Centenary will drop to Division III next season and the University of South Dakota will join to keep the league at 10 teams for 2011-12.  Southern Utah will leave to join the Big Sky Conference in 2012-13.

THE COACH:  Saul Phillips (Wisconsin-Platteville, 1996) is in his fourth season as head coach at North Dakota State with a 64-48 record.  Phillips directed North Dakota State to its first Summit League championship and NCAA Division I tournament appearance in 2009, and was one of 10 finalists for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year award.  A Bison assistant for three seasons, Phillips came to NDSU from Wisconsin, where he was director of basketball operations for three years under Bo Ryan.  He was an assistant for two seasons each at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Lake Superior State and a graduate assistant at Wayne State in Nebraska for one year.

BISON FEEDBACK:  Join North Dakota State head men's basketball coach Saul Phillips and head women's basketball coach Carolyn DeHoff for "Bison Feedback" from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday nights on KFGO-AM 790 in Fargo.  Bison play-by-play voice Scott Miller hosts the call-in program and takes your questions for the coaches all season long.  Bison Feedback can also be heard live on GoBison.com.