NDSU Basketball Early Season Recap

Well the men's team has completed most of their non-conference schedule and the women are mostly finished with theirs as well, so lets recap!

Men's Basketball
The Bison men had quite the rough early schedule. They had multiple games cancelled to start the year via other teams. They did get to play in the Golden Window Classic down in Lincoln, NE. Down in Nebraska they went 0-2, losing to Nevada and Nebraska. Then they lost to 11th ranked Creighton. All three of these games were very ugly losses, did not look like the Bison knew their identity as a team yet.
When they traveled to 7th ranked Kansas, they came out strong and led the Jayhawks for 35 minutes. However you cannot win a game by playing well for only 3/4 of the game. They lost in the final 5 minutes, going cold down the stretch allowing Kansas to go up on a 9-0 run to end the game. This game stung a little because the Bison had a strong chance to upset a top-10 team in the country on a national stage. But this game them quite a bit of steam and a chip on their shoulder.
Going into the Dakota Showcase at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, SD the Bison were hoping to collect a couple wins and stand firm with a new identity. They went 2-1 in Sioux Falls, losing only to South Dakota State by 2 in a nail-biter. They then beat South Dakota by 7 points and beat North Dakota by 1 point. This showed how the Bison have seemed to find their identity as a team and how they can still keep up with the conference in a rebuilding year.
Now the Bison men hope to find another win when they travel to yet another power 5 program in TCU. Tipoff is on December 22nd at 8 PM on ESPNU.

Women's Basketball
The Bison women have enjoyed a great start to their year! Unlike the Bison men, the Bison women have already played 3 games at home and 1 away. The Bison opened the year beating Northern Iowa very convincingly by almost 20 points over in the Shac. Then they beat UW-Green Bay twice in a row. They then traveled to Iowa State and were handed their first loss of the year against the powerful Cyclones.
They now will play their last 2 games of their non-conference schedule as they return home to play North Dakota on December 16 and finish their non-conference schedule when they visit Kansas on December 21.

​Go Bison!