MANHATTAN, Kan. – Shooting struggles for North Dakota (2-5) were costly in an 84-42 to loss to Kansas State (3-2) at Bramlage Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. It was the biggest loss in the series against the Wildcats.
North Dakota shot 29.3 percent (17-of-58) from the floor, 9.7 percent (3-of-31) from deep and 38.5 percent (5-of-13) from the charity stripe. The Fighting Hawks only made one triple and one free throw in the opening 20 minutes. Comparatively, the Wildcats hit 60.3 percent (35-of-58) of all their shots. KSU recorded advantages of 46-16 in points in the paint and 25-8 in points off turnovers.
Paul Bruns was the top scorer for UND, pouring in 16 points and recording a team leading three steals.
Bentiu Panoam was the only other Hawk to net double figures with 10, while pulling down five rebounds and dishing out two assists. Mitchell Sueker was next in scoring with eight, while sharing a team-high five boards and two assists with Panoam.
Markquis Nowell led all scorers with 18 points, while leading the Wildcats with five steals and sharing the team-lead in assists with Mike McGuirl, dishing out five assists apiece. Mark Smith had a double-double, cleaning the glass with a team-high 10 rebounds to go with 11 points.
Panoam had the opening four points for the Hawks, knocking down the first bucket of the game and then a driving layup to regain the lead at 4-2 after a beautiful behind the back pass from Tsotne Tsartsidze. Kansas State claimed the lead at 7-6 two shots later and increased its lead to 17-13 by the under-12 media timeout.
Over the next 7:27, the Kansas State lead ballooned to 33-15, powered by a 16-0 run that saw North Dakota go scoreless over that 7:27. Sueker put an end to the Wildcat run with a made free throw and KSU responded right away with a made triple. Bruns cut the deficit to 36-20 after a 5-0 run of his own, but Kansas State made a layup in the final minute to head into the break with a 38-20 lead.
At intermission, Bruns was the leading scorer for UND with 11 points, including the only three pointer UND hit in the first half. North Dakota was 1-of-15 from deep for 6.7 percent and struggled at the line, going 1-for-5. Overall, the Hawks hit 30.0 percent of their shots (9-of-30), while the Wildcats shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) from the floor and 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from beyond the arc. Nowell led KSU at intermission with 10 points.
Sueker hit a hook shot to trim the deficit to 38-22 in the first 29 seconds of the second half, but then the Wildcats used a 31-7 run to build its lead to 40 at 69-29. Reid Grant made the first points of his collegiate career to end the run at 69-31 with just over five minutes left. Brian Mathews battled when he was in the game and went 4-for-4 at the charity stripe in the final five minutes, while Bruns made his 16th point with a made three. Panoam made the final two buckets for UND with a pair of jumpers in the final minutes to bring the final tally to 84-42.
North Dakota will return home on Tuesday to battle the Presentation Saints at 7 p.m. (CT) inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Game Recap: Men’s Basketball | 11/28/2021 6:32:00 PM | Tyler Wells, FightingHawks.com
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