North Dakota Fightin’ Hawks (11-12, 5-2 Summit League) at Denver Pioneers (9-12, 2-4 Summit League)
Denver; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota visits Denver after Zach Kraft scored 22 points in North Dakota’s 79-62 win against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.
The Pioneers have gone 6-3 in home games. Denver is sixth in the Summit League with 9.0 offensive rebounds per game led by Gabe Oldham averaging 3.0.
The Fightin’ Hawks have gone 5-2 against Summit League opponents. North Dakota ranks seventh in the Summit League with 11.6 assists per game led by Anthony Smith III averaging 2.5.
Denver is shooting 48.6% from the field this season, 0.7 percentage points higher than the 47.9% North Dakota allows to opponents. North Dakota averages 77.0 points per game, 7.9 fewer points than the 84.9 Denver gives up to opponents.
The matchup Saturday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Carson Johnson is shooting 42.3% from beyond the arc with 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Pioneers, while averaging 18.6 points. Zane Nelson is averaging 17.9 points over the last 10 games.
Kraft is shooting 42.9% from beyond the arc with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Fightin’ Hawks, while averaging 8.5 points. Eli King is averaging 14.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pioneers: 4-6, averaging 88.7 points, 31.9 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 4.6 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 49.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 87.1 points per game.
Fightin’ Hawks: 7-3, averaging 81.0 points, 31.5 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 8.5 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 44.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.2 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.