Oral Roberts vs. North Dakota State LIVE Thursday Night

This Summit Conference match up sees the fifth ranked team in the conference traveling to the third ranked team. In a conference that has not earned an at-large NCAA bid since 1991, Oral Roberts and North Dakota State will be aiming to better their postseason conference tournament seedings.

North Dakota State comes in to the contest winners in just two of their last seven. Despite a 4-5 conference record, the Bison of North Dakota State have won only seven of their nineteen games this season. They have lacked senior leadership with guard Josh Vaughan being the only senior putting up impact numbers. His 14.9 points per game and 4.1 assists per game have led an inconsistent offense that is averaging 71.8 points per game. The Bison will look to involve their forwards early using 6’7” junior Michael Tveidt and 6’6” sophomore Eric Carlson. Tveidt is leading the team with 15.5 points per game while Carlson also contributes 15.5 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Oral Roberts will return home to Mabee Center Thursday evening where they have impressed with a 6-2 home record. They will possess an inside size advantage over the Bison and will look to exploit it early on with Senior center Kevin Ford. Ford has started all but one game this season and leads the team averaging a shade under eight rebounds per game. The 6’9” Ford will be part of a big man trio that also includes 6’10” junior Javier Nasarre and 6’10” freshman Damien Bell-Halter. Dominique Morrison and Michael Craion lead Oral Roberts in both assists and points scored and will look to inspire the Golden Eagles from their starting forward positions.

This Summit Conference contest will be shown live on Fox College Sports Central and both sides will look to boost their conference resumé and NCAA chances. Oral Roberts will be hoping to complete the season sweep over North Dakota State as they survived a 65-59 victory the last time these rivals met on January 2nd.