The USD men’s and women’s basketball teams have two North Central Conference home games this weekend, starting with tonight’s women’s game at 6 p.m. in the DakotaDome against Minnesota-Duluth.
The Bulldogs, who look to be underdogs on both the men’s (8-12, 1-4 NCC) side and women’s (4-15, 1-4 NCC) side, most league games are never a cake walk, regardless of record.
The NCC-leading Coyote women (17-1, 3-0 NCC), who are winners of 15 straight games, could tie for the best start of any USD women’s team if they can pick up two wins this weekend.
USD head coach Chad Lavin coached the 1983-84 team that set the consecutive wins mark. That team went on to finish 22-7 with an NCC title.I don’t think the women will have many problems with UMD, but you never know and basketball can be a funny game.
The USD men get UMD at 8 p.m. The Bulldogs are the last team to beat the Coyotes on their home floor when they came into Vermillion Saturday, Feb. 17 and bounced USD 83-75.Again, USD looks to be the better team on paper, but you never know. The Coyotes match up zone defense and their balanced offense should cause the Bulldogs problems.
Jordan Nuness is a guy the Coyotes will have to keep an eye on defensively. Nuness leads the NCC with 79 made 3-point field goals.
Hope to see you at the games tonight, but if you can’t make it, check back with the volanteonline.com and this blog for stories and opinions on tonight’s games.
- – Vance Janak