ISU Hosts North Dakota Saturday in Holt Arena

Game Notes | Audio | Live Stats | Video | Tickets

POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team hosts North Dakota on Saturday, January 9, at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena.  To follow the game live online fans can log onto isubengals.com for live audio, video and stats.

North Dakota leads the series 6-1. UND has won five straight. ISU's only win was a nonconference 76-63 victory on Dec. 3, 2011 in Pocatello.

North Dakota is 6-8 and 1-2 in league. UND is led in scoring by Quinton Hooker's 22.3 points a game in conference. He is shooting 50 percent from the field and three-point line. Geno Crandall is averaging 12.3 points a game in conference. North Dakota is averaing 70.7 points and giving up 73 while shooting .457 from the field. Overall, Hooker is averaging 18.7 points a game and 5.5 rebounds. North Dakota is averaging 37.9 rebounds and Derek Bernstine leads the way at 8.4 a game. North Dakota shoots .634 percent from the free throw line.

Notes From the 83-78 Win Over Northern Colorado
- Geno Luzcando had a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds. It wsa the first double-double of his career.
- Geno Luzcando was a perfect 10-for-10 from the field. It was the best shooting percentage in a game in ISU history and tied for the seventh best percentage in Big Sky history.  
- Ethan Telfair tied his career-high from the free throw line as he was 11-13.
- Novak Topalovic had a career-high nine rebounds.
- After getting out rebounded in every game but one, ISU has now out rebounded its opponents in four straight games.  The +11 differential in Thursday's win over Northern Colorado tied for the sixth best rebounding margin by a Bengal team since the 2012-13 season.
- The starting lineup of Kyle Ingram, Geno Luzcando, Ethan Telfair, Ben Wilson and Ali Faruq-Bey combined to score all but six of the 83 points.

Telfair To the Line
Ethan Telfair has gotten to the free throw line eight times or more in seven games this season. In the last three games he has gone 31-36 from the line. For the season he is the teams top free throw shooter at .825 percent (80-97).

Wilson Making an Impact
Ben Wilson has been efficient for the Bengals when he is out on the court. He is averaging 6.8 points a game and a team-best 5.6 rebounds. He is playing 30.8 minutes, shooting .478 percent from the field (the third best percentage on the team behind Kyle Ingram's .544 and Geno Luzcando's .526) and he has 32 assists to 20 turnovers. In the last five games he is averaging 6.6 points and 7.4 rebounds a game.

Battle of the Boards
ISU is averaging 35.3 rebounds a game, the most since averaging 37.7 during the 2005-06 season. On the flip side of things the Bengals are giving up 38.8 rebounds, the most the 2003-04 team gave up 40.4 boards a game. Over the last four games the Bengals have improved on the boards as they are out rebounding teams 38.2 to 33.8.

Improved Defense
After the loss to Utah Valley, the Bengals were giving up 83.8 points a game.  Since the UVU game  ISU has only allowed 72.3 points a game.  In the six game stretch ISU has held its opponents to 69, 64, 67, 79, 78 and 77 points.