Jan. 17—GRAND FORKS — UND senior guard Garrett Anderson leaped into a South Dakota passing lane for a steal.
He gathered the ball, raced down the court and flew to the rim. Anderson brought down a resounding two-handed dunk and turned to the nearest fan section at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which was filled with Fighting Hawks football players.
Anderson roared in celebration with the raucous contingent of fellow UND athletes. His dunk extended the Hawks’ already healthy second-half lead.
A statement dunk for a statement win.
“They were jumping up and hyping me up,” Anderson said. “It was cool.”
The Hawks locked up third place in the Summit League standings with a 96-80 victory over the Coyotes, who fell to fifth (10-10, 2-3).
Hot off the heels of Thursday’s home loss to St. Thomas, UND improved to 4-2 in conference and 10-12 overall.
“We were pretty upset after that loss,” redshirt freshman guard Greyson Uelmen said. “They shot it really well, and we knew we could’ve played a lot better in that game, too. So we came in very hungry, wanting to get this win.”
The Hawks have consistently excelled in the turnover margin this season, and Saturday afternoon was no different. They forced 13 turnovers and committed just six.
UND managed to combine those extra possessions with its second-best field goal percentage (54.8%) and 3-point percentage (46.2%) of the season against South Dakota.
“It’s just fun to see some of these guys really playing with some confidence and not feeling like they’re trying so hard and it’s not happening easy,” UND coach Paul Sather said. “Now, I think they’re focused more on what can we be doing defensively, and rebounding, and then they’re letting offense find them a little bit, and they’re not worried about offense.”
The Coyotes struggled to stop the Hawks from the jump. Uelmen got the offense started early, shooting 6-for-9 in the first half for 16 points.
When South Dakota switched to a zone defense late in the first half, Uelmen responded by nailing a quick triple, his fourth of the game.
“When you’re shooting it good, you can go inside, outside,” Uelmen said. “It just makes the game a lot easier.”
Uelmen ended with a career-high 26 points, shooting 10-for-17.
“I liked his mentality defensively,” Sather said. “I’m just a big believer, when you’re playing your butt off on defense, it kind of sets your mind right for how hard you’re playing on offense and the pace you play with. He made some really nice plays.”
Uelmen said: “Felt good, it was nice to see some shots go in. Just nice to get the win on top of it. … I was feeling it to start the game for sure. Came out aggressive, wanted to play good tonight.”
UND led by as many as 14 in the first half. The Coyotes, though, closed with an 8-2 run and went into the second half trailing 49-41.
The Hawks got right back to work in the second half. They ripped off a quick 11-3 run for a 60-44 advantage and South Dakota trailed by double digits for the rest of the game.
“I was impressed with how we came out to start the half,” Sather said. “We just started getting separation.”
Anderson finished with 17 points, second only to Uelmen, shooting 7-for-14.
From Nov. 28 to Dec. 21, Anderson scored more than 10 points just once. He shot less than 40% in each game during that stretch.
In the seven games since, Anderson has scored at least 10 points six times. He has shot 45% from the field since Jan. 1.
“I guess I’m just flowing,” Anderson said. “I feel good while I’m out there playing, my shot feels good. I struggled a little bit shooting threes in the beginning of the year, but I know I’m a good shooter, so just staying consistent with the work and everything, just not stopping. It feels good to get on that.”
Senior guard Eli King rounded out a strong performance from the Hawks’ starters, scoring 15 points with some acrobatic finishes at the rim.
UND still managed to find production from its bench. Freshman guard Anthony Smith III scored 15 points and junior forward George Natsvlishvili collected 14.
“The guys we started I thought really brought some awesome energy early,” Sather said. “When you can go to your bench and even almost increase it — I felt like when those guys came in, Reggie (Thomas), Anthony, Guga, Wylee (Delorme) gets a couple offensive boards and is just flying around — it just brings so much more to the guys that are starting the game. … When their numbers was called, our bench was awesome tonight.”
Next up on the conference slate for the Hawks is a three-game road trip. It starts on Thursday in Tulsa, Okla., against Oral Roberts.
“Those are some far road trips, so it was good to get a statement win before that,” Anderson said.
