Who | Utah Tech (5-5, 2-0 WAC) vs North Dakota (7-4, 0-0 Summit)
When | Saturday, Dec. 16 – 7 p.m. MT
Where | Burns Arena – St. George, Utah
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 The Fan Sports Network
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UniteTheFamily / #IntoTheStorm
 
Scouting the Fighting Hawks
North Dakota, coming off an 87-36 victory over NAIA side Waldorf, has a 7-4 record through 11 games this season. With three players averaging double-digit scoring per game the Fighting Hawks have out-scored opponents by exactly six points per game, while shooting 45.2% from the field, 29.9% from deep and 69.3% from deep.
 
UT and UND have matched up three times in program history, with the Trailblazers posting a 2-1 record dating back to the first matchup on Dec. 2, 2020, in St. George. Last season, North Dakota took a 67-52 victory in Grand Forks.
 
Coming Back
Utah Tech enters Saturday's game coming off a five-point loss to the CSUN Matadors on Monday. After taking a lead into halftime the Matadors opened the second half on a 19-3 run before a Noa Gonsalves three-pointer ignited a 10-1 run across 2:16 of game play; Utah Tech would tie the game twice in the final three minutes of play but CSUN got hot down the stretch to seal the result.
 
Gonsalves scored 18 to lead the team as Hamed Olayinka blocked five shots.
 
Five's a Party
The Trailblazers had five different players score in double-figures against the Matadors: Gonsalves' 18 points led the team while Tanner Christensen (13), Aric Demings (13), Jaylen Searles (11) and Olayinka (10) made large contributions on the offensive end.
 
Monday's game marked the first time since Dec. 9, 2022 that Utah Tech has had five or more players finish with double-figure scoring totals.
 
Season-High
Noa Gonsalves' 18-point performance tied a season-best mark for scoring, having poured in 18 points in a 65-53 victory over Utah Valley on Dec. 2. With five games this season of 11 or more points, the Lehi, Utah, native is now one of five Trailblazers averaging 10 or more points per game, shooting 43.3% from the field on his way to 10.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
 
Get That Outta Here
Hamed Olayinka's five blocks on Monday was significant both in his career and Utah Tech's program history. It was just the 10th time in UT's NCAA era that a Trailblazer posted five or more blocks in a game and was the first in the Division-I era, with the last five-plus block performance coming on Feb. 22, 2019, when Julien Ducree swatted six shots against Regis.
 
The performance also tied a career-high for the 6-9 forward, who finished with five blocks against Cloud County Community College on Feb. 22, 2023, while playing as a Garden City Broncbuster.
 
Pass the Ball
Aric Demings had another quality performance against the Matadors on Monday, finishing with 13 points, five rebounds and a season-high seven assists. The Trailblazers' starting point guard in every game this season, the Desoto, Texas, native scored 16 points and four assists against Idaho in the team's previous game and now holds averages of 10.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and a team-leading 3.4 assists per game.
 
With Demings leading the assist column, Utah Tech has posted back-to-back 17 assist performances as a team, both of which set and tied a season-best mark.
 
Efficient
Jaylen Searles battled foul trouble against the Matadors and played a season-low 16 minutes, but that didn't stop the 6-8 forward from contributing on the offensive end, as he scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting from the field and 3-4 from deep. Having started in every game this season, Searles has finished with double-digit scoring in five games so far this year, including a season-high 20 in a victory over Lake Erie on Nov. 18, and the 3-4 performance from deep was the third time he has made at least three triples in a single game.
 
Clutch Time Buckets
After scoring just two points in the first half against CSUN, Tanner Christensen found his offense down the stretch of Monday's game. In the final 11 minutes of play, the 6-10 forward/center scored 10 points, tying the game on two occasions with a dunk just before the four-minute media timeout and again when he connected on a pair of free throws with less than two minutes remaining.
 
With a 7-8 performance at the free throw line, Christensen set a season-high makes at the charity stripe.
 
Return to Action
David Elliott made his return to action against the Matadors on Monday, playing 12 minutes off the bench and helping spark that Trailblazer comeback. He scored his first points of the game with 3:33 on the clock in the second half, connecting on a wing triple that cut the CSUN lead to just two points; he finished with three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in 12 minutes.
 
Career High
Caleb Stearman has played his way into the rotation this season, making his ninth appearance of the season against CSUN on Monday after seeing action in six games all of last year. Against the Matadors, he set a new career-high with seven points on a perfect 3-3 shooting. Soon after drawing charges on consecutive possessions in the first half, the 6-7 Stearman got loose on a fast break and made a highlight-reel play, catching a Searles lob and finishing an alley-oop through contact with two hands to put the Trailblazers ahead, 25-23, with 7:20 remaining in the first half.
 
Stearman has played an average of 6.8 minutes in each of his nine appearances, scoring in five games and shooting 8-10 (80%) from the field.
 
Moving Out
After attempting a season-low 10 three-pointers in a victory over California Baptist last week, Utah Tech finished 8-22 (36.4%) from range against Idaho before connecting on a season-high 10 threes across a season-high 30 attempts against the Matadors; the Trailblazers are shooting 37.2% from deep this season across 7.1 made threes per game.
 
Win the Tip
Though the saying goes, "correlation does not imply causation," opening tipoffs have been big for the Trailblazers this season. Having entered Monday's game 5-0 in games when Christensen won the tipoff, CSUN's victory was the first time this season that UT did not win a game in which it won the opening tip.
 
What's Next
The Trailblazers have one more matchup before an extended break; after hosting North Dakota on Saturday, Utah Tech will face Colorado on the road (Dec. 21, 7 p.m.) before a nine-day break for the holidays culminates in one last non-conference matchup at home against FIU.