Men's Basketball Prepares for Final Home Games of the Season

vs. NDSU (WATCH | STATS | TICKETS)
vs. North Dakota (WATCH | STATS | TICKETS)

Starting Five

Kansas City returns home for its final two home games of the year at the Swinney Center, where it has posted a 6-6 record on the season. Since the 2016-17 season, the Roos have posted a combined 9-3 record in their final two home games of the regular season.
Prior to Saturday's Senior Day game against North Dakota, the Roos will honor Sam Martin, who has been a part of the program for four years. Last season, Martin made nine starts and averaged 11.8 minutes per game, both career-highs. He also holds the distinction of being the last Roo to dish 10-plus assists, passing 11 dimes against Kansas Christian on Dec. 19, 2020. That mark is tied for the fourth-most assists in a single game in program history.
Kansas City enters the week having lost three of its last four games, its second such stretch of the conference season. The last time the Roos dropped three-of-four, they responded by going on a season-long three-game win streak.
Freshman Jevin Sullivan earned the first two starts of his college career last week, scoring a season-high-tying five points against St. Thomas. Sullivan became the sixth freshman this year to suit up as a member of the first five for KC (Precious C. Idiaru, Promise C. Idiaru, Jeff Ngandu, Tyler Andrews, Emmanouil Dimou).
The Roos are looking to find an offensive rhythm, averaging 7.5 assists per game over the past four contests after averaging 11.1 assists in the nine games prior to that.

NDSU Notes

North Dakota State has lone claim of third place in the Summit League standings at the moment, winning both contests last week.
The Roos and Bison battled to a 75-73 KC win on Jan. 21, with Shemarri Allen dropping 28 points and RayQuawndis Mitchell adding 23.
North Dakota State owns a 13-8 advantage over the Roos in the head-to-head series, but KC has had the edge as of late, winning three-straight games.
NDSU is one of the better offensive teams in the conference, ranking third in field goal percentage, scoring offense and turnovers per game.
Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg make up NDSU's one-two punch, averaging 17.2 and 14.2 points per game, respectively.

North Dakota Notes

North Dakota has made a move up the Summit League standings recently, winning three-straight to jump to eighth place.
UND hit 18 three-pointers, the most-ever by a KC opponent, in the first meeting between these two teams on Jan. 19, a 77-60 UND win.
The Roos own a 7-3 edge over the Fighting Hawks all-time, including wins in the last three games played in Kansas City.
UND gets the most production off of its bench out of any team in the Summit League, averaging 25.63 bench points per game.
Matt Norman leads the Summit League in three-point percentage, knocking down 45.1% of his triples and ranking sixth in the nation.

University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics