Kansas City
11-15,5-6Summit League
North Dakota
15-11,7-4Summit League
Roos Set the Tone Early, Snap North Dakota's Winning Streak
2/10/2024 5:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City knocked down 11 threes and forced 11 steals en route to a dominant road victory
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - North Dakota's (15-11, 7-4 Summit) seven-game winning streak began against Kansas City Men's Basketball (11-15, 5-6 Summit) nearly a month ago, but the Roos made sure it would not continue past this afternoon, winning in a 65-47 drubbing of the Fighting Hawks. Kansas City owned the pace and played its style of basketball from the tipoff and never trailed throughout the game.
A season ago, when the Roos traveled to Grand Forks, it was a three-point barrage as UND poured in a program-record 17 triples. The Roos made sure that would not be the story this time around, holding the Fighting Hawks to 3-of-16 shooting from long range. When KC fell to North Dakota at home on Jan. 13, UND's B.J. Omot and Tyree Ihenacho combined for 50 points. The pair were limited today, as Omot was held to 15 points, while Ihenacho scored just four points on 2-of-8 shooting.
The story of Jayson Petty's emergence continued against UND, scoring a game-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting and pulling down seven rebounds. Khristion Courseault went for 14 points and Jamar Brown added 10, while Allen David Mukeba Jr. dropped eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, adding three steals and a pair of blocks.
KEY MOMENTS | HIGHLIGHTS
- 1H - 15:51 / 7-2 | Babacar Diallo found Petty with a cross-court pass in transition, rising and knocking down his first three-pointer in the game to send KC into the first media break up by five. Kansas City held UND to 1-of-7 shooting in the first four minutes of the game.
- 1H - 9:15 / 18-9 | Courseault went on a seven-point tear on his own, starting with a three and then hitting a pair of layups. North Dakota responded with a 10-2 run, drawing within a point.
- 1H - 2:07 / 24-19 | Petty rose up and grabbed an offensive rebound on a Cameron Faas miss, going back up through contact and finishing for an and-one. Petty drained a three on the next trip down, putting KC up by eight.
- 1H - 0:20 / 30-23 | Following a missed free throw by the Fighting Hawks, Courseault took a screen from Mukeba and watched the defenders go under the screen. He made them pay by knocking down a three, and the Roos got a defensive stop on the other end to go up by seven.
- 2H - 17:11 / 39-27 | Kansas City hit three triples to start the second half, one each by Brown, Faas and Diallo. The Roos extended their lead to double-digits and did not allow UND any closer than nine points the rest of the way.
- 2H - 9:58 / 49-34 | The Roos came up with three-straight steals and turned them into three-straight transition buckets, capped by Mukeba jumping into the passing lane and baptizing a defender on a fast break dunk.
- 2H - 6:52 / 55-35 | Courseault dished to Faas for an easy three-pointer, expanding Kansas City's lead to 20 points.
- 2H - 3:08 / 63-41 | Courseault sent another dime into the paint, finding a wide-open Melvyn Ebonkoli for a two-handed dunk that gave the Roos their largest lead of the game and sealed the victory.
STATS TO NOTE
- Kansas City was able to hold UND to 1-of-12 three-point shooting in the first half, holding the Fighting Hawks to 18.8% shooting from deep on the game.
- Petty scored in double-digits for the fourth time in the last five games, averaging 14.2 points per game over that span. This comes after averaging just 3.5 points per game across his first 21 appearances.
- The Roos notched 11 steals on the day, led by Diallo and Mukeba with three each. KC was able to convert 16 UND turnovers into 21 total points.
- After shooting above 50% from the field in just two of the first 24 games this year, KC has now done so in back-to-back games, going 25-of-49 (51.0%) today.
- Kansas City hit 11 three-pointers, making 10-plus in six of the past seven games and 10 times total this year. That ties the program mark for the third-most games with double-digits threes since the 2010-11 season, according to Sports Reference.
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
Coach Marvin Menzies
UP NEXT
Kansas City returns home next week, taking on South Dakota State in the Swinney Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening.
