UMD Basketball Teams Ready for NSIC Tournament Play

The men will open up on Saturday morning while the women get started Sunday night. 

DULUTH, Minn. – Both UMD basketball teams are spending this week shoveling out their driveways and getting ready for this weekend’s NSIC Tournament down in Sioux Falls.

We begin with the women who come into the playoffs having won two of the past three conference tournament titles. The Bulldogs say they are focusing on the success they’ve had all year especially on the defensive side of the ball, where they are tied for 14th in the country in points per game allowed.

“We know how it feels to go home without that trophy and to put your heart on the line so I think we’re all just really motivated to get out there and get ready and also hopefully get another shot at St. Cloud State again, too,” forward Brooke Olson said.

“We’ve gotten a lot better. And we talk about that all the time, we want to play our best basketball at this point of the year and I don’t think we’re there yet. So that’s really exciting for us because I think our potential is still really high so our goal is to figure out where that is and how to get there,” head coach Mandy Pearson added.

On the men’s side, UMD earned the top seed in the North Division after missing the tournament last season. And even as the vast majority of the team is making its first trip down to the Sanford Pentagon for the playoffs, the Bulldogs are still one of the teams to beat.

“We took a day or two to celebrate how good of a regular season we had but then we also have got to realize that that was one of our goals. We have more team goals ahead of us, it shows what we’re capable of and what our future could hold if we focus on the right things and keep playing together,” guard Drew Blair said.

“A lot of it is just maturity. We knew we had talented guys last year. They were going through it for the first time, through COVID and everything so for us, we just wanted to get a year older. Get a year better and our guys have done a great job competing and competing at a really high level all year,” head coach Justin Wieck added.

UMD men will open up their tournament run on Saturday morning while the women get started Sunday night.