Tetons vs UTTC Men’s Basketball Pre-Game Primer

After their most complete game, albeit in a loss to Science, Williston State is back home at The Well for a chance to topple United Tribes.

The second game of the Teton-Thunderbirds double header will tip off at 7:30 pm CST.

The men's teams for the Tetons and Tribes have already met once this season in Williston. That two teams were separated by three points at half time, before the Tunderbirds outscored Williston State by 20 (51-31) in the second half enroute to a 96-73 loss.

UTTC comes into the season with a 15-6 overall record and 9-4 in the Mon-Dak, and is currently on a four game win streak.

The Thunderbirds are scoring 103.2 points per game on the season, while shooting 49.6% from the field and 35.1% from deep.

Famous Lefthand, who leads the team in scoring with 23.9 points per game, will not be in action while out dealing with a broken wrist on his shooting hand. DK Middleton (16.6 ppg), Sylvester Union (11.6 ppg), Tristin Davis (11.2 ppg) and Jesse White (11.1 ppg) are also averaging double digits.

Williston State comes into the season with a 4-16 record overall in the season an 2-11 in the Mon-Dak Conference. The Tetons are averaging 64 points per game this season while shooting 38.4% from the field and 28% from the perimeter.

The Tetons are led in scoring by Shaheed Muhammad with 17.9 points per game, with Abiodun Adedo (14.4 ppg) also scoring in double figures.

Three Things to Watch for:

1. Falling In Love With The 3: Williston State has started to have success behind the arc, but when the outside shooting runs cold, they have a propensity to jack up a few more threes before attacking inside. With the lightning quick Tribes team in town, that can turn into instant offense the other way.

2.Breaking Out: Wilson Rankin has continued to take huge leaps over the last couple of weeks. Along with being able to take ball handling pressure off of Muhammed, his willingness to attack the basket and ability to hit from long range makes him a weapon defenses need to pay attention to, which prevents defenses from packing the paint.

3. Wing Defense: The Teton's 2-3 matchup zone was suffocating in the first half against Science. In the second half, the Wildcats started swinging the ball more into the corner, making it a mad scramble for corner defenders. If Tribes starts out shooting hot, those defenders will have plenty of work to do.

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