Arena #139: Betty Engelstad Sioux Center - North Dakota vs. Oral Roberts

About 75 minutes north of NDSU is the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, where we would catch our second game of the day, and complete the D1 schools in the state, with a Summit League game between the Fighting Hawks (nee Sioux) of North Dakota and the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.  The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center is a beautiful brick basketball facility constructed right next door to its larger, and more well-known, neighbor, Ralph Engelstad Arena, where the multi-time national champion North Dakota hockey team plays.  Inside the seating bowl of the arena, the sideline seats are pretty nice and contain probably 25-30 rows from floor to ceiling, including a small luxury booster club area in the middle of the rows right at halfcourt for the most generous supports of Fighting Hawks sports.  The baseline seating, on the other hand, leaves a bit to be desired with the 8-10 rows of temporary bleachers looking a bit tired.  The student section is supposed to be behind one of the baskets, but on this cold, winter night I could probably count the students in attendance on both my hands.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from this matchup as I admit, I wasn’t too familiar with either team’s roster and skillsets.  Turns out, the game was quite competitive for the majority of the night, especially in the first half.  The Fighting Hawks got hot from behind the arc in the second half and were able to pull away for a comfortable 11 point win over the Golden Eagles, sending the home fans happy into the frigid Grand Forks evening.

Main entrance to the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, ND

Certainly more people than I anticipated for this matchup on a cold, North Dakota night.  Though the student section was quite sparse...

Opening tip between the Fighting Hawks (nee Sioux) and the Golden Eagles

Tussle for the ball under the basket during the first half

Arena #138: Scheels Center - North Dakota St. vs. South Dakota St.

When you have to get to 351 schools in 49 states to complete Mission 351, there’s little wins that you have to get excited about; like when you can complete an entire state in one weekend as was the case in visiting North Dakota for two games.  Mission 351 requires planning, but also some luck when trying to see games in outposts like North Dakota where the weather can be 40 and sunny or 10 degrees and a blizzard on a given weekend in winter.  Thankfully, the weather from Wisconsin to North Dakota was perfectly clear for 95% of the drive for these 2 games. Game 1 of the North Dakota doubleheader was at the Scheels Center in Fargo for a Summit League matchup between the North Dakota St. Bison and the South Dakota St. Jackrabbits.  Confusingly, Fargo boasts the Scheels Center where NDSU basketball plays and the Scheels Arena where the local minor league hockey team plays so when we went to the Scheels Arena to start with to find a pee wee hockey game going on, we knew we might be in the wrong place.  The Scheels Center is across the street from the Fargodome, where the multiple times national champion NDSU football team plays and is dwarfed in size by said dome.  Scheels Center is a new facility that probably seats around 3-4,000 people and provides the fans with a great place to watch a game of basketball.  I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the building as well as the fan support, though there were also a number of Jackrabbit fans who had made the drive up from Brookings, SD to Fargo.  SDSU was the clear favorite in this game, but the Bison were hot early and often from three in building a 9-point lead at halftime as the majority of the Jackrabbits outside of star forward, Mike Daum, struggled to score.  The second half was much of the same for both teams as the Bison had a 7 point lead at the final media timeout when we had to leave to make it to Grand Forks for the second game of our North Dakota doubleheader.  Frustratingly, it turns out the Jackrabbits had the Bison right where they wanted them as SDSU buried a three from halfcourt at the buzzer to come back and steal a victory in Fargo and I can’t believe I missed what would have been only the second buzzer beater I’ve seen along the journey!

Outside the Scheels Center in snow covered Fargo in mid-February 

Impressive facility on the campus of NDSU with a boisterous crowd for this cross-state contest

Opening tip between the Bison and Jackrabbits

Future 3,000 career point scorer Mike Daum rises up for 3