As we enter the second half of the Summit League basketball season, things are very different on the men's and women's sides.
The men's race is completely open, with South Dakota State and North Dakota State leading the conference with three losses each. That was after North Dakota State went to Brookings and defeated the Jacks 74-73, marking the Bisons' fifth overtime game of the season.
This was a much-needed win for NDSU, which currently sits a half-game back in third place and could immediately jump into the Summit title conversation with Saturday's win at UND.
Meanwhile, the NDSU women fell short against SDSU on Thursday night, losing 65-58 to the Jacks, giving them their 20th consecutive loss in the series. This game was different from the previous 19 games, with NDSU tied at 1:45. SDSU won the game shutout 8-1.
The Bison are in third place in the league standings, with Saturday's big game in Grand Forks looming to stay in the top half of the conference race.
On the football side, new head coach Tim Polasek has expanded his staff by hiring Jake Landry as offensive coordinator. Landry joins Will Johnson and Devin Klieman as NDSU's new coaching staff for the 2024 season.
Listen to past episodes of the Kolpack and Izzo podcast on Inforum.com. Also available on Google Play and Apple ITunes.
Dom Izzo is WDAY-TV's sports director. He started working at WDAY as his weekend sports anchor in 2006 and was promoted to sports director in 2010.
