Game 776 - Cal Poly at North Dakota State

November 11 at Scheels Center in Fargo, ND
Mid Coast Sports Network

A ton of great guard play in this one with NDSU point guard Vinnie Shahid leading the way in a 74-67 victory.

Shahid, a preseason first-team all-Summit League member, scored 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Junior Ballard led Cal Poly with 20 on 8-of-13 shooting. Another Cal Poly guard, Jamal Smith, was impressive as well, getting to the rim and knocking down some nice mid-range jumpers to add 17 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting.

Cal Poly had a 17-0 run that stretched from the end of the first half to the first few minutes of the second and led 38-30 on a Ballard 3-pointer. A lot of back-and-forth followed with the hosts taking the lead for good on Tyree Eady's jumper at about the 8 1/2-minute mark.

Game 12 - North Dakota State at Illinois

November 15 at Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, IL
ESPN

It sure looked like Illinois was headed for its first 0-2 start since 1923-1924 when North Dakota State went up by as much as 14 points in the first half.

But graduate transfer Mike Thorne Jr. scored 21 points with seemingly all of them coming on a nice set of moves from about four feet away and freshman reserve Jalen Coleman-Lands scored 15 points (12 in 2nd half) in Illinois' 80-74 victory.

Illinois went on a 16-3 run and took the lead for good at 60-57 on Thorne's three-point play with about 5 1/2 minutes to play in the game.

Meanwhile, the visiting Bison went from shooting 51 percent in the opening half to 31 percent-shooters in the second.