NORTH DAKOTA at TOLEDO
DATE: Monday, Dec. 21 | Noon CT
SITE: Toledo, Ohio (Savage Arena)
RADIO: 100.3 FM, 740 AM (Jack Michaels)
Listen online here
TV/VIDEO: ESPN3
LIVE STATS: UTRockets.com
TWITTER: @UNDWBasketball
Read the full notes here (PDF)
QUICK JUMPERS
*The Fighting Hawks had a pair of 20-point scorers (Fleecs and Zander) at North Dakota State, the second time this season UND has recorded the feat (last at Montana).
*Monday's matchup will be the fourth meeting between North Dakota and Toledo, last playing on Jan. 1, 2011. The Rockets lead the all-time series, 3-0.
*Toledo would finish 29-8 in 2010-11, defeating Southern California in the WNIT Championship, 76-68.
*UND's last game in Ohio was against the New Year's Day meeting with Toledo at Savage Arena.
*The University of North Dakota is 2-6 against Mid-American Conference teams, earning its last victory on Dec. 20, 2018, over Western Michigan, 62-50.
*The Fighting Hawks recorded their best defensive effort against the Bison on Wednesday night, holding NDSU to a .323 field goal percentage and 74 points.
*Monday's contest will be UND's final game of the 2020-21 non-conference season.
*North Dakota's 70.6 points per game through five games this season is the team's best offensive average since 2016-17 when the Fighting Hawks won the Big Sky Conference Regular Season (74.4 PPG).
ON TAP
Following its best defensive performance of the season against its rival North Dakota State, the University of North Dakota will wrap up its non-conference against Mid-American Conference power Toledo. The two teams will tip at noon Central on ESPN3.
FLEECS IS IN GOOD COMPANY
In five games this season,
Julia Fleecs has been off to a hot start, averaging 18.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, ranking her in the Summit League's top-four in each category. While
Lexi Klabo (2015-19) accomplished similar feats in The Summit League, she never scored 20+ points three times in the first five games. No Fighting Hawk has ever accomplished the feat. The last North Dakota women's basketball player to record three 20-point games in the first five games was former Fighting Sioux All-American Kierah Kimbrough in 2008. En route to averaging 20.4 points per game that season, Kimbrough scored 24 points at Montana State (Nov. 16), 20 points at Wyoming (Nov. 20), and 21 at UC Riverside (Nov. 28). Fleecs and Kimbrough are the only players since 2006-07 to record the feat.
THE NEED TO KNOWS ABOUT THE ROCKETS
*Toledo is 4-1 this season with a 1-1 record in the Mid-American Conference, suffering its only loss of the season to Kent State on Dec. 13, 61-57.
*Toledo was selected to finish seventh in the MAC's Preseason Coaches Poll, coming off of a 21-12 season in 2019-20.
*In the past 12 seasons under Head Coach Tricia Cullop, Toledo is averaging a Mid-American Conference best 21.3 wins a season, winning 20-games six times in that span.
*Toledo is 144-47 (.754) in the last 12 seasons at Savage Arena, leading the MAC in attendance, ranking in the top-30 nationally in the category in eight of the last nine seasons.
*Sophia Wiard and Quinesha Lockett are a dynamic scoring duo for Toledo, averaging 19.8 and 18.2 points per game. Their 38.0 points per game, surprisingly, only ranks them third in the MAC in scoring tandems.
*UT is coming off a 77-74 win over Duquesne on Dec. 18, making 30-of-63 field goal attempts (.476) in the process.
*The MAC has sent Buffalo and Central Michigan to the NCAA Tournament in the last two seasons, with both programs advancing to the Sweet-16 in 2018.
NEXT UP
The University of North Dakota will open Summit League play on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3 when it hosts Kansas City at The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
