SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – For the first time since the 2014 Men’s Summit League Basketball Championship, the North Dakota State Bison will arrive at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center as the No. 1 seed. The Bison (22-8, 13-3 SL) and defending tournament champions earned that right thanks to an 87-67 victory over Omaha Saturday in Fargo. The win made NDSU co-champions of the regular season along with South Dakota State (22-9, 13-3 SL), who the Bison defeated Thursday to keep their hopes for the top seed alive.
NDSU gets the No. 1 overall seed by owning the tiebreaker between the two teams, who split the regular-season series. The tie was broken thanks to NDSU’s season sweep of South Dakota (20-11, 10-6 SL), who claimed the No. 3 seed with a 77-67 win over North Dakota. The Jackrabbits, who have now won at least a share of the regular-season crown in three consecutive seasons, split the season series with their in-state rivals.
The Bison will play in the first quarterfinal on Saturday night at 6 p.m. CT against Denver (7-23, 3-13 SL), who won a virtual “play-in” game at home Saturday over Western Illinois. The Pioneers, who missed out on the tournament a year ago, secured the final spot by defeating the Leathernecks as both teams entered the day with two league wins.
The Jackrabbits, who have won the postseason event each of the last two times they have been the No. 2 seed (2012 and 2016), will play Purdue Fort Wayne (13-18, 6-10 SL) in Saturday’s second quarterfinal at 8:30 p.m.
KWSN will carry all SDSU men’s and women’s games, and all USD women’s games throughout the tourney, on 98.1 FM, 1230-AM in the Sioux Falls area, KWSN.COM and the FREE KWSN app.
All Coyote men’s games in the tourney can be heard on Q-95.7 FM in the Sioux Falls area.
The Coyotes, who became the third Summit League team to reach the 20-win plateau, will get a rematch with the Fighting Hawks (13-17, 7-9 SL) on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. UND earned the No. 6 seed, which is one spot higher in the field than a year ago.
Oral Roberts (16-13, 9-7 SL) claimed the No. 4 seed with a 72-66 victory over the Mastodons Saturday in Tulsa. The Golden Eagles shared fourth in the league standings with Omaha (16-15, 9-7 SL), but earned the higher-seed thanks to a regular-season victory over NDSU. The Bison swept the Mavericks. The ORU-Omaha matchup will take place Sunday at 6 p.m. CT.
Monday’s semifinals begin with the winner of the NDSU/Denver matchup vs the winner of the Oral Roberts/Omaha clash at 6 p.m. and will be followed by the winners of the SDSU/Purdue Fort Wayne and South Dakota/North Dakota contests at 8:30 p.m. All four quarterfinals and both semifinals air on MidcoSN with an ESPN+ simulcast.
Tuesday’s championship game is set for 8 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPN2 and available on WatchESPN.com.
All men’s and women’s games at The Summit League Basketball Championships can be viewed live across multiple platforms ranging from cable television to handheld devices. The coverage by Midco Sports Network and ESPN platforms marks the 11th consecutive season that both the men’s and women’s tournaments are available in their entirety. MidcoSN’s involved dates back to 2010 while the men’s title game has appeared on ESPN or ESPN2 each of the last 26 years.
Ticket information for the 2020 Summit League Basketball Tournament can be found at www.thesummitleague.org/tickets. Tickets may be purchased at all TicketMaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or in person at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center Box Office.
