The Elon Phoenix and the North Dakota Fighting Hawks meet in college basketball action from the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Sunday afternoon.

Elon Picks Up First Win

The Elon Phoenix come into this one fresh off of a 79-76 win over East Tennessee State last time out to improve to 1-1 on the year. Max Mackinnon leads the Phoenix across the board with 15.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 3.5 APG while Nick Dorn has added 11 PPG. Zac Ervin and TK Simpkins each have 10.5 PPG this season to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Elon so far this season with Simpkins adding 4.5 RPG and a team-high 3.5 SPG as well this season. As a team, Elon is averaging 78.5 PPG on 49.2% shooting from the field, 45.2% from behind the arc and 68.8% from the foul line this season.

North Dakota Gets Blasted By Iowa

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks come into this one after starting their year with a 110-68 loss to Iowa in their last matchup. B.J. Omot led the Hawks with 24 points on 10 of 21 shooting with a pair of threes as the lone double-digit scorer for North Dakota in the losing effort. Deng Mayar led the Fighting Hawks with 7 rebounds and Amar Kuljuhovic also had 7 rebounds in 18 minutes off of the bench. Tsotne Tsartsidze had 9 points with 6 rebounds and Eli King added a team-high 4 assists as well in the defeat. As a team, North Dakota shot 40.3% from the field, 16% from behind the arc and 58.8% from the foul line in the loss.

Chris’ Pick

I’m leaning towards North Dakota here. Being at home helps for one, but I think starting the year with Iowa and then taking a step down against Elon here probably works well for North Dakota here. Elon did well to beat ETSU but I still have questions about the makeup of this Phoenix team. This will be a good proving spot for Elon to show me something but I’m sticking with North Dakota in this one.