No. 18 DWU resumes GPAC play on the road versus Doane
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University men’s basketball team returns to Great Plains Athletic Conference play to kick off 2021 with a matchup versus Doane University at 4 p.m. today in Crete, Neb.
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team returns to Great Plains Athletic Conference play to kick off 2021 with a matchup versus Doane University at 4 p.m. today in Crete, Neb.
On Wednesday, the No. 18 Tigers used a strong second half to upend in-state rival Dakota State University by a score of 69-60 in Madison, S.D. The road win over the Trojans gave DWU the season sweep over DSU while also propelling Dakota Wesleyan to its 11th-straight victory, including an undefeated mark during the month of December.
Today's matchup highlights the second meeting between Dakota Wesleyan and Doane as the Blue and Gray defeated Doane 93-88 at the Corn Palace on Dec. 6. Nick Harden (Chicago, Ill.) paced the Tigers with a season-high 26 points while Koln Oppold (Sioux Falls, S.D.) secured one of his four double-doubles on the season. The 6-4 junior forward finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, helping secure the five-point victory.
Through 12 games, Oppold leads DWU in rebounding averaging nine boards a game while collecting 108 rebounds thus far. His 108 total rebounds ranks 12th nationally and fourth amongst the conference ranks. One of four Tigers averaging double figures, the Sioux Falls native is also totaling 13.3 points per contest.
Finishing out 2020, Matt Wilber's squad leads the conference in scoring defense holding opponents to 66.7 points per outing. Dakota Wesleyan also leads the GPAC in blocks per game and 3-point field goal percentage defense at 4.5 and 28.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Tigers of Doane rank top-10 nationally in both total steals and 3-point field goals made with 117 and 137, respectively.
The game can be streamed online at https://www.youtube.com/user/doaneathletics/live2 with live stats available at http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=doan.
