Th Norse and the Miners are opening their seasons this afternoon in the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

Both rosters are completely revamped after last season. This marks the first game in the MWC for the Miners. These two have never met before.

Tip-off will be around 1:30 CST.

Pre-Tipoff

As with all neutral court games, this one is delayed due to the previous game running long. Tipoff should occur around 2:30.

First Half Thread

NKU Starting 5:

• Willie Foster
• Eric Acker
• Will Shortt
• BJ Davis-Ray
• Noah Pagotto

UTEP Starting 5:

• Augusto Cassia
• Youssouf Traore
• Reese Miller
• Cam McDaniels
• Leif Moeller

17:20 – Noah Pagotto and Eric Acker are navigating UTEP’s doubles well early on, giving the Norse early numbers advantages, they’ve built an early 9-5 lead.

13:19 – NKU winning with physicality early. The doubles aren’t sticking, the drives aren’t getting through, and UTEP is trying to finesse their way out of it.

11:13 – Willie Foster is showing some incredible play finishing abilities early. A good shot that forces the opposition to overcommit to him and physical finishing chops at the rim have him up to 11 points less than 9 minutes in.

9:30 – Pagotto’s doing all the little things right. You can make an argument he’s been the team’s best playmaker so far, his positioning is perfect, and he’s winning the physical battle in the post.

7:31 – UTEP is hitting its threes, NKU isn’t. That’s the only reason the Miners are staying in this one. Norse have to close out a bit better and hit a couple shots from beyond the arc.

6:09 – Miners now 5/11 from deep, and they’re not hitting high-difficulty contested threes, they’re wide-open shots. Norse need to keep a body on the UTEP shooters.

5:14 – UTEP takes the lead on a 4-0 run, timeout Norse. NKU now overcommitting on the perimeter and surrendering free layups. Need to find that balance.

2:38 – The Miners began to claim the physicality advantage for about a minute, but the Norse clamped right back down before the under 4. Review on the way for a potential flagrant on an elbow thrown in the paint by UTEP. Ultimately deemed a common foul

0:59 – Donovan Rakotonanahary picks up his third foul. UTEP’s Cason also has three. Foul trouble will be something to monitor out of halftime.

0:26 – Davis-Ray also picks up his third. Norse will need to play incredibly disciplined out of the half.

0:00 – Silky-smooth jumper by Acker to give the Norse a 4-point lead at the break.

Halftime

The Norse got outshot badly from deep and still took a 4-point lead into the break. In some ways, that’s a good thing. If UTEP shoots a little colder after the brerak, NKU will have a huge advantage. At the same time, the reason UTEP shot so well was due to poor rotations by the Norse, which will be the biggest thing NKU will need to shore up out of the break.

Both teams have a few players in foul trouble at halftime, discipline early in the half will dictate the momentum of this one heavily.

Foster needs more minutes. 15 isn’t insignificant by any means, but his gravity was doing wonders for NKU when he was in, and you could feel his absence when he wasn’t. Every minute he can handle, he needs to be playing.

Second Half

17:24 – For those following via live stats, nothing appears to have updated since the start of the half, up to and including the players in the game according to the scoreboard.

16:05 – Norse already up to 5 team fouls in the second half. With several players already in foul trouble, they need to avoid the whistles.

14:40 – Thunderous dunk by Acker off a bad UTEP roatation gives the Norse a 6-point lead before the under-16.

14:04 – Cason picks up his 4th personal for UTEP, NKU extends its lead to 9 in the meantime.

11:59 – Foster now up to a staggering 19 points and 8 rebounds, he’s by far the best player on the court. Norse hold a 59-52 lead at the under-12.

11:33 – Controversial offensive foul call forces Rakotonanahary out of the game with his fourth personal.

10:35 – UTEP’s Cassia gets a wide-open layup and NKU calls an immediate timeout. Looked and sounded like Davis-Ray may have just been benched for his effort on that play.

10:18 – Acker waves Foster off and proceeds to drive into a triple team for a turnover. Leads to a pair of free throws on the other end that bring the Miners back within 3.

9:43 – McDaniels picks up his 4th for UTEP.

8:30 – Three consecutive offensive boards lead to a critical Pagotto bucket.

7:23 – Miners having two players on 4 personals will be critical the way this game is being officiated. Feels like we can’t go a full trip up and down without a whistle. 65-60 Norse with Pagotto on his way to the charity stripe.

5:04 – A pair of free throws off of a Foster foul cut NKU’s lead to 3.

4:52 – Pagotto officially has a double-double with 14 and 10, Foster a rebound away with 23 and 9. Pagotto has also done a really nice job of staying vertical when Miners get downhill on him.

3:33 – Tolliver’s first made shot of the game is a big one, he hits a three to put the Norse up 6.

3:13 – NKU has been lethal on free throws this afternoon. 22/23 from the line is making the difference.

2:18 – Pagotto picks up his 4th. Foster has completed his double-double with 23/10.

1:51 – Pagotto extends the lead to three possessions with a free throw following a late shot clock offensive board.

1:26 – Cassia fouls out diving for a rebound, Pagotto sinks his free throws to extend the lead to 9.

0:55 – Acker to Tolliver oop extends the Norse lead to 11 and all but seals this one.