UND’s Treysen Eaglestaff drops 40 during Grant Nelson’s return to North Dakota – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS – The UND student section chanted “We want Bama” after the opening tip between the Fighting Hawks and No. 6 Alabama on Wednesday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

Alabama center Clifford Omoruyi turned the ball over in the first 15 seconds. UND guard Eli King scooped the steal, hit a layup and kept the Betty crowd on its feet.

The crowd of 3,085 at the Betty saw a close, exciting fight the rest of the way, where No. 6 in Alabama eventually came out with a 97-90 win over UND.

“It’s like a movie,” UND guard Treysen Eaglestaff said. “It’s like a dream. It doesn’t seem real. Your heart stops for a second. It’s a crazy feeling.”

The Crimson Tide traveled to Grand Forks to give Devils Lake native Grant Nelson one last college game close to home. Nelson turned in a solid performance, scoring 23 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in Alabama’s win.

But Eaglestaff, a Bismarck native, showed up during the win, UND’s first home game against a top-10 team since third-ranked Kansas played UND at Ralph Engelstad Arena in December 2001.

Eaglestaff hit his eighth 3-pointer of the night – a career high – with 21.6 seconds left, giving him 40 points on the night and 1,000 career points at UND.

“Can’t sleep on those North Dakota boys,” said Nelson, who was named the North Dakota Mr. Basketball in 2020, two years before Eaglestaff. “They can really bend. He’s a great player. He’s going to get paid a lot to play basketball.”

The UND junior guard said this game will jump up his list of career best games, overtaking a high school matchup between Eaglestaff and Bismarck High and two of his current UND teammates, Ryan Erikson and Anthony Doppler.

“I usually give (Erikson and Doppler) a lot of crap because I had a 52-point triple-double on them in high school,” Eaglestaff said. “This one can definitely pass the Bismarck High-Century game.”

An Eaglestaff pullup jumper gave UND an 81-80 lead with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left.

King buried a second-chance 3-pointer to tie the game at 85 with 2:15 left.

“We played terrible pretty much the whole game,” Nelson said. “We came in, we didn’t take these guys too seriously. I told them it’s a big game on their home court. We’ve got to come in and take these guys seriously. They’re playing too much. They played great. It’s a great team and I think they’ll win a lot of games.”

A jumper and two made free throws from Nelson gave Alabama a 4-point cushion, 89-85, with 1:25 left.

Eaglestaff’s 3-pointer with 21 seconds left put the Hawks down three, seemingly giving UND a chance to mount an upset. But Nelson’s two last-second free throws sealed Alabama’s victory.

“Good game,” UND coach Paul Sather said. “It’s great to play a game like that, but there’s also a part of me and I know these guys feel like we had some opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of. Let’s not just be content. Let’s keep fighting to get better.”

Nelson’s double-double came in front of about 300 family and friends, most of whom filled the five rows of seats behind Alabama’s bench.

“Grateful to my hometown fans, all the people who have supported me throughout my basketball career,” Nelson said. “It’s great to get back to these guys. That was a great team we played tonight.”

The sell-out crowd at Betty kept the atmosphere alive during the match.

“It was crazy for me,” UND forward Dariyus Woodson said. “I came from (junior college). We had 10, maybe 15 people at the games.”

Alabama coach Nate Oats said the Tide’s scouting report was focused on Eaglestaff. But still, he had “the best individual performance anyone had on us all year, easily,” Oats said.

“In the second half, he just created really tough shots,” Oats said, “and made some of those step-back threes that he had. For him to get 40 on us speaks to how talented he is. He’s skilled. Very good player. Tried to make some adjustments on Eaglestaff (at halftime). It obviously didn’t work because he killed us in the second half.”

Although Eaglestaff’s 40-point performance against the top-10 team was impressive to everyone in Betty, his thoughts after the game focused on the shots he missed, including a pair of close threes in the final minutes of UND’s fourth straight loss.

“It’s a lot of what-ifs,” Eaglestaff said.

Sather was grateful that Oats and Alabama agreed to visit Grand Forks this season. Oats was also free for UND after the Tide’s win.

“They were good,” Oats said. “They were ready to go. Hopefully this gets North Dakota on the run and hopefully it helps their season.”