February 5, 2026

THIS WEEK'S PREVIEW
MADISON, S.D. - The Dakota State University Trojan men's basketball team (16-5 overall record, 11-5 Frontier Conference) comes home this weekend as they continue their Frontier Conference action at DSU Fieldhouse (1302 N. Washington Ave.).  The Trojans host a pair of teams from Montana, starting on Friday evening versus Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (19-3 overall record, 14-2 Frontier record, No. 23 in the latest national poll).  Madison Regional Health System will be the game day sponsor on Friday evening, tipping off at 7 p.m.  White-Out is the theme to the basketball game.

On Saturday, DSU hosts Carroll (Mont.) (15-6 overall record, 13-3 Frontier record).  Notice the game time is set for 8 p.m.  Hawaiian is the theme for Saturday's contest, as well as Law Enforcement Appreciation Night.

QUICK HITS
*Dakota State's remaining regular season schedule features alternating weekends of home and away contests.  After finishing their North Dakota road games undefeated last weekend, the Trojans return home this weekend, then travel to Montana next weekend, and then play their final home regular season contests on Feb. 20-21.

*Dakota State is 8-2 record at home this season and secured their home court winning record season for the third time in the past four seasons.  The Trojans closed their North Dakota's season trip with a 4-0 record last weekend.

*The Trojans are fourth in the Frontier Conference standings prior to this weekend's contests with 11-5 league record.  DSU hosts the top two teams in the conference--the leader No. 23 ranked Rocky Mountain (Mont.) at 14-2 record and Carroll (Mont.) who is tied for second with Bellevue (Neb.), each with 13-3 record.

*DSU reached double digit conference wins for the second time since the 2015-16 season (10-4 record in the former North Star Athletic Association).
 

Scoring Offense	76.5	75.1	85.4
Scoring Defense	65.6	63.0	80.0
Scoring Margin	10.9	12.1	5.4
Field Goal %	.478	.491	.501
Field Goal Def. %	.443	.420	.501
Free Throw %	.724	.691	.756
Rebounds Per Game	32.1	35.5	.29.9
Rebounds Margin	4.1	7.0	-4.8
3-point FGs Made Per Game	8.8	7.5	8.2
3-point FG %	.380	.380	.390
Assists Per Game	12.6	13.6	17.3
Blocks Per Game	2.3	1.9	0.7

SCOUTING THE BATTLIN' BEARS
Rocky Mountain (Mont.), located in Billings, Mont., is coached by Danny Neville. He is in his first season at the helm at RMC, coming from Langston (Okla.) where he was an associate head coach during the 2024-2025 season.

Rocky Mountain has an overall record of 19-3 and carries a nine game winning streak coming into this weekend. RMC's last loss was back on Dec. 20, 2025, an overtime defeat against (13) Hope International (Calif.) in Chandler, Ariz.

Rocky Mountain is third in the Frontier Conference in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting 38 percent of their attempts. RMC also ranks second in scoring defense at 65.6 points per game, and fourth in field goal percent defense at 44.3 percent

Friday's contest is the second Frontier Conference meeting for DSU and RMC this season. Dakota State dropped a low scoring affair against Rocky Mountain in the first meeting this season, 48-45. DSU is 0-2 all-time against RMC.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING SAINTS
Carroll (Mont.), based in Helena, Mont., is guided by second-year head coach Dan Pearson. The Fighting Saints are in a tie for second place in the Frontier Conference coming into this weekend with a record of 13-3. Carroll is coming off of a pair of home victories, completing a season sweep of (20) Montana Tech (61-59) and Montana Western (80-60).

Carroll has scored at least 80 points in three of their last four Frontier Conference contests. Carroll ranks first in the Frontier Conference in scoring at 85.4 points per contest. The Fighting Saints also lead the league in 3-point field goal percentage (39 percent) and free-throw percentage (75.6 percent).

Dakota State and Carroll will be meeting for the second time in program history on Saturday evening. The Trojans dropped the first ever meeting in the series in Helena by a score of 82-81, losing on a last second layup.

LAST TIME OUT
Dakota State made their final trip to the state of North Dakota last weekend, wrapping up their North Dakota contests with a 4-0 record (defeated Bismarck State and Dickinson State in early January).  The Trojans traveled to Valley City State (N.D.), held in Wahpeton, N.D., due to water damage on VCSU's home court.

The Trojans shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half and held the Vikings to 29 percent to fuel to a 37-24 halftime lead.  Dakota State never looked back in the game, rolling to an 84-60 victory over VCSU.  DSU outscored Valley City State 47-36 in the final twenty minutes of the game.  

Brayden Pankonen led the balanced Trojans' offense attack with 19 points on his 7-of-13 field goals.  Lukas Morgan also posted a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds (10 defensive rebounds).  He contributed five assists.  Nathan Ojukwu added 12 points and five rebounds.  Ryan Beckwith scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds.  Jonathan Campbell scored eight points, while Kaleel Sutton-White scored seven points off the bench.  

Dakota State built a commanding first-half lead and withstood a late Mayville State's push to secure an 81-70 conference victory at Lewy Lee Fieldhouse to close the month of January.  The Trojans completed their conference season series sweep over the Comets for the first time since the 2013-14 season.  

The Trojans raced to a 22-7 lead in the first half and held a 44-30 halftime lead.  DSU extended their scoring run in the early second half to lead as many as 24 points.  The Trojans maintained their double digit lead for the remainder of the game, except with less a minute to go (79-70 with less than 50 seconds remaining).

Morgan and Ojukwu each poured in 26 points for DSU.  Morgan grabbed nine rebounds, while Ojukwu added eight rebounds.  Pankonen scored 10 points and stole the ball three times.  Nolan Segner scored seven points.  

NAIA HOOPS REPORT NAMED DSU'S MORGAN AS SOPHOMORE OF THE WEEK
Dakota State's Lukas Morgan (forward) was selected by the NAIA Hoops Report as the Sophomore of the Week.  The Trojans are coming off from their 2-0 record for the weekend in North Dakota, defeating Valley City State and Mayville State.  

Morgan is coming off from another big week for the Trojans, averaging 22.5 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game.  He posted double-double of 19 points (8-of-15 field goals and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line) and collected 13 rebounds (10 defensive rebounds) in DSU's 84-60 win over Valley City State (N.D.).  He also contributed five assists in the game.

Morgan followed up with 26 points (11-of-24 field goals and 2-of-2 free-throws) and pulled down nine rebounds in Trojans' 81-70 win at Mayville State.  He dished out two assists.

Morgan was 19-of-39 from the field (48.7 percent) and hit all five free throws for the week.  He also averaged 3.5 offensive rebounds and 7.5 defensive rebounds per game.  Morgan is averaging 15.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for DSU this season.

FOR THE RECORD IN TROJAN MEN'S BASKETBALL
Dakota State is seeking for their most conference victories in men's basketball program history.  The previous high was 12 conference wins in the former Dakota Athletic Conference-10 (DAC-10) in 2004-25, the season when the Trojans fell short by one possession at home in the conference postseason's semifinals at DSU Fieldhouse (DSU also fell short for the second conference automatic bid to the national tournament in the same game).

Dakota State is seeking for their first 20-plus victories since the 2012-13 season, where they finished with a school record 25 victories.  That season, the Trojans advanced to the NAIA national quarterfinals, despite playing three games in three consecutive days.  DSU won the Association of Independent Instituations (A.I.I.) conference tournament to advance to the national tournament in Point Lookout, Mo.

The Trojans had secured their winning season for the second time in the past three seasons (17-13 overall record in 2023-24 season).

Dakota State is one win shy of joining the school record's Top 10 for most victories  Besides their school record 25 victories during 2012-13 NAIA national quarterfinals run, the second most victories came in twice with 20 wins during the 1990-91 and 1966-67 seasons.  The 2015-16 and 1991-92 squads produced the fourth most victories in school history with 19 wins, including an appearance to the national tournament for both squads highlighted by a historic 1992 Final Four run by the Trojans.

2025-26 DSU Trojan Men's Basketball Team Leaders

• Points/Points Per Game: Nathan Ojukwu – 401 points (19.1 points per game)
• Field Goal Percentage: Taine Mitchell – 59.6 percent (31-of-52 field goals)
• 3-point Field Goal Percentage: Ryan Beckwith – 43.3 percent (29-of-67 3-point field goals)
• Free-Throw Percentage: Brayden Pankonen – 83.0 percent (39-of-47 free-throws)
• Rebounds: Nathan Ojukwu – 168 rebounds (8.0 rebounds per game)
• Assists/Assists Per Game: Nathan Ojukwu – 58 assists/2.8 assists per game
• Steals/Steals Per Game: Brayden Pankonen – 42 steals/2.0 steals per game
• Blocked Shots: Aiden Jensen – 13 blocked shots (0.8 blocks per game)