GRAND FORKS — UND formed a huddle during Wednesday evening’s pre-game rituals and got rowdy.
Illuminated by the misty green overhead lights and the LED glow of the massive video boards situated on either side of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, they pushed and shoved, hyping each other up for the contest against Crown College.
At the center of it was senior guard Reggie Thomas.
Thomas played a relatively minor role in the Fighting Hawks’ eventual 89-43 over the Polars, a Division III opponent missing its top two scorers.
But the win marked a career-best for Thomas. He scored 10 points, the most in his time as a Hawk.
“It was great,” Thomas said. “I got on the bench and my teammates, (George Natsvlishvili) especially, was like, ‘Okay, I see you, I see you. It was amazing finally passing that 10-point mark.”
Thomas has seen a major increase in minutes over the past two games. The former NAIA star, who’s averaging less than eight minutes per game, played 21 against Montana and 20 against Crown.
“It’s always fun to see Reggie have success, because Reggie is one of those guys that every day shows up and kind of works for it,” UND head coach Paul Sather said. “He’s been a great teammate throughout, even when he wasn’t playing at all.”
That energy is exactly why Thomas found himself at the center of the Hawks’ pre-game ritual.
It’s something they’ve done before every game this season. Last year, it was Dariyus Woodson.
Thomas has assumed the mantle as UND’s hype man, and it’s a role he’s proud to play.
“Last year, one of our old teammates used to do it, and then I wanted to keep it because it hyped us up and got us all connected and just yelling at each other,” Thomas said. “I’m kind of like the hype guy sometimes, and try to pick everybody up, they just allow me to do that. I like to be goofy sometimes as well, too.”
Thomas was still on the court when, near the midway point of the second half, the Hawks started to go deep into the bench.
Freshman forward Karson Ouse scored his first collegiate points. Forward Matthew Bothun scored the first points of his redshirt sophomore season, highlighted by a triple.
“It was pretty fun, seeing my boy Karson finally score, my boy Matt finally hitting the three today,” Thomas said. “It was amazing just being out there and just to play with them, because I get a lot of minutes with them at practice. And seeing them work as hard as they can every day and then finally see it actually go in today was just amazing to see.”
To build up its hefty lead in the first half, UND turned to the usual suspects.
Natsvlishvili followed up a great showing against Montana with another solid night against the Polars, leading the Hawks with 17 points.
Redshirt sophomore Zach Kraft nailed a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen tallied 11 as well, shooting 4-for-7 from the field.
Though UND won comfortably, Sather was frustrated with the lack of effort and consistency at times, especially as the first half wound on.
“These games can be tricky,” Sather said. “I feel like the last few times we’ve played some of these games, we’ve done a really good job of really playing hard every possession. I thought we didn’t have that same kind of compete level. … We weren’t out there kind of bringing that energy, effort, enthusiasm that we want to throughout. I think we were fighting that a little bit.”
The Hawks improved to 4-8 with the win. Next up is Western Illinois, who will travel to the Betty this Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup.
The start of conference play is quickly approaching. UND has four more non-conference games before it begins Summit League play against Oral Roberts on Jan. 1.
In this final non-conference stretch, Sather is hoping to continue building an identity, tuning things up before the New Year arrives.
“We’re trying to just really continue to find our identity a little bit from a toughness standpoint and consistency,” Sather said. “What we’re doing defensively I think is really hard, and I think at times we do it pretty well, and at times we have our breakdowns.
“So we’ve gotta keep improving that and getting better at that. And then the consistency from the guys, some guys are really good at giving us a consistent effort, but our bench has got to be something that we kind of know what we’re getting game-in, game-out, possession by possession.”
Alex Faber is a sports reporter for the Grand Forks Herald. A Michigan transplant, he graduated from Michigan State University in 2024 with a degree in journalism and minors in history and environmental studies.