3 Things MSU Fans Must Know About NDSU
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- These two teams and athletic departments know very little about one another.
No. 3 seed Michigan State and No. 14 North Dakota State have never faced one another in men's basketball before. They've never met in women's basketball, either, and the football teams haven't faced off in nearly a century (1930 being the last meeting). Those Bison from Fargo are alien to the Spartans from East Lansing, but they'll be facing each other on Thursday (4:05 p.m. ET, TNT) in Buffalo, N.Y., during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
"I don't know the head coach, Dave Richman," Tom Izzo, who seems to know every coach on Earth, said after the bracket was revealed on Selection Sunday. "But he's had 11 seasons there, and this is his fourth NCAA Tournament."
One of the fun parts about being a higher seed is learning a bit about that small school you play in the first round. Last year, it was Bryant --- a neat, little private school from Rhode Island. NDSU, a fellow land-grant university with MSU, is certainly a bit different. Here are a few different things to know about the Bison ahead of Thursday's matchup:
Not Just a Football Powerhouse
When most people think about North Dakota State, they're probably thinking about the football team. How could they not? The Bison have won 18 national titles all-time, and they've won 10 of them since 2011 at the FCS level. Their trophy case would make Nick Saban (who "only" won seven titles) a little bit jealous. NDSU is graduating and moving up to the FBS level in 2026 as members of the Mountain West.
The basketball team there is pretty good, too, though. They're in the NCAA Tournament for a reason, after all. North Dakota State is entering the tourney with a 27-7 overall record. That includes a dominating 17-2 mark against its Summit League competition between the regular season and conference tournament.
As Izzo said, this is Richman's fourth time qualifying for the tourney in 11 seasons as the head coach at his alma mater. This will technically only be Richman's third time going to the tournament, though. NDSU won the 2020 Summit League tourney to get an automatic bid, but the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID.
Richman's other two teams received worse seeds than this year. He got to the tourney in Year 1 back in 2025 and got a 15 seed, losing to Gonzaga in the Round of 64. Richman then got there again in Year 5, got a 16 seed, had to win a First Four game against North Carolina Central, and then got eliminated by the Zion Williamson Duke team that MSU upset later on in the tourney.
Contributor's Connection to Izzo
One of Tom Izzo's former assistants has coached one of North Dakota State's best players, too.
Sixth-year senior Markhi Strickland, who starts and averages 11.8 points per game, transferred to NDSU this past offseason from Western Michigan, where he played two seasons for former MSU assistant Dwayne Stephens. Strickland went up against the Spartans last season, scoring eight points across 23 minutes of action.
Stephens was coaching the Spartans for some time. He played at Michigan State from 1989-93, when Izzo was an assistant, and then came back in 2003 and stayed all the way until 2022. WMU and Stephens parted ways after the Broncos went 10-21 this past season, though.
Quality Shooting Team
Saying that a Middle Tennessee State situation will break out would be silly (the Blue Raiders shot 57.9% from deep in its 2016 first-round upset), but North Dakota State is a team with plenty of options to shoot. It ranks 39th in the country with a 36.5% mark from behind the arc.
There are shooters all over the place for the Bison. Strickland is the only starter for them who doesn't shoot threes. NDSU's other four starters all shoot at least 36.9% from deep. The Bison aren't overly reliant on the shot, either, though their inferior size to Michigan State definitely may change their game plan compared to when it's time to prepare for another Summit League team.
What MSU really needs to take away is dribble penetration. This was a serious issue during the Big Ten Tournament game against UCLA, where Bruins point guard Donovan Dent constantly got near the paint and found open shooters on kick-outs.
Point guard Andy Stefonowicz led his conference with 4.9 assists per game. It's going to be imperative for Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr., or maybe Jordan Scott, to take away lanes to drive to squash North Dakota State's hopes for an upset.
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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