# 2019–20 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's basketball team

The 2019–20 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's basketball team represented the University of North Dakota in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Fighting Hawks, led by first-year head coach Paul Sather, played their home games at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota as members of the Summit League. They finished the season 15–18, 7–9 in Summit League play to finish in sixth place. They defeated South Dakota and Purdue Fort Wayne to advance to the championship game of the Summit League tournament where they lost to North Dakota State.

## Previous season

The Fighting Hawks finished the 2018–19 season 12–18 overall, 6–10 in Summit League play, to finish in 7th place. In the Summit League tournament, they were defeated by Omaha in the quarterfinals.
On May 1, 2019, it was announced that head coach Brian Jones, who had led the team for the past 13 years, was stepping down, in order to take the associate head coaching position at Illinois State. On May 30, head coach of DII Northern State, Paul Sather, was announced as Jones' replacement.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 7, 2019* 7:00 pm | | Crown | W 86–61 | 1–0 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,521) Grand Forks, ND |
| November 12, 2019* 8:00 pm | | at No. 8 Gonzaga | L 66–97 | 1–1 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| November 17, 2019* 1:30 pm, ESPN3 | | at Valparaiso | L 60–74 | 1–2 | Athletics–Recreation Center (2,504) Valparaiso, IN |
| November 19, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Milwaukee | L 70–79 | 1–3 | UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (971) Milwaukee, WI |
| November 24, 2019* 6:00 pm, BTN | | at Minnesota | L 56–79 | 1–4 | Williams Arena (8,854) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 26, 2019* 8:30 pm | | North Central | W 115–50 | 2–4 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,348) Grand Forks, ND |
| November 29, 2019* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Florida Gulf Coast FGCU Classic | W 78–63 | 3–4 | Alico Arena (2,244) Fort Myers, FL |
| November 30, 2019* 3:30 pm | | vs. Georgia Southern FGCU Classic | W 80–68 | 4–4 | Alico Arena (376) Fort Myers, FL |
| December 1, 2019* 11:00 am | | vs. Campbell FGCU Classic | L 56–58 | 4–5 | Alico Arena (103) Fort Myers, FL |
| December 6, 2019* 8:00 pm | | at Montana | L 70–77 | 4–6 | Dahlberg Arena (3,698) Missoula, MT |
| December 8, 2019* 5:30 pm | | at Eastern Washington | L 82–98 | 4–7 | Reese Court (1,353) Cheney, WA |
| December 17, 2019* 7:00 pm | | Northland | W 109–50 | 5–7 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,091) Grand Forks, ND |
| December 21, 2019* 5:00 pm, BTN+ | | at Nebraska | W 75–74 | 6–7 | Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,010) Lincoln, NE |
| December 29, 2019* 5:00 pm, P12N | | at Oregon State | L 66–83 | 6–8 | Gill Coliseum (4,364) Corvallis, OR |
| Summit League regular season ||||||
| January 2, 2020 8:00 pm, Altitude 2 | | at Denver | W 82–71 | 7–8 (1–0) | Magness Arena (742) Denver, CO |
| January 5, 2020 4:30 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | Purdue Fort Wayne | W 83–69 | 8–8 (2–0) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,280) Grand Forks, ND |
| January 8, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | Omaha | L 62–66 | 8–9 (2–1) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,415) Grand Forks, ND |
| January 11, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Oral Roberts | L 73–88 | 8–10 (2–2) | Mabee Center (1,840) Tulsa, OK |
| January 15, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | at South Dakota State | L 66–87 | 8–11 (2–3) | Frost Arena (2,271) Brookings, SD |
| January 19, 2020 1:00 pm, MidcoSN2/ESPN3 | | at North Dakota State | L 74–83 | 8–12 (2–4) | Scheels Center (3,817) Fargo, ND |
| January 23, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | Denver | W 78–71 | 9–12 (3–4) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,388) Grand Forks, ND |
| January 25, 2020 7:00 pm, FSN | | Western Illinois | W 83–77 | 10–12 (4–4) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,585) Grand Forks, ND |
| January 30, 2020 6:30 pm | | at Purdue Fort Wayne | L 68–72 | 10–13 (4–5) | Memorial Coliseum (1,379) Fort Wayne, IN |
| February 6, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | Oral Roberts | W 74–68 | 11–13 (5–5) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,372) Grand Forks, ND |
| February 8, 2020 2:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN3 | | South Dakota | L 68–82 | 11–14 (5–6) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,670) Grand Forks, ND |
| February 15, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Western Illinois | W 86–83 $^{OT}$ | 12–14 (6–6) | Western Hall (1,138) Macomb, IL |
| February 19, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | South Dakota State | L 83–94 | 12–15 (6–7) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,702) Grand Forks, ND |
| February 22, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN3 | | North Dakota State | W 71–68 | 13–15 (7–7) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (2,686) Grand Forks, ND |
| February 26, 2020 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/ESPN+ | | at Omaha | L 83–84 $^{OT}$ | 13–16 (7–8) | Baxter Arena (2,536) Omaha, NE |
| February 29, 2020 3:30 pm | | at South Dakota | L 67–77 | 13–17 (7–9) | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (3,929) Vermillion, SD |
| Summit League tournament ||||||
| March 8, 2020 8:30 pm, MidcoSN | (6) | vs. (3) South Dakota Quarterfinals | W 74–71 | 14–17 | Premier Center (6,414) Sioux Falls, SD |
| March 9, 2020 8:30 pm, MidcoSN | (6) | vs. (7) Purdue Fort Wayne Semifinals | W 73–56 | 15–17 | Premier Center (4,761) Sioux Falls, SD |
| March 10, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | (6) | vs. (1) North Dakota State Championship | L 53–89 | 15–18 | Premier Center (4,306) Sioux Falls, SD |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central. ||||||
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