# 2018–19 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's basketball team

The 2018–19 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's basketball team represented the University of North Dakota during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Fighting Hawks, led by 13th-year head coach Brian Jones, played their home games at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota as first-year members of the Summit League. They finished the 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 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.

## Previous season

The Fighting Hawks finished the 2017–18 season 12–20, 6–12 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They defeated Montana State in the first round of the Big Sky tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Montana.
This season was the last for North Dakota as a full Big Sky member. On July 1, 2018, the school joined the Summit League in all sports except for football. The football team is playing the 2018 and 2019 seasons as an FCS independent, but will play a full Big Sky schedule in both seasons, after which it will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 6, 2018* 7:00 pm, FCS | | Northland | W 104–48 | 1–0 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,412) Grand Forks, ND |
| Nov 10, 2018* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Milwaukee | W 63–60 | 2–0 | UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (2,165) Milwaukee, WI |
| Nov 14, 2018* 8:00 pm, SECN | | at No. 10 Kentucky Ohio Valley Hardwood Showcase | L 58–96 | 2–1 | Rupp Arena (18,555) Lexington, KY |
| Nov 17, 2018* 3:00 pm, FS North Plus | | Minnesota Morris Ohio Valley Hardwood Showcase | W 112–58 | 3–1 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,665) Grand Forks, ND |
| Nov 20, 2018* 7:00 pm, FS North | | Concordia (NE) Ohio Valley Hardwood Showcase | W 89–56 | 4–1 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,374) Grand Forks, ND |
| Nov 24, 2018* 5:00 pm, WAC Network | | at Utah Valley | L 68–74 | 4–2 | UCCU Center (1,938) Orem, UT |
| Nov 27, 2018* 8:00 pm | | at Montana State Big Sky/Summit Challenge | L 76–81 | 4–3 | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (2,527) Bozeman, MT |
| Dec 1, 2018* 3:00 pm, FS North Plus | | Idaho Big Sky/Summit Challenge | L 54–67 | 4–4 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,684) Grand Forks, ND |
| Dec 5, 2018* 7:00 pm, FS North Plus | | at Texas–Rio Grande Valley WAC/Summit League Challenge | L 56–70 | 4–5 | UTRGV Fieldhouse (527) Edinburg, TX |
| Dec 9, 2018* 3:00 pm, FS North | | Milwaukee | W 83–72 | 5–5 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,547) Grand Forks, ND |
| Dec 14, 2018* 7:00 pm, FS North | | Mayville State | W 83–66 | 6–5 | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,472) Grand Forks, ND |
| Dec 18, 2018* 8:00 pm, FSN | | at No. 20 Marquette | L 66–92 | 6–6 | Fiserv Forum (13,603) Milwaukee, WI |
| Dec 22, 2018* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Northern Iowa | L 62–64 | 6–7 | McLeod Center (3,619) Cedar Falls, IA |
| Summit League regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2018 7:00 pm | | Purdue Fort Wayne Postponed (inclement weather), Make-up December 29 | | | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center Grand Forks, ND |
| Dec 29, 2018 12:00 pm, MidcoSN2/FCS | | Purdue Fort Wayne | L 73–84 | 6–8 (0–1) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,442) Grand Forks, ND |
| Jan 3, 2019 7:00 pm | | at Oral Roberts | L 72–83 | 6–9 (0–2) | Mabee Center (2,006) Tulsa, OK |
| Jan 5, 2019 2:00 pm, ALT2 | | at Denver | W 80–59 | 7–9 (1–2) | Magness Arena (1,918) Denver, CO |
| Jan 10, 2018 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/FCS | | Omaha | L 91–92 | 7–10 (1–3) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,525) Grand Forks, ND |
| Jan 12, 2018 2:00 pm, MidcoSN2/FCS | | Western Illinois | W 71–65 | 8–10 (2–3) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,898) Grand Forks, ND |
| Jan 16, 2018 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/FCS | | South Dakota State | L 74–78 | 8–11 (2–4) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,880) Grand Forks, ND |
| Jan 19, 2019 2:00 pm, MidcoSN | | at North Dakota State | L 65–67 | 8–12 (2–5) | Scheels Center (4,232) Fargo, ND |
| Jan 23, 2018 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/FCS | | South Dakota | L 56–70 | 8–13 (2–6) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,532) Grand Forks, ND |
| Feb 1, 2019 4:30 pm, ESPN3 | | at Western Illinois | W 74–73 | 9–13 (3–6) | Western Hall (476) Macomb, IL |
| Feb 3, 2019 12:00 pm, MidcoSN | | at Omaha | L 72–90 | 9–14 (3–7) | Baxter Arena (2,054) Omaha, NE |
| Feb 6, 2018 7:00 pm, MidcoSN/FCS | | North Dakota State | L 70-74 | 9-15 (3-8) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (2,016) Grand Forks, ND |
| Feb 9, 2019 4:15 pm, MidcoSN | | at South Dakota State | L 55-80 | 9-16 (3-9) | Frost Arena (3,541) Brookings, SD |
| Feb 16, 2018 7:00 pm, MidcoSN2/FCS | | Oral Roberts | W 85-73 | 10-16 (4-9) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,764) Grand Forks, ND |
| Feb 23, 2018 3:00 pm, FS North Plus | | Denver | W 81-63 | 11-16 (5-9) | Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,946) Grand Forks, ND |
| Feb 28, 2019 7:30 pm, MidcoSN | | at Purdue Fort Wayne | W 88-82 | 12-16 (6-9) | Gates Sports Center (943) Fort Wayne, IN |
| Mar 2, 2019 3:30 pm, MidcoSN2 | | at South Dakota | L 63-78 | 12-17 (6-10) | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (2,573) Vermillion, SD |
| The Summit League tournament ||||||
| Mar 9, 2019 8:30pm, MidcoSN | (6) | vs. (3) Omaha Quarterfinals | L 76-81 | 12-18 | Premier Center Sioux Falls, SD |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
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