Treysen Eaglestaff - North Dakota Fighting Hawks
It is a rarity that a Summit League team will get a home game against a top-10 team from the SEC. In fact, I can not think of another time it has happened without looking it up. I did look it up, and it happened in 2001, also in North Dakota, when Kansas came to town. The Betty Englestad Center was sold out for months for the much-anticipated matchup. This time, the game was against Alabama, and it was a homecoming for Crimson Tide star Grant Nelson.
Eaglestaff is also a North Dakota native and he got the better of the North Dakota natives in this one. The guard was already one of the most prolific scorers in the country heading into the game and after the Alabama game he is becoming more of a name.
Eaglestaff scored 40 points, and while it did take him 30 shots to do it, his performance single-handedly kept the Fighting Hawks in a game they didn’t have much business being in. The guard was 15-30 shooting and 8-18 from deep. It was his ability to hit clutch shots from all over the floor and the guard almost beating Alabama by himself that got him the nod this week.
Eaglestaff didn’t add much else to the counting stats because he was saving all of his energy on the offensive end of the floor to try and keep North Dakota in the game. Not all 40 -point games are equal and for a Summit League player to show out on his home floor against the potential National Champion is what makes this sport so great. Go ahead and ask Nate Oats who he thinks should win player of the week. Congratulations to Eaglestaff and the North Dakota program.