On August 21, Lee Branscome, Toyloy Brown, and I interviewed Tyson Ward, a 6-foot-6 forward from North Dakota State. We discussed the highlights of his college career, the strengths and weaknesses of his game, and his recent signing with s.Oliver Baskets of the German BBL.
Ward made steady progress during his four years at NDSU, culminating with a first-team All-Summit selection as a senior. This past season, he averaged 16.9 points, 7.2 boards, and 2.8 assists per game, with highly efficient shooting splits of .530/.410/.778. He led the Summit in win shares with 6.3 (16th most in Division I), and finished in the top 10 of the conference in many other categories, including true-shooting percentage (61.3), rebounding percentage (13.7), assist percentage (20.8), defensive rating (96.3), player efficiency rating (28.6), and plus-minus rating (6.0).
Ward has a versatile game — he is a three-level scorer, who also plays solid defense. The southpaw has a reliable, compact jump shot, ranking at the 98th percentile for points per possession on half-court jumpers this season. He also has excellent vision and is a very efficient passer (1.4 assist-turnover ratio this season).
Special thanks to Connor Ullathorne, who produced this video, and NDSU Athletics for the video highlights and photographs.
