Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus #2 St. Thomas on March 5, 2026 , Loss , 67, to, 80
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FINAL
Men's Basketball
67
vs #2 St. Thomas
80
South Dakota State University Athletics
Catching Up With Cullen Ober
2/10/2016 11:06:00 AM | Men's Basketball
You grew up in Glencoe, Minn., and then returned there after graduating with a degree in dairy production. What's the draw to Glencoe for you?
“It's my hometown, I know a lot of people. I started back on the family farm for about a year then I went out on my own in floor covering.”
You graduated in 1990 as the 10th all-time leading scorer in SDSU history with 1,163 points, despite only playing in 10 games as a senior. What, if anything does that mean to you now?
“It was a blast, it was a lot of fun. Obviously it was a lot of hard work, but it's memories you'll never forget; traveling to the NCAAs my sophomore year, going to Michigan our sophomore year and playing Michigan the year they won the NCAAs was a lot of fun.”
Do you remember scoring your 1,000th career point, or did you not know it until after the fact?
“No. It's probably like many of the kids now, you really don't keep track of the points, it's every once in a while you might see a blurb on it or something, but most of the kids don't usually even know until it's done. I found out afterwards. When it comes down to it, it's a big deal, but at the time when you're playing, you have to do what the team needs.”
Your career almost ended before your sophomore season when you broke a vertebra in your back, how did that happen?
“Working on the family farm. I was up in the silo getting ready to fill it and was standing out on a ledge, it's hard to explain what I was doing, but a cable broke, so then I fell 45 feet down onto old compacted silage, which is better than the ground. It didn't break my back, it was just a piece on the edge of the vertebrae called the transverse process that broke, but it stayed in place. I thank basketball for saving my life because I was in the best shape of my life, and I've said many prayers thanking up above, too.”
How did you come back from that?
“That happened on Labor Day Weekend, so it was like the seventh of September because Labor Day was later that week, and by October 15, I was at the first practice.”
What was your initial thoughts when SDSU decided to go Division I, and what do you think of that now?
“Originally, I was like well, it's going to be a big step. Sometimes when you think Division I, you think of the Big Ten and the big schools and you forget about the smaller mid-major schools, and I think they've done a fantastic job; Scott Nagy and A.J. (Aaron Johnston) have just been outstanding with the kids, and the kids that come in play. The coaches have high expectations, but it sure seems like the players to as well, and that makes a big difference.”
When did it become apparent to you that Clarissa was a Division I basketball player?
“Well we were told that by some people from AAU back when she was in eighth grade that she kind of write her own ticket, and she got with a good program and pushed the fundamentals, and you knew she was athletic. Then we got approached that she could probably even play volleyball, because she's left-handed, so they liked that, too, but she's always liked basketball and every year we would offer it up to her and she always chose basketball. And she chose South Dakota State on her own. It wasn't because of mom and dad, it was a couple of visits. You go to other schools and you see the fan base, you're seeing 300-400 people. You come here and there's 1,500 people for an exhibition game, there's 2,000 for a regular season game, and even the 5,000, it's been a lot of fun. Then you go to The Summit League Tournament, you've got fans coming out from all over, it's just fantastic.”
Did you and your wife push her towards South Dakota State at all?
“No. We would sit down and talk, and then one day when she finally did commit to A.J., we were sitting up in the stands and she come over to me and said 'Would you care if I committed here?' and I said 'Why, you gotta tell me why?' So we knew it was for her own reasons, and she rattled off four or five different reasons and they were all good.”
How cool is it for you to see her playing for your alma mater, and not only playing, but also playing well on a good team?
“That's probably the bigger thing, this is where both my wife and I went to school, so it's absolutely fantastic. We know the facilities, it's nice to see the changes, but the big thing that we've always asked our kids, is that if you're going to do this, let's do this right and not go half-heartedly. It's been fun to help her out along the way a little bit and say there's expectations, you're always going to be seen, people know who you are even out in the general public because they live and breath South Dakota State in Brookings.”
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