Jamestown native Boden Skunberg reflects on Illinois State NIT run, future

Boden Skunberg’s postseason run with Illinois State ended in Indianapolis, but the bigger story in Jamestown is what it represented, another local athlete from Stutsman County on a national tournament stage and now moving toward the next level.

Skunberg, a Jamestown native and former Jamestown High School standout, started for the Redbirds in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals as Illinois State reached the NIT Final Four for the first time in program history. The run ended April 2 with an 88-66 loss to Auburn at Hinkle Fieldhouse, closing a stretch that had carried Illinois State through one of the most notable postseason advances in school history.

The Redbirds earned that semifinal berth with a 61-55 win over Dayton on March 25 in front of 10,444 fans at UD Arena. For Skunberg, it was another high-profile stop in a career that has already made him one of the most recognizable athletes to come out of Jamestown in recent years, with his name carrying across college basketball circles well beyond North Dakota.

Illinois State listed Skunberg as a 6-foot-5, 210-pound graduate student guard from Jamestown, North Dakota. The school said he missed the 2024-25 season because of injury, then returned to help fuel the program’s postseason push. His resume also includes Summit League honorable mention honors in 2023 and 2024, plus a strong run at North Dakota State, where he averaged 15.1 points per game in 2022-23 and 14.1 points per game in 2023-24.

His high school numbers still stand out in Jamestown. Illinois State said Skunberg holds Blue Jays records with 1,732 career points and 622 rebounds, a marker that has long helped make him a familiar name to local fans who followed him from the Jamestown Civic Center to the college game.

Now the attention shifts to what comes next. With the NIT run complete, Skunberg has turned his focus toward a professional career, and that next move will matter in Jamestown as much as it does in Bloomington, Illinois. For Stutsman County, his postseason run offered more than a box score, it was another reminder that a hometown star can still carry the area into games that draw national attention.