Opening NightSouth Dakota kicks off season two under head coach
Craig Smith by competing in the Northern Illinois Showcase in DeKalb, Ill., which sits about 60 miles west of downtown Chicago. The Coyotes (17-16 a year ago) will play three games in three days starting Friday afternoon against Wright State (11-20). USD will take on Northern Illinois (14-16) Saturday and CSUN (10-24) Sunday.
The Coyotes won seven of their last 10 games last season to earn their first winning record in four years. South Dakota tied for fourth in the Summit League with a 9-7 record. The Coyotes beat Fort Wayne in the first round of the Summit League Tournament and lost in the semifinal round to top-seeded South Dakota State.
South Dakota returns two starters in seniors
Casey Kasperbauer and
Tre Burnette, but must replace 54 percent of its scoring and 46 percent of its rebounding. The Coyotes' top-two scorers – guards
Tyler Larson and
Brandon Bos – were lost to graduation. Larson was the Summit League's leading rebounder.
Filling the VoidCoach Smith has added two freshmen forwards in
Dan Jech and
Tyler Hagedorn and brought in point guard
Shy McClelland from Mesa Community College in Arizona. Jech averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds for Mayo High School in Minnesota. Hagedorn, Nebraska's Gatorade Player of the Year, averaged 17 points and seven rebounds at Norfolk High School. McClelland averaged 15 points, five assists and four boards as a sophomore at Mesa two years ago.
Expected to return to the court at some point this season is junior
Tyler Flack, who missed all of last season due to injury. Flack started 46 games during his first two seasons as a Coyote. He averaged 8.5 points and 4.7 rebounds as a sophomore during the 2013-14 campaign. He blocked 84 shots in 59 games.
Senior LeadersKasperbauer enters this season with the ninth-most 3-point makes in program history with 186. He was the second-leading 3-point shooter in the Summit last season. Burnette, named to the Summit's all-Newcomer Team a year ago, played his best ball at the end of last season. He averaged 10.6 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field during the final 11 games.
Point guard
Trey Norris averaged 24 minutes and 5.5 points off the Coyote bench last season. He led the Summit League with a 2.7-to-1 assist to turnover ratio.
Eric Robertson has never started a game, but has played in nearly all of them during the last three years. He averaged a career-best 5.1 points and 3.3 boards last season and led the team with 23 blocks.
The Opponents Wright State (11-20, 3-13 Horizon League – Preseason Poll: 5 of 10): The Raiders from Detroit are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Billy Donlon. Wright State posted back-to-back 20-plus win seasons before going 11-20 a year ago. The Raiders return four starters including senior forward JT Yoho who averaged 15.6 points and 6.4 rebounds a year ago before missing the last half of the season with an injury. Yoho is a preseason second-team Horizon League selection.
Northern Illinois (14-16, 8-10 MAC – Preseason Poll: 5 of 6 in the MAC West): The Huskies are under the direction of fifth-year head coach Mark Montgomery. Northern Illinois returns three starters and six letterwinners from a year ago and has seven newcomers on the roster. Junior guard Aaric Armstead returns as the team's top scorer at 11 points per game. Senior forward Darrell Bowie added 10 points and 5.4 rebounds. Senior guard Travon Baker has 134 career steals – fifth-most in Huskie history.
CSUN (9-24, 4-12 Big West – Preseason Poll: t-7th of 9): The Matadors, formerly known as Cal State Northridge, are under the direction of third-year head coach Reggie Theus. South Dakota beat CSUN 76-75 at home two seasons ago and 68-65 in Northridge last season. Coyote guard
Casey Kasperbauer made seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points in last year's meeting. The Matadors lost their top two scorers and return just four letterwinners from last year's roster. Junior guard Aaron Parks averaged 10.6 points last season.
