Promotions
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Season Ticket Holder Event: Season ticket holders are invited to the Dome Club at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center before the game for free food and drink, to meet coaches and players, and pick up their replica WNIT Championship rings.
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BOGO Wednesday: Every Wednesday, fans who buy one ticket to the USD basketball game get another of equal or lesser value for half price.
The Game
South Dakota hosts Western Illinois tonight to complete the first round of Summit League play. The Coyotes with a 4-3 conference record and the Leathernecks at 3-4 are two of seven teams separated by one game in the Summit standings. There is North Dakota State at the top at 6-1 and South Dakota State at the bottom at 2-5. USD is tied for second with Denver at 4-3.
The importance of this week for the Coyotes is that after Saturday, they will be the only Summit team with just two home games remaining. Two others will have three home games to go, but the other six will have four left. Thus, South Dakota can separate itself further this week by improving on its 9-1 record at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
The Leathernecks
It was a rough first two months for Western Illinois, which had one win against Division I teams at the end of non-conference play. Then Summit play arrived and the Leathernecks buried 18 3-pointers in a 93-91 road win at preseason favorite Fort Wayne. Wins against SDSU and Oral Roberts followed and suddenly, the Leathernecks were 3-1. Since, though, Western has lost three in a row and each by double digits.
Western Illinois features senior guard Garret Covington, the Summit's second-leading scorer at 19 points per game. Fellow senior Mike Miklusak is the league's top rebounder at nine per game and 11
th-leading scorer at 15 points per game. He missed the first month of the season due to injury. No other Leatherneck averages more than seven points, but sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck at 6-foot-11 is one of the top shot blockers in the nation.
The Coyotes
Sophomore guard
Matt Mooney has turned it on in Summit League play. He has averaged nearly 21 points thru seven games, which ranks second in the Summit. He is coming off back-to-back games in which he scored a career-high 30 points in a home win against Fort Wayne and a game-high 24 points in last Wednesday's loss at Oral Roberts. The Coyotes were off this past weekend and haven't played since the trip to Tulsa.
South Dakota has been the top defensive team since the start of Summit play, but the offense ranks eighth with Western Illinois in ninth. Both teams have averaged 76 points against the other seven Summit foes, but Western Illinois has allowed 83 on average compared to USD's 72.
The Series
South Dakota has won four of the last five games in this series including three in a row in Vermillion. The teams split a year ago with both teams defending their home court. Western Illinois was the lone team not to qualify for last year's Summit League Tournament.
One Last Thing
The Coyotes have attempted at least 30 free throws in each of their last five games and in nine games total throughout the season. Only nine teams nationally have attempted more free throws than the Coyotes (528). South Dakota is averaging 16 points from the line per game.
