The South Dakota men's basketball team is set to face No. 1 Duke Saturday in a nationally televised game at 2:30 (CST) p.m. in Durham, North Carolina. The contest on ESPN2 will be called by Doug Sherman and Cory Alexander and take place inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, a venue that has sold out 425 consecutive games, dating back to Nov. 16, 1990.
The Game
Storylines are aplenty in the game, including the Coyotes having never faced a No. 1-ranked team in the Division I era. South Dakota has not faced a team ranked No. 1 in the nation since March 8, 1991, when the Coyotes topped then No. 1 North Dakota 66-61 in the North Central Conference Tournament.
South Dakota last played a ranked opponent last season at No. 7 Gonzaga, the highest-ranked opponent USD has faced in the Division I era.
Conversely, Duke has not lost to a nonconference opponent on its home floor in 136 games, dating back to Feb. 26, 2000, a loss to St. Johns.
The Blue Devils
Duke is ranked No. 1 in both the AP and USA Today polls with its 9-0 record, including two victories over top-10 opponents. Freshman Marvin Bagley III leads Duke with a double-double of 22.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. The Blue Devils place five scorers in double-digits with Grayson Allen, Wendell Carter Jr. Trevon Duval and Gary Trent Jr. all eclipsing 10 points per game.
Duke is coming off a 91-81 victory over Indiana on Wednesday night, a contest that Bagley tallied 23 points and Allen added 21 points.
Simply known as Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski is in his 38
th season at Duke and has tallied a career record of 1,080-271. He has won five national championships and taken the Blue Devils to 12 final four appearances.
The Coyotes
South Dakota is fresh off an 82-63 victory at UMKC Thursday night, behind 30 points from
Matt Mooney and a career-night from
Nick Fuller. The graduate transfer tallied 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to spark the Coyote bench.
The Series
Saturday's meeting is the first between the two schools, and is the first time South Dakota is playing an active member of the ACC. In fact, the same is true for Duke, who has never played a Summit League opponent.
Some may remember, South Dakota faced Notre Dame in 2007-08, but that was before they were members of the ACC and the same can be said for a 1970-71 USD meeting with Florida State.
One Last Thing
South Dakota has competed in eight games over the first 16 days of its season. With Saturday's game included, South Dakota will have played 10 games in just 21 days.
