The Game
South Dakota hosts Oral Roberts in the Coyotes' final home game of the regular season. USD is 12-1 in its new facility, the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, which is the program's best home mark in eight years. Saturday's game is the second half of a doubleheader which also has the Coyote women hosting Omaha at 1 p.m.
The Coyotes stand in a tie for first place with North Dakota State atop the Summit League standings at 9-4 with three games to go. The Golden Eagles have lost six of their last seven and are the one team on the outside looking in when determining the eight qualifiers for the Summit League Tournament.
This is a rematch of a game Oral Roberts won 90-80 in Tulsa, Okla., back in mid-January. South Dakota has beat every Summit League team this season except Oral Roberts.
Senior Day
Tyler Flack, South Dakota's lone senior, will be honored in a pregame ceremony Saturday. Flack is on pace to play in 100 games as a Coyote. He is nearing 900 career points, 500 rebounds and has already surpassed 2,000 career minutes. In addition, he is regarded as one of the top shot blockers in South Dakota history. His 137 swats rank fourth in program history and places him in the top 40 of active Division I shot blockers.
Siblings Featured
Oral Roberts' senior guard Jalen Bradley is the Golden Eagles' second-leading scorer at 14 points per game. His younger sister, Jaycee, is a sophomore starting for the Coyote women's team, who host Omaha in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Jaycee Bradley is averaging 13 points per game. The two have combined to make 111 3-pointers this season.
The Eagles
Junior center Albert Owens leads Oral Roberts with 17 points per game. He scored 21 points in the Eagles' win against USD earlier this season and has averaged 20 points on 50 percent shooting in Summit League play. Guards Jalen Bradley and Kris Martin both average around 14 points per game. Forward Aaron Anderson averages eight points and six rebounds, but had 20 points (all in the second half) and 10 boards in the Eagles' win against South Dakota. Seven of Oral Roberts' eight wins this season have come at home. The team is 1-12 in true road games.
The Coyotes
South Dakota has tied a program record with nine wins in Summit League play. The Coyotes have won three in a row and four of five since the return of
Tyler Flack from injury. Flack, who did not play against Oral Roberts earlier this year, has averaged 22 points and shot 66 percent from the field in five games back. Sophomore guard
Matt Mooney is averaging nearly 22 points in Summit league play and may be the runaway pick for Summit Transfer of the Year. Mooney hit three consecutive three-pointers at the end of Saturday's win against South Dakota State and scored 25 points. He had 24 points, five rebounds and four steals against Oral Roberts earlier this season.
One Last Thing
South Dakota and Oral Roberts shot 30 free throws each in their earlier meeting. The Eagles made 24 while USD made 17. Only eight teams nationally have attempted more free throws than South Dakota this season (681), which averages 24 attempts per game.
