South Dakota men's basketball travels to Bimini, Bahamas, for the inaugural Bimini Jam. South Dakota begins action Friday at 5 p.m. (CST) vs. High Point and will have contests against Air Force and UMBC throughout the event. All three games take place at Gateway Christian Academy in Bimini.
 
The Game
South Dakota meets two of the three opponents for the first time. The round-robin tournament begins against High Point, where the winner of the game plays Saturday at 7:30 p.m. while the loser of the game plays Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The final contest takes place Monday against the opponent the Coyotes have not faced yet.
 
The Panthers
High Point, coached by national champion head coach Tubby Smith, is 0-2 on the season. However, both losses have been by 10 points or less. The Panthers most recently fell 68-60 to Wofford on Nov. 10. Brandonn Kamga leads the team at 16.5 points per contest while Jahaad Proctor is just behind at 16 points. Ricky Madison and Kamga lead the team with 5.5 rebounds per contest.
 
The Panthers are members of the Big South Conference where they were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll. Proctor earned second-team preseason recognition.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota is 2-0 for the third-straight season after opening up with a pair of games at home inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Junior Triston Simpson, benefitting from a move off the ball, leads the team with 23.5 points per game. He tallied a career-high 23 points in the season opener and out-did himself against Northern Arizona with 24 points. In the same contest against NAU, junior Tyler Peterson poured in a career-high 23 points.
 
South Dakota is outscoring its opponents by a margin of 20.5 points over the first two contests and is hitting nearly 50 percent of its shot attempts. Junior Brandon Armstrong, fresh off his first-career start, is scoring at a clip of 69.2 percent (9-of-13) and has a team-high six made 3-point baskets. Simpson is scoring at 65 percent and has gone to the free throw line 19 times, making 17 attempts.
 
One Last Thing
The contest is a rarity in college basketball this year as far as head coaching goes. Tubby Smith, a 1973 graduate of High Point, and Todd Lee, a 1986 graduate of USD, are both in their first year's coaching at their alma mater. They were part of 55 coaching changes in Division I basketball last season and are part of the 30 head coaches at their alma mater.