The South Dakota men's basketball team begins action for the 2018-19 season Wednesday night against York College inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Tip-off for head coach Todd Lee's first season with the team is slated for 7 p.m.
 
The Game
The game is the first official contest for the Coyotes under the direction of Lee. A 1986 USD alum, Lee was hired on April 4, 2018, as the 18^th men's basketball coach in the program's history. The game opens the 109^th season of Coyote basketball as USD holds a 67-41 record all-time in season openers.
 
The Panthers
York College, 2-3 on the season, is a member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference in NAIA. The Panthers fell 112-92 to Arizona Christian this past Friday and followed with a 74-65 setback to Embry-Riddle on Saturday. York has dropped three-straight games after opening the season with a 120-59 victory over Emmaus Bible College and toppling No. 14 (NAIA) Bellevue 86-84. Patrick Burnett leads the team with 17.4 points per game while Nevell Lenard grabs 6.4 rebounds per contest.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota enters the season with four returning starters on its roster along with seven of its top 10 scorers from a year ago. However, the Coyotes will be without the services of second-team all-Summit League selection senior Tyler Hagedorn who is out with a foot injury. Senior Trey Burch-Manning was voted preseason first-team all-Summit League after averaging 8.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Other returners from the starting line-up are Triston Simpson and Tyler Peterson. Simpson, an honorable mention to the all-Summit League teams last season, tallied 17 points in the Coyotes' exhibition win over Dakota Wesleyan.  
 
The Series
The two squads have met just once, an 82-55 South Dakota victory on Feb. 17, 2016. Current Coyotes that played in that contest include Tyler Hagedorn, Dan Jech and Logan Power. Director of Basketball Operations Casey Kasperbauer started and played 22 minutes in the contest.
 
One Last Thing
Burch-Manning enters the season 40 rebounds short of 500 in his career at USD. He is looking to become the 31^st player in the history of the program to tally at least 500 rebounds.