The South Dakota men's basketball team has a Valentine's Day match-up with the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts on Wednesday. Tip-off in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is slated for 7 p.m. inside the Mabee Center.
The Game
South Dakota has tied its Division I school record with 22 wins and holds an overall 22-6 record and is 9-2 in Summit League action. Oral Roberts is 10-18 overall and 4-7 in the Summit League.
Meeting on Jan. 17, USD topped the Golden Eagles 82-70. The Coyotes placed five in double figures after shooting 55.1 percent from the field.
Matt Mooney led all scorers with 19 points, adding five assists and four steals.
Nick Fuller,
Tyler Hagedorn,
Tyler Peterson and
Triston Simpson all joined with the double-digit points.
The Golden Eagles
Oral Roberts fell 85-75 last Saturday to South Dakota State as Austin Ruder and Sam Kearns each tallied 14 points. Prior to the loss, the Golden Eagles had a dramatic 67-66 victory over North Dakota State as Ruder sank a 3-point shot with the clock expiring to win the game.
For the season, Nzekwesi leads ORU with 12.9 points per game. Albert Owens, who has regained his starting role, is second on the team with 11.5 points per contest. Javan White holds the team lead with 8.9 rebounds per contest.
With the 4-7 record in league play, Oral Roberts is one of three teams within a game of third place in the league. Fort Wayne and Denver each hold 5-6 Summit League records while Omaha and NDSU join ORU with the four wins against seven losses.
The Coyotes
South Dakota, who has secured a top-two finish in the Summit League, is riding its third four-game win streak of the season after topping Fort Wayne and Peru State in the last week. Against Peru State, sophomore
Brandon Armstrong scored a career-best 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting including four 3-point baskets. Hagedorn added 19 points in the contest for the Coyotes. South Dakota shot 58.5 percent from the field in the game and over its last two games have shot 59.6 percent from the field.
Mooney leads the Coyotes with 17.2 points per game and has now taken the team lead in assists with 3.3 per game. Simpson is just behind with 3.2 assists per game. Hagedorn ranks second on the team with 13.8 points per game.
Trey Burch-Manning, who joined Mooney as a preseason all-league selection, leads the Coyotes with 6.9 rebounds per game.
In the Summit League race, South Dakota is a game out of first place with its 9-2 record while South Dakota State is 10-1. The two teams have identical 22-6 overall records.
The Series
A win evens the series with Oral Roberts at 6-6 while also giving the series a 3-3 record on Oral Roberts' home floor. South Dakota has won five out of the last six meetings with the lone loss a 90-80 setback in Tulsa last season.
One Last Thing
South Dakota is 8-4 in true road games this season, a mark that ranks seventh in the nation for wins on the road. The 8-4 record guarantees USD a winning record away from its home floor for just the second time during the Division I era. The only other time the Coyotes have tallied a winning record on the road was the 2014-15 season with a 9-8 campaign.
