The South Dakota men's basketball team hosts the state's first-ever Division I men's basketball postseason contest when North Texas invades the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for a 7 p.m. tip-off Wednesday night.
 
Tickets are available at GoYotes.com/Tickets or by calling (605) 677-5959.
 
The Game
South Dakota and North Texas meet on the hardwood for the first time with a trip to the CBI quarterfinals on the line. The Coyotes are making their third trip to the postseason in the last eight years, while North Texas enters the CBI for the first time. It is the Mean Green's first postseason game since a 2010 trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
South Dakota played at Iowa in the NIT last season and was a member of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in the 2009-10 season.
 
The winner of Wednesday's contest will face the winner of Mercer at Grand Canyon on Monday, March 19. The site will be announced following the completion of both games.
 
All games are played at home sites and are single elimination until the Championship Series, which becomes a best-of-three format.
 
The Mean Green
North Texas is coming off a turnaround season holding a 15-17 record after finishing the 2016-17 season with an 8-22 record. The Mean Green finished seventh in Conference USA, with an 8-10 record, the best finish in five years in the league. The turnaround was aided by first-year head coach Grant McCasland and second-team all-Conference USA selection Roosevelt Smart who averaged 18.9 points per game.
 
Smart's point-per-game averaged increased to 19.7 points per contest in C-USA games while fellow sophomore Ryan Woolridge scored at a pace of 13.3 points per game throughout the season. Smart ranks seventh in the nation in both 3-point field goal attempts and made. 
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota is 26-8 overall, the best record in the Division I era, and finished runner-up in the Summit League with an 11-3 record. First-team all-Summit League selection Matt Mooney leads the Coyotes with 18.6 points per game and has tallied five consecutive games of 20 points or more. Tyler Hagedorn also tallies double digits with 13.2 points per contest.
 
South Dakota had three members named to the Summit League all-conference teams, the most in the Division I era. Matt Mooney earned first team honors while Tyler Hagedorn and Trey Burch-Manning each earned second-team accolades. Triston Simpson earned an honorable mention as Nick Fuller was tabbed to the all-Newcomer Team.
 
The Series
Wednesday is the first meeting between the Coyotes and the Mean Green.
 
One Last Thing
Of all Division I basketball teams, the Coyotes have the second-best winning percentage in their current home venue. South Dakota has won to a tune of 92.8 percent inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. The only team in Division I to have a better win percentage in its current home venue is Gonzaga, who has won 93.1 percent of its games inside the McCarthey Athletic Center.