It's Championship Tuesday for the South Dakota men's basketball team as it plays in its first-ever Summit League Tournament Championship contest. The second-seeded Coyotes face the top-seeded South Dakota State Jackrabbits at 8 p.m. inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. The contest is also aired nationally on ESPN2.
 
The Game
It's the third meeting between the two in-state rivals in what will be a rubber match. The Coyotes won 87-68 on Jan. 24 in Vermillion while the Jacks prevailed 76-72 in Brookings on Feb. 22.
 
South Dakota junior Matt Mooney had 30-point games in both meetings, including a career-best 33 points on Feb. 22. In fact, when facing the Jackrabbits, Mooney's game elevates to 28 points per game over five games.
 
The championship game is the second of an all South Dakota final as the women's championship contest also pits South Dakota against South Dakota State.
 
The Jackrabbits
South Dakota State, 27-6 on the season, enters its fourth-straight Summit League Tournament Championship game after topping North Dakota State 78-57. Summit League Player of the Year Mike Daum tallied a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds while David Jenkins scored a game-high 24 points. SDSU shot 48.3 percent from the field in the game.
 
For the season, Daum records 23.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. He scores the ball at a 46.4 percent clip and has hit 86-of-205 3-point field goal attempts. Summit League Freshman of the Year David Jenkins tallies 15.8 points per game while Reed Tellinghuisen adds 11.8 points per contest.
 
The Coyotes
The Coyotes, holding a Division I era best 26-7 record, enters their first Summit League Championship contest after topping Denver 76-58. Matt Mooney hit 8-of-10 field goal attempts for 20 points while Triston Simpson added 11 points. Trey Burch-Manning and Nick Fuller each grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
 
Matt Mooney has led the Coyotes all season and has his average up to 18.3 points per game, a mark that raised to 19.8 points per contest in Summit League action. The two-time first-team all-Summit League selection has gotten his hands on 65 steals, a mark that ranks second in the league. Second team all-Summit League selection Tyler Hagedorn adds 13.1 points per game. Fellow second team honoree Trey Burch-Manning leads USD with 6.7 rebounds per game.
 
The Series
South Dakota State leads the overall series 127-95 with the two squads trading victories over the last four games played.
 
The Tournament
There has been only one upset in the field, when No. 5 North Dakota State topped No. 4 Fort Wayne 86-82 in the quarterfinal round Sunday night. The Bison would then fall to No. 1 South Dakota State 78-57.
 
The Coyotes defeated No. 7 Omaha 87-73 on Saturday night in the quarterfinal round before advancing to the championship game when topping Denver 76-58.
 
One Last Thing
Tuesday's battle is a contest between two of the top-six ranked teams in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25. The Jackrabbits enter the game ranked No. 4 in the poll while the Coyotes are No. 6. The Summit League joins the West Coast Conference with having two teams that highly ranked. The West Coast Conference has No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 2 Saint Mary's, both members of the AP Top-25 and USA Today Coaches Poll, are the other conference to have two institutions in the top six.