Men's Basketball | 01.19.2019

The South Dakota men's basketball team plays the middle game of a three-game road trip Sunday at Omaha. Tip-off from Baxter Arena is slated for 6 p.m., which is part of a split doubleheader with the Coyote women's squad.
 
The Game
The Coyotes are looking to rebound from a three-point loss at Oral Roberts on Thursday while the Mavericks are riding a three-game win streak including an 80-71 win at Western Illinois on Thursday.
 
Junior Tyler Peterson carries the momentum of two-straight double-doubles into the contest, having reached the feat against Purdue Fort Wayne with 14 points and 10 rebounds and against Oral Roberts with 20 points and 12 rebounds. The 12 rebounds marked a career high.  
 
MidcoSN is carrying Sunday's contest with an additional broadcast on ESPN+, part of the WatchESPN platform. Live audio is available on the Coyote Sports Network, including KVHT 106.3 FM (flagship) in Yankton/Vermillion. Audio is also available on GoYotes.com/watch or on the TuneIn app.

DJ's Dugout Hangout
Looking for a place to go between the women's and men's games at Omaha? DJ's Dugout is the place to go! Located in Askarben Village just a few blocks from Baxter Arena, DJ's Dugout is set to accommodate all Coyote fans looking for a bite to eat and a meet-up spot. Go Yotes!
 
The Mavericks
Omaha owns one of the league's best shooting percentages, scores a lot of points and doesn't turn the ball over often in a 4-1 start to Summit League play. The Mavericks, 10-8 overall, rank third in the league with 79.3 points scored per game and hit 48 percent of their shot attempts. They also rank 13^th in the nation with just 10.6 turnovers per game.
 
Most recently, Omaha topped Western Illinois behind 22 points from preseason first-team all-Summit League selection Zach Jackson. In all, four Mavericks reached double-figure scoring while shooting 50.9 percent from the field for the game.
 
Jackson has seven games of 20 or more points while averaging 17.9 points per game. Using the same starting five for 15 of 18 games, all five starters average 10.5 points or more per game. That starting group tallies 64.2 of the Mavericks' 79.3 points per game.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota, the league's top defensive team, allows just 67.5 points per game. It also holds the league's second-best field goal percentage defense at 43.6 percent with its 8-10 overall record and 2-3 start to league play.
 
The Coyotes, in the midst of playing five of their first league games on the road, look to bounce back from that loss at Oral Roberts that saw Peterson and Cody Kelley each tally a double-double. Kelley's performance came from 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds while dishing three assists against zero turnovers. Stanley Umude continued his torrid offensive stretch with 21 points in 34 minutes of action. The game marked his third-straight 20-point performance.
 
For the season, Umude has solidified himself as the Coyotes' leading scorer at 13.4 points per game. That figure has risen for each of the last 10 games. In Summit League play alone, the San Antonio, Texas, native ranks third in the league with 20.6 points per game. Junior Triston Simpson is second on the team with 12.5 points per game with Peterson at 11.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per outing. Senior Trey Burch-Manning, out for the past three games with a foot injury, averages 12.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per outing.
 
The Series
South Dakota leads the all-time series, 57-48, having won three-straight. All three of the wins came last season in a regular season sweep and a downing in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament. In the Division I era, USD holds an 8-6 edge over the Mavericks.
 
One Last Thing
Freshman Matt Johns has made three-straight starts for South Dakota and has earned the starting nod seven times this year. He is the first freshman to make multiple starts since Casey Kasperbauer made 24 starts in the 2012-13 season.