VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota men's basketball is set to kick off its 2019-20 campaign inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. as the Coyotes welcome Concordia-St. Paul in their lone exhibition matchup of the preseason.
 
Doors for Saturday's game will open at 5 p.m. and will feature discounted admission, with adults getting in for $5 and youth tickets selling for $3. Tickets are also available online for Saturday's game here at the same discounted rates.
 
After going 13-17 in his first season at the helm of the program, head coach Todd Lee is back for his second season in Vermillion and faces strong expectations, with South Dakota picked second in the preseason Summit League poll behind only defending champion North Dakota State. The Coyotes picked up six first-place votes in the preseason poll and are picked second for the third consecutive season.
 
South Dakota also boasts the Preseason Summit League Player of the Year in junior forward Stanley Umude, who returns after averaging a team-best 14.4 points per game a season ago. After playing only sparingly as a freshman in 2017-18, Umude broke out with eight 20-point games as a sophomore, including a 28-point outburst on the road at then-No. 1 Kansas and a career-best 32 points in 33 minutes at Purdue Fort Wayne.
 
Senior guard Triston Simpson joined Umude on the Preseason Summit League First Team, making the Coyotes one of only two teams (alongside Oral Roberts) with a pair of preseason First Team selections. Simpson primarily handled the point guard role for South Dakota in 2018-19 and enters his senior year needing only 101 points to become the 28th member of South Dakota's 1,000-Point Club since 1988.
 
Tyler Hagedorn, who missed all of the 2018-19 season due to injury, will provide an immediate boost to the Coyotes' post presence with his return. Picked as a preseason Second Teamer despite missing a full season, Hagedorn averaged 13 points and 5.9 points per game as a junior in 2017-18 and will look to establish himself as one of the top post players in the Summit League with a strong season.
 
South Dakota will also welcome a strong group of newcomers into the fold this season, including international freshmen Kruz Perrott-Hunt, Hunter Goodrick and Tasos Kamateros. Junior college transfer Ty Chisom will also be immediately eligible for the Coyotes, providing an experienced guard to bolster the depth along the perimeter.
 
In total, the Coyotes will have one of their most experienced rosters in recent memory, with 470 combined appearances and 208 combined starts returning this season.
 
Concordia-St. Paul finished the 2018-19 campaign with a 9-20 record and also graduated their top two scorers from last season in Bryndan Matthews (18.8 points per game) and Isaiah McKay (18.4). Cody Carlson is the top returning scorer (8.2) and rebounder (4.6) for the Golden Bears, who have a young roster with eight underclassmen.
 
The Golden Bears' head coach, Joey James, is a former assistant and interim head coach for the Coyotes, leading the program to a 12-18 record in 2013-14 after serving 11 seasons as an assistant. James also played for South Dakota under legendary head coach Dave Boots from 1997-99 and owns a 52-96 record across five seasons at Concordia-St. Paul.
 
Following Saturday's exhibition matchup, South Dakota will head to Honolulu, Hawaii, to open its season at the Rainbow Classic. The Coyotes will open the regular season against Pacific next Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. (CT) before two more tournament games against host Hawaii (Nov. 10 at 9 p.m.) and Florida A&M (Nov. 11 at 8:30 p.m.). South Dakota will be looking to extend its streak to four consecutive years with a win in its regular season opener after knocking off Drake, Mayville State and York College over the last three seasons.