VERMILLION, S.D.—A 14-game non-conference schedule proved to the South Dakota men's basketball team that the Coyotes are going to find good shots on offense and they're going to knock a lot of those shots down.
 
USD (9-5) opens the Summit League schedule at Western Illinois Sunday with the squad shooting 49-percent from the floor. Tyler Hagedorn (.551), Cody Kelley (.510), Tyler Peterson (.596) and Triston Simpson (.528, in seven games) are all hitting more than half their shots. Second-leading scorer Stanley Umude (.455) is also shooting at a high percentage.
 
The Coyotes have played half their games, however, without Simpson. Suffice it to say they'd really like to get him back.
 
A sprained MCL has kept the senior guard out over the last month. The good news is that he's back to practicing with the team. The bad news is that it's going to take some time before the Coyotes are going to be able to get 30-plus minutes of the same extremely quick, extremely smart player they had before he got hurt.
 
"We're going to take some time to get him back into game shape," USD coach Todd Lee said. "We're 6-1 with him and 3-4 without him. And to be honest, the first seven games were a lot harder than the last seven."
 
Tough to argue that. Or this:
 
"You don't lose a guy who has started 72 straight games and was in the top 10 in the country in minutes played last year and not suffer," Lee said. "He's a preseason first-team all-league player. It's going to take its toll, not just on your guys but on your rotation. Losing him has been a big one."
 
The fact remains the Coyotes have been solid offensively overall. Even without Simpson's abilities in transition and breaking down defenders on the perimeter, they've shot well most nights. It has to continue.
 
"Tyler Peterson and Cody Kelley have played great," Lee said. "Our bench is starting to get better. Tyler Hagedorn and Stanley Umude have both had exceptional games at times.
 
"I think for the most part we've been taking good shots. We're not taking a ton of 3s but we shoot them at a good percentage (.400). I'd like it if we took a few more but with Triston out, it's been harder to get them."
 
Ty Chisum, Brandon Armstrong, Hunter Goodrick and Kruz Perrott-Hunt are all averaging 12.5 or more minutes a game. Armstrong, a 6-5 senior, is the only one of those players who was on the team last year.
 
"We think we're going to get Brandon more shots when Triston comes back," Lee said. "He's been running the point a lot of the time and it limits his shooting opportunities."
 
Hagedorn, a 6-10 senior, is averaging a Summit-best 17.4 points and Umude, a 6-6 junior who was a first-team All-Summit pick last year, is third in the league with a 16.4-yard average.
 
It's no surprise they're leading the team in scoring. Hagedorn sat out last season as a redshirt after dealing with a torn medial plantar fascia but would have been the Coyotes' leading scorer had he played. Meanwhile Umude, an athletic wing, emerged as one of the league's top players a year ago.
 
As the non-conference season revealed, the secret is out – to the extent it was ever a secret in the first place – in regard to these two. They're skilled players and they've increasingly been the focus of defenses. That promises to remain the case during the Summit League schedule.
 
"They've had some really good games," Lee said. "But they need to be more consistent on the offensive end of the floor. We need to be able to pencil-in 18 points and 10 rebounds. The book is out on both of them. They're marked men. People have figured out a few things about how to guard them. Now it's their job to adjust to that. I've been hard on them about working harder on the offensive end to get great shots and not settle for an okay shot."
 
As the Coyotes displayed in a 78-75 loss to Kansas City last week, shooting at a decent success rate isn't going to get it done if the other team is shooting 63 percent from the field.
 
"We need to get better at guarding the basketball," Lee said. "And we can get better at guarding the post. I realize I'm harping on Triston being out, but he's a great on-ball defender. When he went out, we had to sub-in a freshman in his place. That's no way to keep your sanity."
 
The Coyotes will open at home with Denver on Jan. 5. A year ago, South Dakota State was the no-brainer pick to be the best team in the Summit League. This year is much different. Few certainties normally translate to more teams and more opportunities.
 
"It looks like a wide-open race," Lee said. "The league lost a couple monsters last year in Mike Daum and John Konchar. A few other teams lost significant parts of their rosters. It opens things up for a few different teams."