The South Dakota men's basketball team welcomes the Pioneers of Denver on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. tipoff inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
The Game
The Coyotes look to secure their berth into the Summit League Tournament with a victory over Denver. South Dakota would sweep the season series with a win thanks to a last-second layup from junior Cody Kelley at Denver on Jan. 2. South Dakota looks to carry the momentum of its win over Western Illinois while Denver is looking to snap a five-game skid.
 
Wednesday's game airs on MidcoSN and will be carried on ESPN+, part of the WatchESPN platform. A free live stream is available at GoYotes.com/Watch. 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.
 
The Promotions

• Bring a kid to the game: Buy one adult ticket at regular price, get a youth ticket free!

The Pioneers
Denver is fighting for a spot in the Summit League Tournament with its 2-10 league record. Overall, the Pioneers are 7-19 on the season but have lost five-straight games. The only league wins for Denver came in the middle of January, an 80-65 win over North Dakota State and a 74-58 rout of Oral Roberts.
 
Most recently, Denver fell 94-81 to Purdue Fort Wayne. Jase Townsend totaled 18 points for Denver as Ronnie Harrell Jr. and Ade Murkey each added 15 points. Denver led for nearly 10 minutes in the contest but saw the Mastodons take the lead at 25-24, and then outscored the Pioneers 20-6 the remainder of the first half.
 
Ronnie Harrell Jr. leads the Pioneers at 14 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Joe Rosga, a 2018 first-team all-Summit League selection, tallies 12.3 points and Ade Murkey chips in 11.9 points per game. The Pioneers rank 31st in the nation, fourth in the Summit, with its 38.1 percent 3-point field-goal percentage.  Rosga leads the team with 2.4 3-point field goals made per game.
 
The Coyotes
Fresh off the 80-67 win over Western Illinois, South Dakota is 4-8 in Summit action and 10-15 overall. That places USD in sixth place in the Summit League standings with four games remaining. Senior Trey Burch-Manning had his best game since returning from injury with 20 points and nine rebounds. He tallied a career-high five 3-point field goals in the game. In all, five Coyotes reached double-figure scoring.
 
Sophomore Stanley Umude continues his torrid run through the Summit League averaging 19.1 points per league game. For the season, he averages 14.7 points per game, which is one point more than Triston Simpson. The junior, averaging a career-best 13.7 points per game, has scored at least 13 points in seven-straight games. Burch-Manning and junior Tyler Peterson round out the double-digit scorers at 11.5 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.
 
The Series
With the Coyotes' win over Denver on Jan. 2, the series is now tied at eight. This marks the first series tie since it was 2-2 in 2013-14. With games played in Vermillion, the series is knotted at three games each. A USD victory also gives the Coyotes their first sweep over Denver in two years.
 
One Last Thing
The Coyotes have placed five players in double-figure scoring in three games this season. The latest was in USD's win over Western Illinois on Feb. 16. The previous two times were against Omaha (Feb. 7) and Purdue Fort Wayne (Jan. 13). When five players reach double figures, the Coyotes are 2-1.