The South Dakota men's basketball team returns to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Sunday to host Oral Roberts at 1 p.m.
 
The Promotions
#LOVermillion Day: Wear your red and join us at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for Coyote basketball. The Vermillion Chamber of Commerce is the official game sponsor. The game also serves as the tip-off to the inauguration of USD President Sheila K. Gestring. The President will face Athletic Director David Herbster in a free throw competition at halftime.
 
Post-Game Layups: Kids are invited to line up in the aisle between Section 101 and 102 after the game to participate in our post-game layup line.
 
The Game
The Coyotes have four games remaining in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center and look to use the home-court advantage to push for seeding in the Summit League Tournament. Oral Roberts is in fifth place in the Summit standings, 2.5 games in front of the Coyotes.
 
South Dakota plays in its home arena for just the second time in its last seven games, and close the season with four of six games in the building.
 
Sunday's game airs on Midco Sports Network and will be carried on ESPN3, 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 Golden Eagles
Oral Roberts snapped a four-game losing streak with a 78-65 win over Denver on Thursday. Sitting 9-17 on the season, the Golden Eagles are 5-6 in Summit League play and are one spot above the Coyotes in the standings in fifth place. In the preseason poll, ORU was tabbed sixth.
 
The Golden Eagles never trailed against Denver, and built a lead as large as 23 points before settling on the 78-65 final score. Kevin Obanor had a double-double of 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Sam Kearns and Kaelen Malone each added 11 points. ORU shot 51.1 percent from the field in the game and held Denver to 39.7 percent shooting.
 
Emmanuel Nzekwesi, who missed the Denver game, leads Oral Roberts with 14.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Obanor, who has worked his way into the starting rotation in place of Nzekwesi, is second on the team at 14.2 points per game. DeShang Weaver and Kearns are very near double-figure scoring at 9.9 points per game each.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota was on the wrong side of a 107-102 overtime thriller to Omaha Thursday night inside the Sanford Pentagon, dropping the Coyotes record to 9-14, 3-7. In the game with Omaha, sophomore Stanley Umude tallied the second double-double of his career with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Triston Simpson matched a career-high 24 points as five Coyotes totaled at least 12 points.
 
Umude continues to lead USD with 14.4 points a game, a mark that increases to 19.4 points per game in Summit League contests. That ranks him second in the league during league play where he also grabs 5.9 rebounds per contest. Simpson is second on the team with 13.5 points per game as senior Trey Burch-Manning leads the way with 6.1 rebounds per outing. He and junior Tyler Peterson also average double-figures at 11.4 and 11.1 points per game, respectively.
 
The Series
Oral Roberts snuck into the series lead at 7-6 with its three-point win over USD on Jan. 17. The series is tied at three in games played in Vermillion. South Dakota is 2-0 against ORU inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
One Last Thing
Triston Simpson ranks 16^th in the nation with an average of 36.5 minutes per game. In Summit League play alone, he averages 38.7 minutes per game and has played 40 minutes on four occasions. On the fourth occasion, he actually saw 45 minutes of action in the Coyotes overtime contest with Omaha. He is making the minutes count, as he is one of three players in the Summit League to rank in the top-15 in scoring and top-10 in assists. He also holds high league marks in steals (fifth) and assist/turnover ratio (ninth).