Coyotes, Pioneers round two Thursday in Denver

MBB: USD at DEN (8 pm)

DENVER, Colo. -- The South Dakota men travel to take on the Denver Pioneers on Thursday at 8 p.m. central time inside the Magness Arena.

The Game
The Coyotes are winners of their last 5-of-6 as well as riding a three-game win streak. South Dakota defeated Denver 80-78 in the first meeting of the season on January 5.

The Pioneers
Denver currently has a 5-17 overall record and sit at 1-7 in conference play and last place in the standings.

Although the Pioneers have one win in League play, they have played every team close including the last-time USD and Denver played where it was a two-point margin. The Pioneers took down Omaha on Jan. 18, 91-76 to pick up its first win in conference play.

Denver recently fell to North Dakota and North Dakota State on the road with an average margin of loss at 9.5 points.

The Pioneers average 67.2 points per game and give up 74.9 a contest. As a team, DU shoots 43 percent from the field and 33 percent from deep.

Denver is led by Jase Townsend with 17.6 points per game while Ade Murkey chips in with 15.9 points.

In its seven conference losses, the Pioneers have been outscored by an average margin of 8.7 points and have only shot 29 percent from deep.

In its one conference win, Denver outscored Omaha 91-76 and shot an impressive 54 percent from the field and 55 from deep on 11-of-20 from downtown. They held Omaha to 36 percent shooting and 28 percent from deep.

The Coyotes (14-8, 5-3 SL)
South Dakota enters on a three-game win streak after beating Purdue Fort Wayne and Oral Roberts this past week. The Yotes are also winners of their last 5-of-6 and sit in fourth place in the conference standings.

Tyler Hagedorn is the team's leading scorer with 19.0 points per contest which ranks first in the Summit. Stanley Umude averages 16.7 points which rank seventh in the Summit as well. Cody Kelley (10.9), Triston Simpson (11.5) and Tyler Peterson (10.9) round out the starting five that all average in double figures for the Coyotes. USD is the only League team that has all five starters averaging double-figures in points.

As a team, USD averages 78.1 points per game while shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from deep.

The Series
The Coyotes hold a 9-8 record all-time against the Pioneers while the series record is tied at 3 a-piece with games played in Denver. The Yotes have won the last three meetings and seven of the last eight against DU.

One Last Thing
The Coyotes' starting five is one of 17 schools in Division I men's basketball that has five players average double figures.

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