MANHATTAN, KAN. – Shooting woes plagued South Dakota in the season opener against Colorado Wednesday night inside Bramlage Coliseum. The Yotes shot 33.3 percent from the field in an 84-61 loss to the Buffaloes.
 
Senior guard Stanley Umude recorded 24 points in the loss and became the 31^st player to record 1,000 career points since 1988. Umude also finished with six rebounds and three blocks on the night. USD's other senior, Ty Chisom, recorded 12 points and nine rebounds for the Coyotes.
 
It was the first season-opening loss for the Coyotes since the 2015-16 season. Colorado shot 41.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep on the night. McKinley Wright was a problem for the Yotes the whole game, recording 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and had two steals on the night. Two other CU players recorded double digits in scoring with Keeshawn Barthelemy scoring 11 and Jabari Walker finishing with 10 points.
 
After cutting the lead to six points after a Umude layup, Wright drove in and converted a layup and the foul to take the score to 29-20 with seven minutes and change remaining in the first half. After that, the Buffs capitalized on the Coyotes' 33 percent shooting from the field in the first half to go up by as many as 20 points before the intermission.
 
The Coyotes did finish the first half on a high note with a 6-0 run and trailed 45-31 at the break.
 
The second half wasn't any better for the Coyotes from a shooting percentage standpoint as they matched their first-half percentage. USD couldn't get their halftime deficit of 14 any lower and trailed by as many as 25.
 
Several Yotes notched their first points in a USD uniform. A.J. Plitzuweit (9), Mason Archambault (3), Xavier Fuller (2) and Nikola Zizic (6) all recorded points for the first time in their Coyote careers.
 
As a team, the Coyotes grabbed 42 rebounds and got to the line 24 times and converted 18 of those times. Brady Heiman joined Umude with three blocked shots and five rebounds.
 
For the Buffs, they grabbed 45 rebounds and went 14-of-15 from the line. They recorded 20 assists on the night and recorded 19 fast-break points compared to USD's two points. CU also had a lot of help from the bench as they outscored USD 32-11 in that category.
 
South Dakota faces Drake on Friday at 1 p.m. in their final game of the Little Apple Classic. The Bulldogs knocked off the host, Kansas State, 80-70 earlier Wednesday.

QUOTES

"We missed some easy shots and some layups and then they seemed to convert on the other end well," head coach Todd Lee said. "When you play a very good team like that and you get down early you have to battle back all night and that's something you don't want to do. "

"A much better effort on the offensive boards in the second half, but we still turned the ball over too many times throughout the game and you can't be minus 11 and give a good team like that extra possessions," Lee said. "They are a power five team with some big kids, physically we got manhandled to start the game and gave up a lot of offensive boards."