VERMILLION, S.D. – The South Dakota Coyotes (0-3) will journey north to Sioux Falls, South Dakota this weekend for the CU Mortgage Direct Dakota Showcase at the Sanford Pentagon Thursday-Saturday. USD will face North Dakota at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, North Dakota State at 8 p.m. Friday and South Dakota State at 8 p.m. Saturday.

All three contests will be non-conference. This will be the first time the Yotes have faced the Dakota schools in a non-conference tilt since former coach Dave Boots' first season at the helm in the 1988-89 season at the NCC Holiday tournament. You can watch all three games on MidcoSN2 as well as streaming it from their new service Midco Sports Plus where they are offering a 30-day free trial right now.     

 

GAME INFORMATION:     Date/Time: Dec. 10 vs. UND 5:30 p.m.                        Dec. 11 vs. NDSU 8 p.m.                        Dec. 12 vs. SDSU 8 p.m.     Where: Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls S.D.)     Listen: KVHT 106.3 (Yankton Vermillion)                KQSF 95.7 (Sioux Falls)     Watch: MidcoSN2 or Midco Sports Plus                    UND: David Brown/Brad Newitt                    NDSU: Brian Shaw/Greg Stemen                    SDSU: Tom Nieman/Brad Newitt

TIP OFF

• The Coyotes are 3-4 all-time inside the Sanford Pentagon and will play in its second tournament at the Pentagon since the arena opened in 2013.
• A.J. Plitzuweit and Umude notched big numbers over Big Ten's Nebraska. Umude notched his first double-double while Plitzuweit recorded a season-high 24 points and led all scorers on the night.
• Brady Heiman leads the Summit League with seven blocks this season. That averages out to 2.3 blocks in three games on the season
• Throwing it back to the old NCC holiday tournament days, the CU Mortgage Direct Dakota Showcase pits the four Division-I schools in the Dakotas against each other at the Sanford Pentagon.
• This will be the first time South Dakota will play one of the Dakota schools in a nonconference tilt since Dave Boots' first season as head coach of the Coyotes in 1988-89. The Coyotes played North Dakota State in the aforementioned NCC Holiday tournament.
• The Coyotes will play the Fighting Hawks, Bison and the Jacks in a three day round robin tournament at the Sanford Pentagon.

ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA
The Fighting Hawks will search for their first win of the season against the Coyotes. The Hawks dropped a close battle with Minnesota this past weekend. De'Sean Allen-Eikens is one of two starters returning for UND this season. Last season he made 30-of-33 starts and finished third on the team in scoring. He also tallied double figures in 29-of-33 tilts and sat second among all freshman in the conference last season. Filip Rebraca leads the team with 17.7 points per game on 57 percent shooting. He also averages 6.3 boards a game and has recorded two blocks.

ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA STATE
The Bison are looking for their first win as well on the season. It's not for a lack of trying as the Bison in their first four games have played then No. 11 Creighton and then No. 7 Kansas. After losing to Nebraska 79-57 the Bison, bounced back and played Creighton tough only losing 69-58. Using that momentum from the previous game, the Bison took the Jayhawks all the way down to the wire in a 65-61 loss to the Jayhawks. The Bison held the lead for most of the second half and forced Kansas to come up with big stops to squeak out the win at the end. Junior Tyree Eady led NDSU with 14 points and six rebounds. On the season, Eady averages 11 points while Rocky Kreuser averages 10 points per game.

ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
The Jacks have started the season with some impressive wins over some big teams. SDSU has defeated Utah State then Iowa State and Bradley in back-to-back games. The Jacks defeated both Iowa State and Bradley on the road. In the Bradley game, the Jacks netted 17 3-pointers. Noah Freidel leads the team with 19 points while three other Jacks average double digits in points



    SERIES HISTORY:
       USD vs. UND: 92-100
     USD vs. NDSU: 81-98
     USD vs. SDSU: 96-129