VERMILLION, S.D. – The South Dakota Coyotes will play their season opener against Air Force Academy inside the Sanford Pentagon.
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Nov. 11 | 1:30 p.m.
Where: Sanford Pentagon
Listen: KVHT 106.3 (Yankton/Vermillion)
KQSF 95.7 (Sioux Falls)
TV: MidcoSN
Online: ESPN+
TIP OFF
The Coyotes own a career 5-7 mark inside the Sanford Pentagon.
South Dakota must replace its top two scorers from 2020-21,
Stanley Umude and
A.J. Plitzuweit, who combined to average over 40 points per game.
ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota returns 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from a 14-11 squad that finished second in the Summit League regular season in 2020-21. Returning starters include
Xavier Fuller,
Kruz Perrott-Hunt and
Tasos Kamateros. Fuller, a 6-4 senior, averaged 8.9 points, Kamateros, a 6-8 junior, averaged 8.4 points and Perrott-Hunt, a 6-3 junior, averaged 7.0 points per game. Five Coyotes scored in double figures in a 98-47 exhibition win over Simpson as 6-4 junior
Kanon Koster came off the bench to record a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Kamateros and Perrott-Hunt added 12 points each while
Mason Archambault and
Hunter Goodrick tallied 11 points apiece. Archambault, a 6-foot senior and the 6-7 Goodrick, who returns to the team this season after sitting out 2020-21, both started.
ABOUT AIR FORCE
Air Force enters the second season, and sixth overall, in the second stint for head coach Joe Scott with 11 freshmen on the roster, the third-most in the nation. The Falcons have two starters back from last year's 5-20 squad, A.J. Walker and Nikc Jackson. Walker, a 6-2 senior guard and Jackson, a 6-8 junior forward, averaged 15.3 points and 8.2 points, respectively. Walker earned third-team All-Mountain West honors and is the only player on either team to have appeared in the most recent meeting between the two teams in 2018. Walker became the fifth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points as a junior. The Falcons averaged 7.1 steals per game, ranking second in the Mountain West.
SERIES HISTORY
Air Force leads the all-time Division I series 2-0, taking a 65-62 win in the Bahamas on Nov. 18, 2018 and winning at home on Dec. 5, 2013 by score of 94-86.
UP NEXT
South Dakota hits the road for Sunday's 2 p.m. tip-off at Drake.
