The Game
Two teams looking to salvage a split on the opening week of Summit League play meet Wednesday when South Dakota hosts Kansas City in a 7 p.m. tip inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
South Dakota dropped an 82-73 decision to Oral Roberts at home Monday. Max Abmas scored a game-high 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting to lead the Golden Eagles and hand the Coyotes their first home loss of the season. Kansas City, meanwhile, got just 20 points from its five starters in an 89-57 loss at conference favorite South Dakota State Monday in Brookings.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota hasn't lost its first two home games in conference play in six years. To avoid that fate, the Coyotes will need to show a better defensive effort than Monday when Oral Roberts mixed 11 three-pointers with 38 points in the paint. Abmas, of course, had a lot to do with that and team defense has been a strength early on for coach Todd Lee's squad.
 
Xavier Fuller has averaged close to 20 points during the first three games of this home stand and that's an encouraging sign for South Dakota. Kruz Perrott-Hunt had 19 points Monday and continues as the team's leading scorer. Tasos Kamateros is coming off his best game of the season with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Mason Archambault, held scoreless Monday, is looking for a bounce-back effort Wedneday.
 
The Roos
The biggest question mark for Kansas City is the health of Josiah Allick, who didn't play Monday against South Dakota State due to a back injury. Allick earned honorable mention all-Summit honors last year and is the Roos' leading scorer (11.7 ppg) and rebounder (5.5 rpg). The onus will be on Evan Gilyard II, a transfer from New Mexico State, and Anderson Kopp, a transfer from Lamar, to pick up the offense if Allick can't go.
 
Take out two non-Division I wins and Kansas City enters with a 3-6 record. One of those wins was a convincing 80-66 road win at Missouri in game three. The Roos played just one Division I foe at home during non-conference play.
 
The Series
South Dakota leads the all-time series 6-5, but Kansas City has a 3-2 edge in Vermillion. The two teams played on back-to-back nights last season in Kansas City due to the COVID-19 pandemic and South Dakota pulled out a pair of close victories.
 
One Last Thing
South Dakota committed three turnovers Monday, the fewest by the program since March of 2005. The Coyotes have averaged seven turnovers in their last five games and rank 48^th nationally in that category. Kansas City is turning teams over 15 times a night on average.