The Game

South Dakota travels to No. 23 South Dakota State for a pair of games at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday inside Frost Arena in Brookings, South Dakota. The game will be televised by MidcoSN with commentary from Tom Nieman and Brad Newitt. That broadcast will also be available for streaming on espn3 and Midco Sports Plus. Fans can also tune into the game on the Coyote Sports Network with Carter Woodiel on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using the TuneIn app.
 

The Coyotes

After a COVID-related cancellation last weekend, South Dakota (10-3, 6-0 Summit) returns to action after an unexpected bye week. The Coyotes will now face eight consecutive road games in Summit play, double the amount of any other league team. South Dakota will look to the senior trio of Chloe Lamb, Hannah Sjerven and Liv Korngable as the Summit's second-, third- and fourth-leading scorers, respectively. Each has their own specialty with Lamb leading the league in 3s made (33), Sjerven leads the Summit in blocks (2.4) and rebounds (9.8), and Korngable leads the team in assists (3.6). Roles are a bit reversed this season as the Coyotes, who spent a Summit record consecutive 12 weeks in the AP poll last season, now face a ranked Jackrabbit squad for the first time since 2004.
 

The Jackrabbits

No. 23 South Dakota State (13-2, 6-0 Summit) has three top-25 wins this year and also enters the weekend perfect in conference play. The Jackrabbits are led by a healthy Myah Selland with 18.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Teammates Paiton Burckhard (12.1) and Tylee Irwin (11.6) join her in double-figure scoring. The Jackrabbits, who are a perfect 9-0 at home this year, have made Frost Arena one of the toughest places for Summit foes to earn a win. The Jacks boast a 70-5 record defending their home floor in conference play. Three of those five losses in Frost were to the Coyotes (2016, 2018, 2020).
 

The Series

SDSU holds the edge in the all-time series 58-33, albeit since USD head coach Dawn Plitzuweit took the helm the Coyotes are 7-4 against the Jacks. When the Coyotes completed the perfect trifecta last season – a sweep in the regular season and a Summit League tournament victory – it marked the first time one of the squads had won all three games in a season since 2013.
 

One Last Thing

This is the first time the State-U rivalry game has been played back-to-back and the latest we have waited for game one since 1977. The only other time the Coyotes have had to play the Jacks in Frost Arena twice in a season was 2003 as Brookings was an NCAA Tournament site.