VERMILLION, S.D. -- No. 2 seeded South Dakota men's basketball faces No. 7 Western Illinois in the first round of the Summit League Tournament at 8:45 p.m. Saturday inside the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. No tickets will be sold for the tournament.

GAME INFORMATION    

  Date/Time: Saturday, March 6 @ 8:45 p.m.
  Where: Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls)
  Listen: KVHT 106.3 & KQSF 95.7 (John Thayer)
  TV: MidcoSN (Jay Elsen, Greg Stemen)
  Online: ESPN+
  Stream: Midco Sports Plus
 

TIP OFF

• Umude currently has the 11th most points in program history (1,473) heading into the league tournament. With the NCAA granting a free year of eligibility to all winter sport athletes, he has the opportunity to return for another season and become the all-time leader.
• Umude is also one of three players to score 37 or more points twice this season. The other two are right here in the Summit Leagueini in Plitzuweit and Abmas.
• South Dakota enters the league tournament as the No. 2 seed, the fourth time the Yotes have entered as the two seed. The Yotes have defeated the Leathernecks the past three times by an average margin of 9.3 points.
• USD recorded the longest win streak at nine games against conference opponents since joining the conference. Dating back to last season the Yotes won 10 straight regular season conference games.
• The Coyotes placed three players on the all-conference team in Plitzuweit (1st), Umude (1st) and Fuller (HM). Plitzuweit was named newcomer of the year while Todd Lee was named coach of the year. Plitzuweit also earned a spot on the all-newcomer team. 

COYOTES IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

• South Dakota is 4-8 all-time in the Summit League Tournament while holding a 4-6 record all-time inside the Sanford Pentagon. This will be the first time the league tournament is held in the Sanford Pentagon.
• This will be the fourth time the Yotes will be the second seed in the tournament. As a No. 2 seed, USD is 2-1 and has a record of 1-0 against No. 7 seeds. Last season the Yotes were the No. 3 seed.
• This will be the third time the two teams matched up in the tournament with the teams splitting the first two matchups.
• The Yotes are 2-1 all-time as the No. 2 seed and are 1-0 against the No. 7 seed. 
• Last season, the Yotes lost to UND in the first round as the No. 3 seed. 
• South Dakota scored 52 points in the second half of the championship game in the 2018 Summit League Tournament, the second most in championship game history.
• The Coyotes hit 11 3-point field goals in the 2018 Summit League Championship game, the third most all-time for a championship game.
• The Summit League set a new record for championship game attendance in 2018 when South Dakota squared off against rival South Dakota State in front of 11,114 fans.
• South Dakota would be the third No. 2 seed to win the championship since the conference changed its named to the Summit League in the 2007-08 season.
• The Coyotes would be the eighth team in the Summit League history to win the tournament as the No. 2  seed if they can win three games in four days. 21 times the championship game has featured the No. 2 seed most recently Omaha in 2018-19.

ABOUT WESTERN ILLINOIS

The Leathernecks are 7-14 on the season and finished league play with a 5-9 record. WIU started the conference season with seven straight losses before picking up their first conference

win over North Dakota 99-87. The win would be head coach Rob Jeter's first league win in his first season as coach of the Leathernecks. Western Illinois would reel off five straight victories that included the win over UND. The win streak would end in the final weekend against ORU where they would get swept. The Leathernecks enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed.

As a team, WIU averages 73.2 points per game while giving up 79.0 points per game. The Leathernecks shoot 40.6 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from deep. WIU makes about seven 3-pointers per game and shoots 71 percent from the charity stripe. Western Illinois dominates the boards ranking first in the Summit League with 38.5 boards per game. They also rank first in offense boards grabbing 11.9 per game.

The Leathernecks are led by Will Carius who earned a spot on both the all-Summit League Newcomer Team and the all-Summit League Sec- ond Team after averaging 14.9 points per game. Tamell Pearson is second on the team with 10.7 points per game.

JACK AND CHARLIE'S SUMMIT LEAGUE CHALLENGE

We may not be able to cheer on our teams in person, but that doesn't ruin the rivalry! There's a friendly competition taking place between the Coyotes and the Jacks this week. From now until March 9, every product sold at Charlie's store will "fill a seat" in the virtual scoreboard. Stock up on Coyote gear to support student scholarships and help USD in its race against SDSU. It's a win-win!