The Game
The South Dakota Coyotes aim for their fourth straight conference win Saturday night at St. Thomas. The Tommies are in their first season as a Division I program after 112 seasons at the NAIA and Division III level.
 
A free live stream of the game is available on tommiesports.com. Fans can tune into the game on the Coyote Sports Network with John Thayer on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using The Varsity Network app.
 
The Series
South Dakota and St. Thomas will meet for the first time ever Saturday night inside Shoenecker Arena.
 
The Coyotes
USD rolled over Omaha Saturday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center 105-70. Mason Archambault led the way for the Coyotes with a career-high 25 points with 15 of those coming from the free-throw line. Tasos Kamateros and Kruz Perrott-Hunt added in 15 apiece while Keaton Kutcher and Erik Oliver added 11 each off the bench. Kamateros also dropped a career-high in assists with eight on the afternoon. Hunter Goodrick posted his second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Perrott-Hunt is averaging 16.3 points per game in Summit League play, which ranks eighth, while Archambault is 14^th with a 14.0 average. Hunter Goodrick has averaged a remarkable 15 boards during this three-game streak and is the second-leading rebounder in the Summit at 8.6 per game.
 
The Tommies
St. Thomas is the first program in nearly 30 years to transition from NCAA Division III to Division I without a stop at Division II. They were granted that exception because they were too good. The Tommies, who won a DIII title in 2016, were kicked out of their own conference and are proving to be a competitive foe at the Division I level.
 
Because the Tommies are transitioning, they are not factored into the NCAA rankings. But if they were, they would be leading the nation in two categories – 3-point field goals per game and fewest turnovers. Leading scorer Riley Miller has made 68 triples in 16 games (4.2 3pg) and is averaging 17 points. Fifty-five percent of the Tommies field goal attempts are 3-point shots.
 
One Last Thing
USD's defense has improved since the start of the second half of the season. The Coyotes allow just under 70 points a game, which places them fourth in the conference rankings and will be put to the test over the next few days against two of the top-four scoring offenses in the Summit in St. Thomas and Western Illinois (Monday).