The Game
After a near week long road trip, South Dakota is set to play three straight games at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center starting with North Dakota State Thursday night. The Coyotes and Bison are evenly-matched and are tied for third in the Summit League standings.
 
The game will be streamed for free at GoYotes.com. Fans can tune into the game on the Coyote Sports Network with John Thayer, carried on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using The Varsity Network app.
 
The Series
South Dakota and North Dakota State will meet for the 184th time in a series that began with the formation of the North Central Conference. The teams split a pair of games in Vermillion last year, but the Bison beat the Coyotes 79-75 in a semifinal matchup at the Summit League Tournament. NDSU has won five of the last six meetings with two of those wins coming in Vermillion.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota, as it has all season, faced adversity once again on the road last week. With sickness running rampant throughout the program, the Coyotes were able to pull out two wins at St. Thomas and at Western Illinois. USD has won five in a row and has leaped to third place in the conference after dropping its first three conference games.
 
In Monday's game in Macomb, Tasos Kamateros led the way by picking up his first collegiate double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. All five starters scored in double-figures to pace the Coyote attack that outlasted a Western Illinois squad averaging 80 points per game.
 
The Bison
North Dakota State (13-7, 5-3) heads into Vermillion after knocking off Oral Roberts in Tulsa last Saturday and handling St. Thomas in a rescheduled match Tuesday evening. The Bison are in the middle of a heavy part of their schedule with four games in eight days. They had won two consecutive Summit League Tournaments before falling to Oral Roberts in last season's final.
 
Familiar faces like Rocky Kreuser, Sam Griesel and Tyree Eady sit atop the Bison lineup. Last year's Summit Sixth Man of the Year Grant Nelson has doubled his scoring output to 12 points per game as a starter this season. Kreuser is averaging 18.8 points and 7.1 boards in Summit play. Griesel is right there with 15 points and 6.5 rebounds.
 
One Last Thing
Boogie Anderson has emerged onto the scene during this five-game win streak. Anderson is the team's third-leading scorer during the streak with 12.2 points per game including 14 points Monday night in Macomb. Anderson averaged 4.1 points before being inserted into the starting lineup.