The Game
After spending Thanksgiving week on the road, South Dakota heads west for a mid-day matchup against BYU. This game will be played in Vivint Arena, home to the NBA's Utah Jazz. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. MT from Salt Lake City, Utah.
 
Saturday's game will be televised on BYUtv with Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler on the call. Fans can tune into the game on the Coyote Sports Netowrk with John Thayer on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using The Varsity Network app.
 
The Series
Saturday's game will be the first time these two programs have met.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota got back on the winning track on Monday with a 97-58 win over Mount Marty. The Coyotes have five players score in double-figures led by Mihai Carcoana's career-high 19 points. USD shot the ball well from the floor at a 56.7 percent mark and even better from the three-point line at 57.6 percent. The 19 three-pointers made in that game were the most in the Division I era and one shy of tying a program record.
 
The road has not been friendly to South Dakota so far this season. USD is 1-4 this season away from Vermillion and 0-3 in true road contests. The Coyotes have lost road games at Wisconsin (season opener), at Mississippi State, and at Coastal Carolina. The team won their first neutral site game with a 68-58 win over LIU in the opening round of the Fort Myers Tip-Off before falling to Sam Houston in the Palms Division championship game. This road trip to BYU and Air Force is the last one before conference play begins.
 
The Cougars
The Cougars are in their fourth season under head coach Mark Pope. In 2021-22, Pope led BYU to a 24-11 record and the No. 2 seed in the NIT, advancing to the quarterfinals. Prior to that, the Cougars landed a No. 6 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, making their first appearance in the Big Dance since 2015. Pope currently holds a 73-29 record at the helm of the Cougars.
 
BYU was hit hard by the transfer portal and graduation losing 10 players from last year's team. Fousseyni Traore, a 6-6 forward from Bamako, Mali, is the Cougars' leading returner after starting 21 games last year and averaging 9.6 points per game. Pope and his staff added two guards from the transfer portal in Rudi Williams from Coastal Carolina and Jaxson Robinson from Arkansas. Williams is the team's current leader in assists with 3.4 assists per game.
 
This year, BYU is off to a 5-3 start and most recently won 100-70 over Westminster Tuesday evening. Like the Coyotes, the Cougars netted 19 three-pointers in that game which set a new program record. Gideon George and Jaxson Robinson led the team with 15 points each. George is the team's leading scorer at 13 points per game.
 
One Last Thing
Head coach Eric Peterson is no stranger to BYU or the state of Utah. Peterson spent three years as an assistant at Utah State and last season as an assistant at Utah. This is also not the first time Peterson will face BYU as a head coach. In the 2020-21 COVID season while at Utah State, Peterson stepped into the head coach role after COVID protocols left him the man in charge. His one game as head coach was against BYU in which the Aggies fell by three points.