The Game
South Dakota continues its trip out west with a road match at Air Force Tuesday afternoon on the US Air Force base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It's the final non-conference road game for the Coyotes. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. MT from Clune Arena.
 
The game will be broadcasted on the Mountain West Network where Rachel Galligan and Roland Vargish have the call. 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
Tuesday's game will be the ninth time these two teams have met. Last season, the Coyotes and Falcons met in Sioux Falls at the Sanford Pentagon on Veteran's Day to open the 2021-22 season. South Dakota won the low-scoring affair and picked up its first victory over the Falcons in eight tries.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota earned a big result in Saturday's game versus BYU in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Coyotes held off the Cougars and won its second neutral site game this season with a 69-68 win. BYU was ranked 20th in the mid-major poll headed into the game. Kruz Perrott-Hunt was a key player in Saturday's game. Perrott-Hunt put up a new career-high 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 4-of-5 from the three. More importantly, he knocked down all eight of his free-throws.
 
After Perrott-Hunt's 26 points on Saturday, the Coyotes now have three players averaging double-figures. A.J. Plitzuweit owns the team-lead with 11.6 points per game while Perrott-Hunt averages 11.3 and Paul Bruns at 11.2. All three-rank inside the top-20 in the Summit League in scoring with Plitzuweit ranked the highest at 15.
 
The Falcons
The Falcons and Coyotes will meet for the second straight year and the first since 2013 not at a neutral site. USD has yet to win a match in Colorado Springs, however, since the start of the series in 1958. This year, the Falcons are off to a similar start to the Coyotes as they also own a 5-4 record. All five of their wins have come at home as they begin a stretch of three straight home games beginning Tuesday afternoon against South Dakota.
 
Air Force dropped a four-point game at Portland State in its most recent outing. Rytis Petraitis came off the bench and scored 22 points in 23 minutes to lead the Falcon offense. Jake Heidbreder, Air Force's leading scorer, scored 16 points in Saturday's game. Heidbreder is in his second season at Air Force after a standout freshman campaign. He led the team in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free-throw percentage last year - becoming just the second player in Air Force history to accomplish the feat. In his sophomore season so far, Heidbreder averages 14.1 points per game on 46 percent shooting. Corbin Green (12.4 ppg) and Camden Vander Zwagg (10.4 ppg) are the other two Falcons averaging double-figures.
 
One Last Thing
The recipe for success for South Dakota this season has been dependent on the offensive production. After scoring 69 points in the win over BYU, USD has not lost yet when they score in the 60's. On the flip side, all four of its losses this season have come when the Coyotes scored 59 points or less. The Coyotes, statiscially, have a good chance of winning once they get past the 60-point mark.