The Game
South Dakota is headed to Glendale, Ariz., as one of eight teams participating in the inaugural Arizona Tip-Off. The Coyotes are one of four teams that make up the Desert Division. They will face the Virginia Military Institute while Northern Arizona and Purdue Fort Wayne compete on the other side of the bracket. The championship and third place games will be played Nov. 18.
 
South Dakota and VMI will tip-off Friday at 1 p.m. Fans can tune into the game on the Coyote Sports Network with Rod Pattison on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using the Varsity Network App.
 
Saturday's game will either be at 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. depending on the outcome of Friday's contest. Fans can tune into that game on KVTK 101.5 or by using the Varsity Network App.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota picked up two-straight wins to start the season before falling to the Big East's DePaul 72-60 on Nov. 14. The matchup was a part of the Arizona Tip-Off, with each team from the Cactus Division hosting a team from the Desert Division.
 
Senior UCF transfer Lahat Thioune has recorded two consecutive double-double performances and notched a career-high 24 points in South Dakota's 100-79 win over UTRGV on Nov. 10. He is shooting 64 percent from the field and has knocked down 12-of-14 from the free throw line. Louisiana Tech transfer Kaleb Stewart has recorded two double-digit performances in three starts and is averaging 13.3 points and 28 minutes per game.
 
The Coyotes are shooting 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. South Dakota knocked down 9 of its 13 three pointers in the first half against UTRGV to go up 61-27 at halftime. Defensively, the Yotes are outrebounding their opponents by a double-figure margin and averaging 3.3 blocks per game.
 
The Keydets
VMI is coming off a tough 74-64 loss to the SEC's South Carolina on Monday night. Freshman Tyran Cook led the Keydets with a season-high 16 points and senior center DJ Nussbaum added a career-high 14 points. Cook averages 13.0 points per game to lead the Keydets on offense. Sophomore Taeshaud Jackson II averages a team-leading 10.7 rebounds per game.
 
The Keydets are historically a strong three-point shooting team as they led the NCAA in three-pointers per game (12.6) during the 2021-22 season. This season, VMI is ranked third in the Southern Conference in three-pointers made (22) and third in three-point field goal percentage (.355).
 
The Mastodons
Purdue Fort Wayne is a familiar face for the Yotes as they are former Summit League foes. The Mastodons are off to their first 3-0 start since 1999, making it the first 3-0 start in the Division I era.
 
The Mastodons are led by junior UW-Parkside transfer Rasheed Bello. Bello, the 2022-23 Great Lakes Athletic Conference Player of the Year, was named the Horizon League Player of the Week after averaging 20.3 points per game and shooting 51 percent from the field.
 
The Lumberjacks
Northern Arizona picked up its first win of the season on Wednesday with a 62-60 win over Seattle. The Lumberjacks opened the season at No. 6 UConn and fell 95-52 before falling 89-55 at Grand Canyon.
 
After opening the season with just one double-digit scorer through the first two games, the Lumberjacks' win over Seattle was backed by three double-digit scorers in Trent McLaughlin's 19 points, Rockwell Reynolds' 13 points, and Carson Basham's 10 points. NAU shot 42 percent from the field and averages a 38 percent clip on the season so far.
 
One Last Thing
Though the Coyotes and Keydets are meeting for the first time, it will not be the first meeting between the Yotes and the Mastodons or the Yotes and the Lumberjacks. South Dakota and Purdue Fort Wayne have played 21 times, including the most recent matchup in the 2019-20 season which was an 83-60 win for the Yotes. South Dakota and Northern Arizona have met just six times before, most recently in 2021-22 when the Yotes won 76-71 in overtime.