The Game
The final game of the regular season is a rematch of the opening game of Summit League play as South Dakota and Kansas City meet Saturday night at 7 p.m.
 
The game will be streamed on GoYotes.com. That stream will be broadcasted to GoYotes TV. Fans can also tune into The Coyote Sports Network with John Thayer on KVHT 106.3 FM in Yankton/Vermillion or by using The Varsity Network app.
 
The Series
This will be the 16th game in the series history between USD and KC. The Roos took the series lead with a win in the first matchup of the year in Kansas City by a final score of 62-45. Kansas City has also won four of the six meetings in Vermillion.
 
In the previous meeting, South Dakota was dealing with illness throughout the team. Kruz Perrott-Hunt did not play in that game in mid-December and the Coyotes were held to 45 points - their second-fewest point total this season. This time, it's the other way around as KC has been dealing with injury issues lately including one of their top scorers in Shemarri Allen.
 
The Coyotes
The Coyotes hung tough with the Summit League's best squad on Thursday night in Oral Roberts. South Dakota had better shooting percentages than ORU but fell by 12 points in the end. The top three scorers for South Dakota on Thursday all came off the bench. Tasos Kamateros had a game-high 20 points while A.J. Plitzuweit scored 16 and Perrott-Hunt added 14 points. Kamateros netted 20-plus points for the fourth time this season in the game on Thursday night.
 
Before the game, South Dakota will honor six members of the basketball team on Senior Night. The ceremony will recognize those who will graduate from USD though they may still have eligibility remaining and choose to come back next season. The five players that will graduate are Damani Hayes, Perrott-Hunt, Plitzuweit, Mason Archambault, and Kamateros. The Coyotes will also honor Nate Derner who has been a manager for four seasons.
 
The Roos
It's been a rough stretch lately for Kansas City as the season comes to a close. The Roos have dropped their last four games and six of their last seven. Part of that has to do with injuries that have piled up for Marvin Menzies' squad including one of their top performers in Allen. Allen left last Saturday's game versus North Dakota with an arm injury and did not play Thursday at South Dakota State.
 
Kansas City provides a difficult matchup for any team, but their size and length is a factor when playing South Dakota. The Roos have three players listed at 6-9 including brothers Precious and Promise Idiaru from Germany. Sidy Diallo is the tallest member of the team at 7-2 out of Senegal. As a team, Kansas City is the top rebounding team in the conference. The Roos average 37.3 rebounds per game and the most offensive rebounds at 13.7 per game. They also own the best rebounding margin at 3.9 rebounds in their favor.
 
RayQuawndis Mitchell, a 6-5 guard from Minnesota, has been another top performer for this team averaging 17.6 points per game. His 17.6 points per game is fifth-best in the Summit League. After Mitchell, Anderson Kopp is the other Roo to average double-figures at 13 points per game. Mitchell went off for 28 points in the first meeting against South Dakota.
 
One Last Thing
Saturday's game has a lot of Summit League Tournament implications. The winner of Saturday's game will claim the No. 6 seed. If the Coyotes lose and Omaha wins at Denver, they will play Denver in the 7 vs. 10 game Friday at 8:30 p.m. If the Coyotes lose and Denver beats Omaha, USD will play North Dakota in the 8 vs. 9 game Friday at 6 p.m.