VERMILLION, S.D. — Fresh off a 93-79 season-opening win over Southern Monday night, the South Dakota men's basketball team is back in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center Wednesday night when they host Texas A&M Commerce at 7:00 p.m.
 
Quick Hitters

• The Coyotes won 93-79 Monday night over Southern in the season opener.
• All 11 players that took the floor in Monday's win scored points for the Yotes, led by Paul Bruns' 14.
• Five Coyotes reached double-figure scoring in Bruns, Chase Forte (13), Max Burchill (12), Isaac Bruns (12) and Dre Bullock (11).
• The Coyotes connected on 10-of-24 (.417%) attempts from deep against Southern. Paul Bruns and Bullock each knocked down three treys each.
• In the 2023-24 season, the Yotes connected on .400 percent of their 3-point attempts in 11 games.
• The Coyotes' returning cast is highlighted by Preseason All-Summit League First Team member Kaleb Stewart.
• Stewart returns as the conference's second leading scorer after pouring in 15.6 points per game in his junior season.
• Stewart was named an all-conference honorable mention and to the all-newcomer team last season.
• The Coyotes have been among the best in the NCAA in three-point shooting over the past five seasons, ranking in the top-25 as a team each year.
• USD finished the 2023-24 campaign with the 16th best three-point percentage (.376).
• The Coyotes ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in three-point shooting on the road, knocking down .386 percent of their attempts from deep in road venues.
• The Coyotes added four transfers to the roster in Chase Forte, Dre Bullock, Ashton Smith and Cameron Fens.
• Dre Bullock and Kaleb Stewart spent the 2022-23 season together at LA Tech, while Bullock and Chase Forte both prepped at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, N.C.

Where to Watch
Monday's game can be found on MidcoSportsPlus the Summit League Network.


Series History vs. TAMC

• The Coyotes and Lions will meet on the hardwood for the first time since the 1949-50 season, the only game played between the two teams.
• Texas A&M Commerce won during the 1949-50 season by a score of 55-54 at a neutral site.
• While at Northwestern State last season, Chase Forte went 1-2 against Texas A&M Commerce.
   

Everyone Scores!

• The Coyotes played 11 players in their season-opening win over Southern Monday, and all 11 players recorded points for the Yotes.
• Eight Coyotes connected on over .500 percent of their field goal attempts in the contest.
• Five Yotes reached double-digit scoring, led by Paul Bruns' 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting with three treys.
   

A Familiar Foe

• Texas A&M Commerce is a familiar foe for Chase Forte, who faced the Lions three times last season at Northwestern State.
• Forte dropped a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds in the second meeting against the Lions last year to go with three assists and three steals.
• Across the three contests, Forte averaged 19.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.0 steals.

 
Coyote Debuts

• Five Coyotes made their debuts in the red and white in transfers Chase Forte, Dre Bullock, Cameron Fens, Ashton Smith and redshirt freshman Shey Eberwein.
• Forte did a little bit of everything on both side of the ball, pouring in 13 points to go with six assists, four steals and two rebounds.
• In addition to a monster dunk, Bullock reached double-digit scoring with 11 points and had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Fens tallied eight points, three boards and rejected a pair of Jaguar shots.
• In 17 minutes off the bench, Smith scored nine points and grabbed four boards.
• Eberwein scored one point and handed out an assist in 11 minutes.

 
Defensive Pressure

• Behind a full court press, the Coyotes came away with 10 steals, led by Chase Forte's four, on 17 Southern turnovers
• It was the first game with 10+ steals as a team since 2/18/23 when the Yotes had 10 steals at Denver.
• Isaac Bruns and Dre Bullock also tallied multiple steals with two each.

 
Bench Mob

• South Dakota went 11 deep in the season-opening win and received over half of its point total from the bench mob.
• Isaac Bruns and Max Burchill led the bench unit with 12 points each.
• Isaac Bruns was also the Yotes leading rebounder with six, while Burchill connected on both of his 3-point attempts.
• Dre Bullock added 11 points and knocked down 3-of-4 attempts from deep.
• Bruns led the Coyotes in rebounding (6), as Bruns, Bullock, Burchill and Ashton Smith combined for 19 of the Yotes 32 rebounds.

 
Dialing It In From Deep

• The Coyotes have been among the NCAA's best in three-point shooting over the previous five seasons.
• The Yotes have connected on .373 percent or higher on three-point attempts in each of the last five seasons.
• The Coyotes converted .376 percent of their attempts from deep a season ago, good for 16th across the NCAA.
• USD ranked No. 4 in three-pointer percentage 2019-20 with a .388 clip.
• Kaleb Stewart led the team in 3-pointers a season ago with 66 on a .426 percentage.
• Paul Bruns followed Stewart with 59 triples of his own a season ago and begins the season with 170 in his career.
• Isaac Bruns and Max Burchill knocked down 32 and 31 treys, respectively.
• The high-flying transfer, Dre Bullock, can also knock it down from deep as he connected on 38 treys last season at Niagara with a .500 percentage.

Lights Out on the Road

• Road venues didn't intimidate the Coyote sharpshooters a season ago, as USD knocked down 103 treys in 14 road contests with a .386 3-point percentage on the road.
• The Yotes ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in road 3-point shooting (.386%).
• Kaleb Stewart was especially lethal from range on the road with 34 triples on a .472 conversion rate.

Senior Season Loading for Stewart

• Kaleb Stewart returns for his senior season and was named to the All-Summit League Preseason First Team in October. h
• Stewart is the conference second leading returning scorer after pacing USD at 15.6 points per game.
• At Denver last season, Stewart scored the most points in a single-game by a Coyote, 44, since 1967 and the fourth most in school history.
• Stewart was red-hot from deep against the Pioneers, knocking down 8-of-13 attempts from beyond the arc.
• He finished the regular season with 22 double-digit performances and scored in double-figures in all but two conference games.
• Stewart held shooting splits of .454 from the floor, .426 from deep and .829 from the charity stripe.
• He was named to the Summit League All-Newcomer Team and an All-Summit Honorable Mention in his first year at USD.
• Stewart was named South Dakota's Male Rookie of the Year at USD's annual athletic awards banquet, The Charlie's.

Mad Max

• Max Burchill was one of two Coyotes to start and play in all 32 games a season ago.
• The senior from Sioux Falls, S.D. averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game a season ago and totaled 54 assists and 18 steals.
• Burchill had nine games with 5+ rebounds and nine with double-digit points, including a career-high 18-point performance against Purdue Fort Wayne (11/18/23).
   

Bruns Bros

• After standout careers at Dakota Valley HS, the Bruns brothers, Paul and Isaac took the floor once again together last season as Coyotes.
• Paul Bruns enters his senior season, and third with the Yotes, and reached 1,000 career points last season. Paul started 28 of 32 games for USD last season and averaged 10.2 points per game.
• Isaac Bruns appeared in all 32 games in his freshman season, averaging 6.3 points per game. He knocked down 32 triples at a .337 clip and grabbed 55 rebounds.

Coyotes in Europe

• South Dakota traveled to Europe for an 11-day tour of Italy at the end of July/early August.
• In addition to some sightseeing, the Coyotes held a 3-0 record against the Italian Select, Pro Camp (Italy) and Bassano del Grappa.
• The NCAA allows teams to participate in foreign tours once every four years.
• An added benefit of the foreign tours, is that it allows for an additional 10 extra days of practice.

The New Guys on the Block

• The Coyotes welcomed four transfers to the roster in Chase Forte, Dre Bullock, Ashton Smith and Cameron Fens.
• Dre Bullock and Kaleb Stewart spent the 2022-23 season together at LA Tech, while Bullock and Chase Forte both prepped at Word of God Christian Academny in Raleigh, N.C.
• USD added three freshmen in Oliver Kokal, Porter Ihnen and Evan Anderson.
• Forte made 29 starts in 32 appearances for Northwestern State where he averaged 9.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game for the Demons.
• Forte recorded a double-double and set career highs in points (25) and rebounds (10) against Texas A&M Commerce (3/6/24).
• South Dakota hosts Texas A&M Commerce in the second game of the year at the SCSC.
• Dre Bullock transfers in from Niagara where he played in 32 contests with nine starts. Bullock averaged 8.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. He knocked down 38 triples at a .500 shooting percentage.
• Bullock poured in a career-high 26 points against Quinnipiac (2/18/24) last season.
• Ashton Smith joins the Yotes from Oral Roberts where he played in 18 games for the Golden Eagles. The junior forward averaged 2.3 points and 1.2 rebounds in his only season at ORU.
• Cameron Fens spent his first two seasons at Illinois-Chicago where he appeared in 52 contests and made 15 starts. Fens averaged 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Hey I Know You

• Former teammates' paths have crossed once again at South Dakota this season in Dre Bullock, Chase Forte and Kaleb Stewart.
• Bullock and Forte prepped at Word of God Christian Academy together.
• Stewart and Bullock spent a season playing together during the 2022-23 year at LA Tech.