VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota basketball heads to Tulsa, Oklahoma for its final road game of the regular season against Oral Roberts Saturday at 7 p.m.
 

Quick Hitters

·       South Dakota looks to bounce back Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma against Oral Roberts after its three-game road win streak was snapped Thursday night at Denver.

·       Prior to Thursday's game, the Coyotes had won three straight road games, with all three games being decided by single-digits. The Coyotes loss at Denver was the first game decided by 10 or more points since Jan. 24 in a loss vs St. Thomas.

·       After dropping its last two games, South Dakota moved to the No. 6 spot in the Summit League standings with a 6-7 league record.

·       Since the start of league play, Cameron Fens has been dominant down low averaging 17.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while shooting 63.0% from the field.

·       Fens notched his 11th double-double of the year Thursday night with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Fens has eight double-doubles in league play and in four straight games (20.3 pts, 11.5 rebs/game).

·       After playing in only four conference games a season ago, Cameron Fens has been one of the best in the paint to open the Summit League slate. He is the only player in the conference averaging a double-double in Summit League play.

·       Uzziah Buntyn has continued to step into larger roles as the season has progressed in his freshman season and has scored 20+ in three of the last six games.

·       After a streaky start to the year scoring the ball, Jordan Crawford has found his footing in the Coyote offense with 11 straight games in double-digit scoring. Crawford's poured in 22 or more points in four of the last nine games, including a career-high effort of 33 points with seven 3-pointers against NDSU (Jan. 31).

·       In conference play, the trio of Fens, Crawford and Buntyn rank inside the top-13 in scoring with Fens at No. 5 (17.9), Crawford at No. 7 (16.9) and Buntyn at No. 13 (13.6).

·       South Dakota goes to the line frequently, ranking No. 13 in the NCAA in free throw attempts per game (25.9) and are No. 14 free throw makes per game (19.3). Through 13 Summit League games, USD is averaging 18.4 makes and 23.7 attempts.

·       Eric Peterson is in year four as the head coach of the South Dakota men's basketball team and holds a 57-67 overall record.   

How to Follow

·       Saturday's matchup between the Coyotes and the Golden Eagles will be available on Midco Sports Plus and the Summit League Network.

·       The radio call by John Thayer can be found on the Coyote Sports Network on the Varsity Network app.

Series History

·       Behind a career high 26 points from Uzziah Buntyn and a 25-point, 13-rebound double-double from Cameron Fens, South Dakota won 77-69 over Oral Roberts in the SCSC on Jan. 29.

·       Fens was 10-of-16 from the field with three blocks, while Buntyn was 14-of-15 from the free throw line.

·       Ty Harper paced the Golden Eagles with 23 points.

·       The Yotes trailed by six at halftime but surged in the second half outscoring ORU 46-32 to secure the 77-69 home win.

·       With a win Saturday, South Dakota would make it two straight years sweeping the regular season series over Oral Roberts.

Coyote Country

·       For just the second time in the Dl era, the Coyotes picked up a win over South Dakota State in Brookings Saturday 68-67.

·       The win also snapped a 10-game skid against the Jackrabbits.

·       The trio of Jordan Crawford, Cameron Fens and Uzziah Buntyn combined for 48 of 68 points. Crawford led the way with 19 points and five 3-pointers, while Fens secured his ninth double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

·       The Coyotes connected on 10+ 3-pointers for the 12th time this season, while their 13 free throw attempts are the lowest amount they've attempted in a game this year.

Next Man Up

·       South Dakota has seen eight players go down and miss extended time with injuries this season.

·       Despite that the Coyotes still find themselves in the middle of the Summit League standings with a 6-7 conference mark.

·       Jake Brack made his return to the court for the first time since December 18 (vs. Dakota State) in the Jan. 21 game at Omaha.

·       Silas Bennion and Trent Hudgens were added to the roster prior to the first meeting with St. Thomas and have plugged right into the rotation.

·       Vince Buzelis returned to the court for the first time since the December 28 game against Mount Marty in Thursday's win over Oral Roberts. Buzelis pulled down nine rebounds and had three assists in 26 minutes of action. Buzelis has started the last five games and set a new career high of 19 points in Thursday's loss at Denver.

·       Fens has been a monster in the middle for the Yotes, averaging 20.3 points and 11.2 rebounds over the last six games with five double-doubles. He's shot 47-for-74 over that stretch (63.5%).

·       Buntyn's role continues to evolve in his freshman season and averaged 17.6 points over a seven game stretch (Jan. 21 to Feb. 7). He was 53-of-61 from the free throw line in those seven games.

·       Crawford scored in double-figures in 11 straight games and has knocked down three or more 3-pointers in eight of those contests. He leads the Summit League with 44 made triples in conference play (3.4/game).

Gritty

·       Five of the last six games have been decided by single-digits points, including two overtime games.

·       Two of the last three games have been decided by a single point. The Yotes left Brookings with a 68-67 win over the Jackrabbits (Feb. 7) but fell 71-72 to North Dakota in the SCSC in their most recent game (Feb. 11).

·       Playing without one of the NCAA's top scorers in Isaac Bruns for the first time this season, the Coyotes picked up a gritty road win at Omaha 68-64 three weeks ago.

·       It was the first road win of the season for USD. Since then, the Coyotes have won three straight road games.

·       In the absence of Burns, Jordan Crawford let it fly on his way to a career high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting with five 3-pointers. Uzziah Buntyn and Cameron Fens had 17 and 16 points, respectively as the trio combined to score 60 of USD's 68 points.

·       Silas Bennion made his first career start as a Coyote and had a team-high four assists in a season-high 32 minutes of action.

·       South Dakota held Omaha to 1-for-19 (5.3%) from the 3-point line in the game.

·       The trio of Crawford, Fens and Buntyn scored 39 of the 40 second half points.

Finding the Range

·       After averaging just 6.0 3-pointers made in the first 13 games of the year on a 32.4% rate, the Yotes averaged 9.0 3-pointers per game at a 40.3% clip over the next nine games.

·       The Coyotes, however, have been held to just four made 3-pointers over the last two games (vs Denver & UND).

·       The Yotes have made 10+ 3-pointers in five of 13 Summit League games, shooting over 40.0% in three of those games.

·       Since the January 17 game where Jordan Crawford knocked down six 3-pointers on eight attempts, the junior guard has 3.8 made 3-pointers per game on a 43.0% from deep.

·       Crawford rewrote his career highs for points with 33 and 3-pointers with seven Saturday's game vs NDSU.

Man in the Middle

·       Cameron Fens had a monster night in the Coyotes home win over Kansas City. The Coyote center set new career highs of 31 points and 15 rebounds on 10-of-14 shooting.

·       Fens' 15 rebounds are the most by a Coyote since Lahat Thioune's 19 rebounds against North Dakota State (12/29/23).

·       Fens has now set career highs in both points and rebounds in the same game twice this season, as he scored 22 points and had 14 rebounds earlier this season against Prairie View A&M.

·       After playing in just four Summit League games a season ago due to injury, Fens has averaged 17.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 63.0% from the floor in Summit League play.

·       Fens has scored 10+ in 20 of the last 22 games with 11 double-doubles.

·       Fens extended his current double-double streak to four following Thursday's game. The Coyote center is averaging 20.3 points and 11.5 rebounds over the last four.

·       He had three straight double-doubles (1/10-1/17) where he averaged 22.3 points and 13.7 rebounds per game while shooting 75.8% from the field.

·       Fens ranks No. 35 in the NCAA and leads the conference in total rebounds (240), No. 29 in field goal percentage (59.9%) and is No. 28 in the country with 11 double-doubles.

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