VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota basketball opens up the final week of the regular season Wednesday night in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center hosting Omaha at 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

Quick Hitters

• The Coyotes have fell in three straight games, marking the second time this season the Yotes have dropped three in a row. Prior to Thursday's game at Denver, the Yotes were 8-5 in games following a loss.
• The first meeting against the Mavericks on Jan. 21 was the first game for USD without one of the NCAA's leading scorers in Isaac Bruns (20.8 ppg). The trio of Jordan Crawford (27 pts), Uzziah Buntyn (17 pts) and Cameron Fens (16 pts) scored 60 of USD's 68 points in a four point win over the Mavs.
• After three straight road wins, the Coyotes dropped both games on the road last week against Denver and Oral Roberts.
• With a 6-8 record in Summit League play, the Coyotes sit No. 6 in the standings going into the final week of the regular season. Depending on the results from this week's games, the Coyotes could be as high as the No. 4 seed or as low as the No. 7 seed.
• The Coyotes will need to win both games this week along with winless weeks from Denver and Omaha to move as high as the No. 4 seed in next week's Summit League Tournament.
• Since the start of league play, Cameron Fens has been dominant down low averaging 18.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game while shooting 61.3% from the field.
• Fens notched his 12th double-double of the year Saturday night with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Fens has nine double-doubles in league play and in five straight games (21.2 pts, 11.8 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 three 20+ point games in conference play.
• Jordan Crawford has been a consistent scoring threat for the Coyote offense but saw his 11 game double-digit point streak come to a close Saturday with nine points at Oral Roberts. Crawford's second on the team in conference play with a 16.4 points per game average and has knocked down 45 triples.
• Crawford's poured in 22 or more points in four of the last 10 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 (18.4), Crawford at No. 8 (16.4) and Buntyn at No. 13 (13.6).
• South Dakota goes to the line frequently, ranking No. 11 in the NCAA in free throw attempts per game (26.2) and are No. 13 free throw makes per game (19.3). Through 13 Summit League games, USD is averaging 18.1 makes and 23.9 attempts.
• Eric Peterson is in year four as the head coach of the South Dakota men's basketball team and holds a 57-68 overall record.    

How to Follow

• Wednesday's matchup between the Coyotes and the Mavericks will be available on CBS Sports Network.
• The radio call by John Thayer can be found on the Coyote Sports Network on the Varsity Network app.

Series History

• South Dakota won 68-64 at Baxter Arena in the first meeting with the Mavericks on Jan. 21.
• Jordan Crawford poured in 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting with five 3-pointers, while Uzziah Buntyn had 17 points, four rebounds and two steals. Cameron Fens added 16 points and six boards.
• Paul Djobet was the lone Maverick in double-figure scoring with 22 points and seven rebounds.
• Facing a slim 29-28 deficit at halftime, the trio of Crawford, Fens and Buntyn scored 39 of USD's 40 second half points as the Yotes outscored Omaha 40-35.

Home Stretch

• South Dakota will be inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for its last two games of the regular season this week, a place where the Yotes hold a 10-5 record.
• The Coyotes are 2-0 on the season against this week's opponents, Omaha and South Dakota State, and won by a combined five points in those wins.
• South Dakota's averaged 85.2 points per game in the SCSC, while holding visitors to a 76.5 average.
• The Yotes hold a +4.2 advantage in rebounding at home and have a 205-166 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• South Dakota enters Wednesday's game as No. 6 in the Summit League standings and could end the week as high as the No. 4 seed for next week's Summit League Tournament.
• The Coyotes will need to win both games this week along with winless weeks from Denver and Omaha to jump to No. 4

Coyote Country

• For just the second time in the Dl era, the Coyotes picked up a win over South Dakota State in Brookings two weeks ago 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 6-8 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.
• Prior to Saturday's game at Oral Roberts, Crawford had scored in double-figures in 11 straight games and knocked down three or more 3-pointers in eight of those contests. He leads the Summit League with 45 made triples in conference play (3.2/game).

Gritty

• Five of the last seven games have been decided by single-digits points, including two overtime games.
• Two those games were decided by a single point in back-to-back games. 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 earlier this season.
• 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.
• After knocking down 10 3-pointers against the Jackrabbits (Feb. 7), the Yotes have been cold from deep over the last three games averaging just 3.7 made 3-pointers at a 19.3% clip.