VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota basketball hits the road for the first time in two weeks, traveling to Kansas City, Missouri to face the Kansas City Roos Wednesday night at 7 p.m. from the Swinney Center.

Quick Hitters

• South Dakota stormed back from a 14-point halftime deficit Saturday to force overtime against the Summit League leading North Dakota State Bison but fell in OT 84-49.
• The Coyotes made it two straight years with 10 or more wins in the SCSC following last Thursday's win over Oral Roberts. The Yotes posted a 14-2 mark at home a season ago.
• The Coyotes have been exceptional at home with a 10-4 record in the SCSC but are 1-8 on the road. The Yotes are 1-0 in neutral site games.
• The Coyotes average 86.2 points per game while holding visiting teams to 76.9 points in the SCSC while shooting 46.8% from the field. The Yotes have scored 80+ in six of the last eight home games including a pair of 90-point performances.
• Last Thursday night was the first game where the Yotes were held to under seven made 3-pointers since Dec. 18 (vs Prairie View A&M). Prior to that, the Yotes had knocked down on average 9.0 3-pointers per game at 40.3% clip over a nine game stretch (Dec. 20-Jan. 24). South Dakota knocked down 10 triples on Saturday vs NDSU behind a career high seven from Jordan Crawford.
• Uzziah Buntyn has continued to step into larger roles as the season's progressed for the Coyotes in his freshman season and has averaged 25.5 points per game over the last two games. He has scored in double-figures in four straight games and in six of the last seven.
• After a streaky start to the year scoring the ball, Jordan Crawford has found his footing in the Coyote offense with seven straight games in double-digit scoring. Crawford's poured in 22 or more points in four of the last five games, including a career-high effort of 33 points with seven 3-pointers Saturday vs NDSU.
• Since the start of league play, Cameron Fens has been dominant down low averaging 16.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while shooting 62.2% from the field.
• Fens notched his seventh double-double of the year last Thursday with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Fens has four double-doubles in league play and has four games with multiple blocked shots.
• 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 games.
• The trio of Crawford, Fens and Buntyn combined to score 136 of the Coyotes 161 points in the two games last week. All three players averaged over 20.0 points per game.
• South Dakota goes to the line frequently, ranking No. 12 in the NCAA in free throw attempts per game (26.5) and are No. 10 free throw makes per game (19.7). Through eight Summit League games, USD is averaging 18.3 makes and 23.1 attempts. Thursday's game was the first Summit League game where the Yotes shot 30+ free throws.
• Eric Peterson is in year four as the head coach of the South Dakota men's basketball team and holds a 55-65 overall record.   

How to Follow

• Wednesday's matchup between the Coyotes and the Roos will be available on the Summit League Network and Midco Sports Plus.
• The radio call by John Thayer can be found on the Coyote Sports Network on the Varsity Network app.

Series History

• The Roos hold a narrow 10-11 edge all-time against the Coyotes, but South Dakota picked up a 99-83 win over KC on January 15 in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
• The Coyotes 99 points in the first meeting were the most points scored against a Division l opponent this year.
• South Dakota shot over 50.0% from the field (34-of-67), 40.0% from deep (10-of-25) and was 21-of-25 from the free throw line.
• Cameron Fens had a monster night against the Roos with career highs of 31 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 10-of-14 and 11-of-14 from the free throw line.
• Jordan Crawford added 16 points with four 3-pointers, and Uzziah Buntyn had 10 points and six assists.
• The Roos were paced by Kasheem Grady ll's 21 points off the bench. He also had seven rebounds and knocked down four of the Roos' seven 3-pointers.

Our House

• Last week's win over Oral Roberts was the 10th win in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center this season.
• The Coyotes have now won 10+ games at home in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2016-18 when the team went 13-1 and 13-2 in consecutive seasons.
• Thursday's win was just the fourth time this season the Coyotes have trailed at halftime in the SCSC.
• In Saturday's game, the Coyotes trailed 39-25 at halftime, marking the largest deficit they've faced at home at half, but responded with 49 second half points to force overtime against the Summit League leaders. USD fell 89-84 to the Bison, dropping to 0-3 in overtime games this year.

Gritty Win

• 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 two weeks ago. It was the first road win of the season for USD.
• 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.
• That game also marked just the second time this season the Yotes won after trailing at halftime.
• 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.

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 4-5 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. Bennion's averaging 25.2 minutes per game while Hudgens is averaging 20.0.
• Bennion was inserted into the starting lineup in each of the last two games.
• 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.

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.
• Thursday night was the first game where the Yotes were held to under seven made 3-pointers since Dec. 18 (vs Prairie View A&M).
• The Yotes have made 10+ 3-pointers in four of nine Summit League games, shooting over 40.0% in those three games.
• Jordan Crawford has been on a heater lately, knocking down 29 triples on a 50.0% shooting percentage from deep over the last seven games. Crawford paces the team with 55 3-pointers and has 32 in conference games.
• 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 secured double-digit rebounds in five of the last eight games and eight times this season.
• 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 16.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while shooting 62.2% from the floor in Summit League play.
• Fens has scored 10+ in 16 of the last 18 games with seven double-doubles.
• 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.