The SDSU men’s basketball team returns home this week for back-to-back rivalry games against South Dakota and North Dakota State.
“Super excited to be back in Frost Arena,” head coach Eric Henderson said. “Obviously we know we’ll have our hands full, a couple big games this week with the Bison coming to town on Thursday and the Yotes on Sunday.”
The Jackrabbits remain atop the Summit League standings at 5-2 after splitting last week’s games against Kansas City and Oral Roberts.
Kansas City
With just over 17 minutes to go in the second half, SDSU made it a 15-point lead, their largest lead of the game, off a layup from senior Luke Appel.
“You know you get up 15, and we’ve talked about it with this group a little bit,” coach Henderson said. “You can’t relax, the game is only 40 minutes for a reason.”
Over the next 11 minutes, the Roos outscored the Jacks 33-17, taking a 64-63 lead with just under six minutes to play.
With momentum quickly shifting towards Kansas City, the Jacks defense went on an impressive run of their own.
SDSU would allow just 2 points in the final 5:53 of the game to take home a 75-66 victory.
Four players finished in double figures for the Jacks. Luke Appel led the way with a season-high 19 points, Matt Mims also with a season-high of 15, William Kyle III put in 13, and Charlie Easley added 11 more with 12 rebounds.
Oral Roberts
Following Thursday’s victory, the Jacks hit the road to Tulsa, OK to take on the defending Summit League champion Golden Eagles in a Saturday evening matchup.
It was a back-and-forth contest in the early going but a late scoring run to end the first half by ORU gave the Golden Eagles a 37-26 lead heading into halftime.
But the Jacks weren’t going away easily, as they were able to cut the lead back to two just over five minutes into the second half.
Over the final 15 minutes ORU played outstanding basketball, maintaining the lead for the remainder of the game.
The Jacks were never able to get control of the game and fell just short to the Golden Eagles by a score of 87-82.
Zeke Mayo led the Jacks in scoring with 23, Kyle III added 16, Kalen Garry had 15, and Nate Barnhardt, and Easley added another 12.
ORU’s DeShang Weaver scored a season-high 32 points in the victory for the Golden Eagles.
North Dakota State
The Jacks now enter a big rivalry week that starts with the Bison of North Dakota State. Tip-off inside Frost Arena is slated for Thursday at 7 p.m. on the Summit League Network.
NDSU comes into this matchup sitting towards the bottom of the Summit League standings. The Bison are 9-12, 2-4 in conference play, and have lost eight of their last 10 games.
In their six conference games, NDSU is middle of the pack in terms of scoring, averaging just over 76 points.
However, the Bison have struggled defensively, giving up 81 points per conference contest, second worst in the Summit League.
Boden Skunberg is the leader in scoring for the Bison at just over 15 points per game. The senior guard also averages over five points per game, the most on the team.
South Dakota
The Jacks will end their week in another rivalry game, a home rematch with the South Dakota Coyotes on Sunday. The Interstate Series showdown tips off Feb. 4 at 4 p.m.
The Coyotes are 9-13, 2-5 in the Summit League to begin their season, and are at the bottom of the conference standings. USD has also lost 10 of their last 12 contests.
USD has struggled to find a rhythm on offense, averaging less than 70 points per game in conference play.
Defensively, the ‘Yotes give up an average of 79 points per game, the third highest in the Summit.
Kaleb Stewart leads the Coyotes in scoring at 15.56 points per game, with 6-foot-10 senior Lahat Thioune not far behind at 13.57 points and nine rebounds per contest.