After dropping its first two games of Summit League play, the South Dakota State men’s basketball team responded with two straight home victories with the help of a few big-time performances.
While the scoring and the stat sheets made the most noise in this home stretch, SDSU head coach Eric Henderson emphasized the importance of defense in the team’s overall success.
“I think defensively we showed some versatility and ability to guard different things and guarded different ways too,” said SDSU head coach Eric Henderson. “Just proud of how our team keeps progressing and continues to get better every time we step on the floor.”
North Dakota
What started as a high-scoring affair quickly became a blowout in the second half as SDSU pulled away for the 109-73 victory over the Fighting Hawks.
Joe Sayler was getting things done early and often for the Jacks posting a career-high 25 points all in the first half, shooting 10-of-13 from the floor that helped build a 15-point halftime lead.
“I was just letting it come to me. I didn’t really care how much I had,” said Sayler. “I was just playing with my guys. We were winning so I wasn’t too aggressive.”
In the second half, the defense coach Henderson talked about postgame rose to the occasion, limiting the Fighting Hawks to just 29 points on 22% shooting, while connecting on eight-of-14 shots from beyond the arc offensively.
“To start the first half, I thought we were a little light defensively,” said SDSU head coach Eric Henderson. “But after the first eight minutes, I thought, defensively, we were pretty sharp.”
Isaac Lindsey posted a career-high 13 points in the win, Kalen Garry and Oscar Cluff each tallied 12 points, including five rebounds for Cluff, while freshman guard Jaden Jackson added 11 points and six rebounds, 3-for-4 from three-point range.
SDSU’s 109 points against UND also marks its second-highest total against a division-1 opponent during the Jack’s D-1 era.
Oral Roberts
Following Thursday’s victory, South Dakota State picked up another win at First Bank & Trust Arena with one of the season’s best performances by the Australian native, Oscar Cluff.
The 6-foot-11 center is one of the nation’s top rebounders, and after Thursday’s win where he collected just five boards, he came back Saturday pulling down 20 against ORU.
“We keep improving every game, but I think we have got to continue to get better,” said Cluff. “I think today we learned a lot, but I don’t think we had as much energy as last game.”
Cluff’s 20 boards, along with 21 points and four assists, marked just the second player in program history to post a 20-point, 20-rebound game.
The Jacks were in control nearly the entire game to win 84-70. SDSU held a lead for over 34 minutes and outrebounded ORU by 12.
Joe Sayler had another productive game tallying 17 points and four assists, Matthew Mors and Kalen Garry each added 11 points, while Owen Larson
recorded 10 points and five rebounds for the Jacks.
Thursday at Kansas City
The Jacks head South to Kansas City for their first game this week looking for the first road victory of the 2024-25 season.
The Roos were the preseason favorite to win the Summit League but have struggled to start conference play leading to a 2-3 record.
UMKC will head into Thursday’s matchup ranked seventh in the conference in points per game (75.5) but bolster the top-scoring defense in the conference (66.1) on the flip side.
The Roos are a guard-heavy team and it is showing in the stat sheet, led by senior guard Jamar Brown has been a star for the Roos this season, averaging nearly 16 points and seven rebounds per contest, shooting 46.7% from beyond the arc.
Other scoring leaders for UMKC include Jayson Petty (13.2), Anderson Kopp (12.7) and Cameron Faas (10.1)
South Dakota
Following the quick road trip, SDSU returns to the Mount Rushmore State to take on the South Dakota Coyotes in the Interstate Series.
USD, similar to UMKC, has also had a slow start to Summit League play but for the exact opposite reasons.
The Yotes will bring an offense powering the second most points per contest (85.9) to First Bank & Trust Arena while giving up the most points per game defensively (82.8).
Chase Forte and Isaac Bruns have powered this USD offense the most this season. Forte, a 6-foot-4 senior guard averages 16 points, four rebounds and three assists a game while Bruns tallies 14 points and five rebounds for the team from Vermillion.