SDSU’s men’s basketball team will finish the season this week trying to build momentum going into the Summit League Tournament.
The Jacks play the University of Missouri Kansas City on Thursday and finish the regular season against USD. This comes off the heels of a 91-83 comeback win against UND last week.
Currently, the Jacks stand at 13-16 overall and 6-8 in the conference with the win over UND bringing some energy.
“Hopefully it gets us over the hump and gives us some confidence going into the last week of the regular season,” said head coach Bryan Peterson.
To build on the new momentum, the Jacks will have to beat the Roos and Coyotes. Here is a closer look at the upcoming matches and some history behind the SDSU-USD rivalry.
UMKC
Kansas City has had a difficult season so far. They enter the game on a 12 game losing streak and have four wins on the season. Despite their record, Peterson mentioned how their arena has a unique energy to it and games against the Roos seem gritty.
“It feels like every games a grind it out affair, you know I don’t care what’s going on with their team, or what’s going on with our team, it just seems like it’s always been a battle,” Peterson said.
The Jacks have a 25-5 record against Kansas City, their first matchup being a loss back in 2005. SDSU has won the last three games and is 9-1 in their last ten games.
Karmello Branch leads the Roos in scoring with an average of 12.4 points per game. Trailing Branch is Cj Evans with 11.6 points on average. As a team, UMKC averages 69.9 points a game and lets up 83.9 per night on average.
USD
“The rivalry with USD is as strong as ever,” Peterson said.
With the recent success of SDSU’s athletic programs and with the state of NIL, for some the rivalry with the University of South Dakota has dimmed, but it doesn’t seem that way when you talk to the players.
“I think they’ll always be our rival for one, just being in South Dakota in itself will always make them our rival,” said senior forward and Yankton, S.D native Matthew Mors.
When it comes to the effect NIL has had on the sports world and this rivalry, Jackrabbit Kalen Garry said that even with NIL, the rivalry is still competitive.
“NIL has affected the whole college basketball landscape,” Garry said. “But at the end of the day it’s still two universities sharing a state. I know there’s players who are from around the country that take these games very seriously.”
Peterson echoed a similar sentiment, mentioning how even those from outside the state think highly and take these games seriously.
The rivalry first started March 4, 1915, SDSU lost to the Coyotes 18-31 in Vermillion. Since then, the Jackrabbits have built up a comfortable record against the Coyotes, going 90-58-1 in the over 100 year long rivalry.
Mors mentioned how the electricity of the game changes when they play the Coyotes.
“I think our fan support is incredible, and I think for a game like this it reaches another level. You can feel the energy when you enter the arena in warmups where it just feels different.”
Most recently, the Jacks had a ten game winning streak snapped in a heartbreaking loss earlier this February. It marked the 13th loss at home in the series.
With their leading scorer Issac Bruns out for the season with injury, Cameron Fens is the Coyotes leading scorer with a 14.8 points a game average while also leading the Summit League in rebounding with an 8.7 average. Behind him in scoring average is Jordan Crawford with 14 a night.
Saturday’s game marks the last of the regular season so while there is inherent importance in ending the season strong, the memories of their last matchup still remain.
“We lost and obviously our guys are, weren’t satisfied with that one, that one stung, it was in our home arena which we were really disappointed in losing that game,” Peterson said. “We didn’t play good enough basketball so yeah, it’ll feed into obviously our motivation.”
