Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Northern Iowa on November 9, 2025 at 1 p.m.
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1 p.m.
Men's Basketball
at Northern Iowa
South Dakota State University Athletics
Jacks host league-leaders Oakland and IPFW
1/19/2011 6:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The first half of The Summit League season comes to an end this week when South Dakota State hosts the top two teams in the league, starting with preseason favorite and current frontrunner Oakland followed by second-place IPFW.
The Golden Grizzlies come to Frost Arena riding a 15-game regular season conference winning streak, dating back to last season, including a perfect 7-0 conference record this season. The Jacks hope to break that streak on Thursday at 7 p.m.
IPFW won the last meeting with SDSU, when the Mastodons beat the Jacks in the first round of last year's Summit League Championships. The 'Dons, who play at North Dakota State on Thursday opened the season with five straight league wins, but dropped their last two, both at home, against IUPUI and Oakland. The Jacks and Mastodons tip-off on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., following the women's game at 5 p.m.
SDSU head coach Scott Nagy plans to coach in his bare feet on Saturday against IPFW to raise money and awareness for earthquake relief in Haiti.
The Jacks led by as many as 14 points in the first half of Saturday's Summit League game at IUPUI, but the Jaguars scored 56 points on 76 percent shooting (23-of-30) in the second half to come back and down the Jackrabbits 81-76 in Indianapolis.
Nate Wolters led the Jackrabbits with 24 points; Clint Sargent scored 17 and Jordan Dykstra 10 points in the loss. Dykstra led all players with nine rebounds, one shy of his first-career double-double.
SDSU led by nine at 34-25 at the half, and boosted that lead to 11 early in the second half before IUPUI's Alex Young heated up, and scored 22 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. Despite the hot shooting Jags, the Jacks held onto the lead until Young broke a 66-all tie and put the Jags up for good with 2:31 left on the clock.
Wolters leads the Jackrabbit offense through 18 games with 19.4 points per game, with 108 assists and with 25 steals. Sargent averages 15.7 points per game and adds 2.9 rebounds. Griffan Callahan averages 10.2 points per game and leads the team with 5.3 rebounds per game and with a .955 free throw percentage. Chad White averages 9.1 points per game, 3.9 rebounds and leads the Jacks with 12 blocks.
JACKS RECEIVING VOTES MID-MAJOR TOP 25 - For the first time in its short Division I history, the South Dakota State men's basketball team cracked the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, when the Jackrabbits debuted at No. 25 in the poll released on Nov. 22.
A week after debuting in the poll, the Jacks jumped eight spots to No. 17, where they remained for two weeks, but fell one spot in the poll released on Dec. 13, to No. 18, and then out of the poll to receiving votes in the last five polls.
JACKRABBITS AMONG THE NATION'S BEST - The Jackrabbits enter the week ranked third nationally with a .429 three-point field goal percentage, fourth with just 10.7 turnovers per game, 11th with a 1.43 assist to turnover ratio, 13th with 80.8 points per game and ranked 15th with 9.0 three pointers per game and with a 4.4 turnover margin.
Individually, Nate Wolters ranks 20th in the nation with 6.0 assists per game and 21st with a 2.63 assist to turnover ratio.
CALLAHAN AT THE LINE - After starting the season with a perfect 28-for-28 mark from the charity stripe, Griffan Callahan finally missed a shot from the free throw line with a 1-for-2 effort at Western Michigan on Dec. 18. He responded by going 11-for-11 over the next six games before missing again at Western Illinois. Callahan enters the week with a .955 free throw percentage, but fell out of the top spot nationally this week because he came up one attempt shy of the required 2.5 attempts per game average.
CLIMBING THE 1,000 POINT CLUB LADDER - Jackrabbit Senior Clint Sargent became the 41st member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club on Feb. 25, 2010, in the Jacks 66-53 win over Western Illinois in Frost Arena.
Sargent started the season tied for 33rd on the all-time list with 1,035 points, but enters the week ranked 13th all-time with 1,318 points, 38 points shy of passing Dave Thomas (1,355 points from 1970-73) for 12th all-time.
NAGY RAISING MONEY FOR HAITIAN RELIEF EFFORTS - Head coach Scott Nagy teamed up with Samaritan's Feet in each of the last two seasons to raise money and shoes for children in Haiti, a cause that really hits home for Nagy and his family, especially after a major earthquake shook the country on Jan. 12, 2010.
Already scheduled to coach in his bare feet on Jan. 23, 2010, against Oakland to raise money and shoes, the devastation in Haiti caused Nagy to shift his focus from shoes to earthquake relief, which worked to the tune of over $6,000.
Jackrabbit fans can play their part again in 2011, when Nagy coaches barefoot when the Jacks host IPFW on Saturday in Frost Arena. Anyone interested in donating can simply text SHOES to 85944, which automatically adds $5 to your next phone bill. Donations from the 605 area code go specifically to help Nagy's cause.
RABBITS ON THE RADIO - Originated from the AM 570 WNAX studios in Yankton, S.D., SDSU men's basketball games can be heard on a total of five stations throughout South Dakota on the Jackrabbit Sports Network.
• 570 AM
- WNAX - Yankton
• 910 AM
- KJJQ "The Ranch" - Brookings
• 1060
AM - KGFX - Pierre
• 950 AM
KWAT or 96.9 FM KDLO - Watertown
• 99.5
FM - KRKI - Rapid City
Six-time winner of the South Dakota Associated Press Sportscaster of the Year and 1998 National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association South Dakota Sportscaster of the Year, Steve Imming returns for his 20th season as the play-by-play voice of the Jackrabbits.
THE JACKRABBIT EXTRA ON GoJacks.com - Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com watch every Jackrabbit home game and select road games streaming live on the internet. In addition, subscribers can listen to every game, home and on the road, streaming live on the internet. To learn more about the Jackrabbit Extra, or to subscribe, log onto GoJacks.com and click on "sign up"
THE JACKRABBIT INSIDER ON FOX - Fans of South Dakota State Athletics can get a weekly behind-the-scenes look at Jackrabbit sports teams by tuning into "The Jackrabbit Insider."
Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the show airs on Sunday on KTTW FOX 17 at 10:30 p.m., and can also be seen on Fox Sports North at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
Oakland Golden Grizzlies (12-8, 7-0 Summit) - Ranked No. 10 in the latest collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, The Golden Grizzlies played an incredibly challenging pre-conference schedule, with games against five nationally ranked teams, three of them in the top 10. They lost four of those games, but took No. 7/8 Michigan State down to the wire in a 77-76 loss and beat No. 7 Tennessee 79-82.
The Summit League's preseason Player of the Year Keith Benson leads the Golden Grizzlies with 16.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. He also leads the team with 73 blocks. Reggie Hamilton adds 15.6 points per game and leads the team with 96 assists, while Will Hudson averages 12.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per games. Two other players on the OU roster average more than nine points per game.
The Series vs. Oakland - The Golden Grizzlies lead the all-time series 6-1 after sweeping the season series in 2009-10. The lone SDSU win in the series came on Jan. 31, 2009, a 74-68 overtime thriller at Frost Arena, when the Jacks erased a 17-point second half deficit to come back and win.
IPFW Mastodons (11-6, 5-2 Summit) - The Mastodons, who play at North Dakota State on Thursday, opened the season with five straight Summit League wins before dropping their last two vs. IUPUI on Jan. 8, and vs. Oakland last Saturday, with a convincing 107-79 win over SIU-Edwardsville sandwiched in between.
Ben Botts leads four IPFW players averaging in double figures with 13.4 points per game. Frank Gaines averages 12.8 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game. Jeremy Mixon adds 10.8 points and Zach Plackemeier an even 10.0 points to go along with his team-high 76 assists.
The Series vs. IPFW - The Mastodons lead the all-time series 7-3, with each team winning on its home floor in each of the last three seasons. IPFW won the last meeting 71-66 in the first round of last year's Summit League Championships in Sioux Falls.
NEXT UP FOR THE JACKRABBITS - The Jackrabbits begin the second half of The Summit League season, and close out a four game home stand, next week with games against UMKC on Thursday and Southern Utah on Saturday in the 39th Annual Pork Classic.
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