SDSU men host Western Illinois Saturday

Saturday, January 4

Brookings, S.D.

4:15 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

Tickets

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

1/3/2020 10:26:00 AM | Men's Basketball

GAME 18: South Dakota State (10-7, 1-1) vs. Western Illinois (4-8, 1-1)

When	Saturday, Jan. 4 \| 4:15 p.m.
Where	Frost Arena \| Brookings, S.D.
Live Audio / Radio	Jackrabbits All-Access \| Jackrabbit Sports Network I WNAX 570 AM \| Tyler Merriam
Television / Live Video	Midco Sports Network \| ESPN3 \| Jackrabbits All-Access \| Tom Nieman, Brad Newitt & Elaina Lanson
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Western Illinois
Social Media	Twitter I Facebook

Previewing the Game
South Dakota State aims for its 10th home win of the season Saturday as Western Illinois comes to town. The Jackrabbits and Fighting Leathernecks are set to tip at 4:15 p.m., or 25 minutes after the women's game.

Saturday's game is the Lamb Bonanza and is sponsored by Coca-Cola. The Lamb Bonanza highlights the school's support of lamb and wool industries in South Dakota. As part of the festivities, lamb pelts will be auctioned during halftime.

South Dakota State (10-7, 1-1 Summit League) opened 2020 with an offensive showing Thursday, topping Oral Roberts 96-79 at home. The Jackrabbits have won 17 straight inside Frost Arena and are 9-0 at home on the year.

Western Illinois (4-8, 1-1) opened league play with an 82-75 victory over South Dakota last Saturday, but fell at North Dakota State, 94-74, on Thursday.

The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series with Western Illinois, 26-5, and are 13-0 at home against the Leathernecks.

About South Dakota State
Growth and competition were areas of focus throughout the 2019-20 nonconference slate and head coach Eric Henderson's first two months at the helm. After securing a winning nonleague record, the Jacks are in their second week of Summit League play looking to build on those two areas.

South Dakota State has blended seven newcomers and nine underclassman into a roster with six returning letterwinners, framing together a defensive unit that has held opponents to 70.2 points per game. The Jacks have limited opponents to under 60 in six games, including the final three of nonleague play against Nebraska-Kearney, Florida Gulf Coast and Idaho.

Offensively, the Jackrabbits are shooting 46.7 percent with 124 3-pointers, third-most among Summit League teams. SDSU has buried 224 of its 325 free throw efforts and is 9-1 in games where it shoots more free throws than its opponents.

Douglas Wilson is one of two Jackrabbits averaging double figures, leading the team with 17.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. The Des Moines, Iowa native has five 20-plus scoring performances and four double-doubles, sinking 10 or more field goals in four games. He is third in the Summit League in scoring entering the weekend. The two-time NJCAA All-American and 2018-19 NJCAA Player of the Year is shooting 61.3 percent from the field and 65.8 percent at the line, including a 26-for-34 (76.5 percent) run over the last eight games.

Matt Dentlinger, second on the team with 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest, has turned in a trio of double-doubles, most recently in a 12-point, 10-board performance against Idaho. A 55.8 percent shooter, Dentlinger put together a run of 13 consecutive makes between the Arizona, Mississippi Valley State and Samford contests (going 8-for-8 against MVSU). He set a new career high with 18 points against Oral Roberts.

Alex Arians and Noah Freidel have elevated their play in the last month and are both shooting 45.1 percent from the field.

Arians has started all 1 games and is fifth on the team in scoring at 8.4 points per game, sinking 18 3-pointers to go with 91 rebounds (5.4 per game), 24 assists and 16 steals. The Madison, Wisconsin guard has posted three consecutive double-figure scoring games and scored 10 or more in four of his last five appearances.

Freidel, the 2019 Argus Leader Class A Player of the Year, sits third on the team in scoring (9.4 points per game) and first in 3-pointers (32) after a pair of 20-plus scoring performances. From Tea, South Dakota, Freidel scored the nets for 28 with six 3-pointers at Omaha and followed it with 23 points and four 3-pointers against Oral Roberts. He has buried five or more 3s in two games this year, and has come up with 11 steals and 17 assists.

Brandon Key (9.2 points per game) has been a catalyst at the point, posting four or more assists in 11 games, including five straight entering league action. Though he did not play in SDSU's first two Summit League games, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin guard has six double-digit scoring games with 71 total assists, dishing 4.7 per contest. Key holds a 1.6 assist-to-turnover mark and is back for the Jackrabbits after redshirting a year ago. He had 112 assists in 2017-18.

David Wingett has started the last four games and is averaging eight points per game, second on the team with 30 3-pointers. The Winnebago, Nebraska native is one of five Jackrabbits with double-digit steals (12), sitting fourth in swipes behind Key and Arians (16 each) and Wilson (14).

Baylor Scheierman has 13 3-pointers and 27 assists in his first collegiate season, averaging 6.4 points over 19.2 minutes per contest. The Aurora, Nebraska guard has also pulled down 4.4 boards on average, helping SDSU to a plus-4.3 rebounding margin at 39.2 boards per contest.

About Western Illinois
Winners in two of its last three games, Western Illinois comes to Frost Arena averaging 78.4 points per game, minus-1.5 in scoring margin. The Leathernecks are shooting 44.3 percent as a team, burying 8.3 3-pointers per contest with four players averaging double figure scoring.

Kobe Webster leads the offense with 15.8 points per game, shooting 44.4 percent to go with a team-best 46 assists.

Zion Young (14.4 points per game), Ben Pyle (13.1 ppg) and C.J. Duff (10.5 ppg) are in double figures as well.

Young is second on the team with 5.3 rebounds per game, trailing only James Claar's 6.1 rebounding mark. Claar has added 7.8 points per game and 10 blocks over 12 starts.

Pyle has sank a team-leading 33 3-pointers and come up with 16 steals, adding 24 steals to sit tied for second in that category alongside Young.

The Leathernecks are minus-2.9 on the boards and have seen opponents score 79.9 points per contest, sinking 8.5 treys per 40 minutes of action.

Billy Wright is 52-102 at Western Illinois and is in the midst of his sixth season leading the Leathernecks.

A South Dakota State Win Would ...
Make SDSU 11-7 on the year, 2-1 in Summit League play and 27-5 all-time against Western Illinois ... move SDSU to 10-0 at home with 18 consecutive victories at Frost Arena ... give SDSU a 1,546-1,047-1 program mark.

A South Dakota State Loss Would ...
Drop the Jackrabbits to 10-8 on the year and 1-2 in Summit League play ... snap a 17-game home winning streak ... make the Jacks 26-6 all-time against Western Illinois ... give the Jacks a 1,545-1,048-1 program mark.

Trending Up
The past five games have shown a noticeable uptick in several statistical areas for the Jackrabbits, most notably the team's 3-point shooting and overall shooting percentage.

After sinking just 79 3-pointers through the first 12 games of the season (at a clip of 29 percent), SDSU is 45-of-115 from deep dating back to its Dec. 13 contest with Nebraska-Kearney. The Jacks shot 39.1 percent as a team in that span with four players sinking five or more treys.
SDSU has taken better shot selection of late, leading to an increase of six points per game. Additionally, SDSU is shooting 51.2 percent of its last five contests compared to 44.8 percent through the first 12 games.
In line with better shot selection, SDSU has seen an uptick in assists per game (12.8 to 16.2) and a decrease in turnovers per contest (14.8 to 10.8) in comparing the first 12 games to the last five.
After averaging 7.5 and 6.2 points through 12 games, respectively, Noah Freidel and Alex Arians have seen their scoring averages rise to 14 and 13.8 points per contest.
Freidel (13), David Wingett (12) and Arians (nine) have lit up the nets from deep over the last five games.

Wilson Honored by Summit League
Douglas Wilson was selected as the Summit League's Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week, announced Nov. 11.

Wilson posted a monster debut week for the Jackrabbits, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest with a trio of double-figure scoring performances. Wilson helped SDSU to a 3-0 record to begin the year, scoring 24, 13 and 26 against UTRGV, Peru State and CSU Bakersfield, respectively. Wilson tallied his first-career double-double in the win over CSU Bakersfield with a game-high 13 rebounds.

On the Line
The Jackrabbits have seen a trend develop through 16 games of its 2019-20 schedule related to the free throw line.

Though SDSU is shooting just 68.7 percent as a team at the charity stripe, the Jackrabbits are 9-1 in games where they attempt more free throws than their opponent. Additionally, State is 1-7 in the seven games where opponents have gotten to the line more.

SDSU has held opponents to single-digit attempts three times this season, including back-to-back games against Nebraska-Kearney (four attempts) and Florida Gulf Coast (eight attempts).

Basketball Coaches Show Every Monday
The Jackrabbit Basketball Coaches Show is live at Cubby's Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Brookings Monday evenings at 6 p.m.. The hour-long show covering the 2019-20 basketball season tips off every Monday through March 2.

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the weekly look at the South Dakota State basketball teams features interviews with head men's coach Eric Henderson and head women's coach Aaron Johnston, as well as segments with Jackrabbit student-athletes and members of the coaching staff.

Fans can attend in person and will be eligible for weekly drawings.

The show also airs live on flagship radio station WNAX 570 AM and Jackrabbit Sports Network affiliates, and can be heard live or on-demand for free via Jackrabbits All-Access and the Jackrabbit App.

New Faces, New Roles
South Dakota State's lineup will feature new roles and new faces throughout the season, as the Jackrabbits return only 16.9 percent of their scoring from 2018-19, and 10.7 percent of their 3-point makes. SDSU's 15.8 points per game returning ranks sixth-lowest nationally, and the 16.9 percent back is the third-lowest margin (according to available records).

#FearFrost

The Jacks own a 112-6 record at Frost Arena over the last seven seasons dating back to 2011-12, which includes perfect home records in five of the last seven years. That span includes two home winning streaks of 30 or more games and three of 25 or more.
The Jackrabbits' current home winning streak of 16 games is tied for fifth-longest in NCAA Division I.
Since 2011-12, South Dakota State has won 94.9 percent of its home games, a mark that top all Division I programs in that span. South Dakota State won 34 consecutive games from Jan. 30, 2014 to Dec. 28, 2016. It ended as the nation's second-longest active streak.
The Jackrabbits won 30 consecutive home games from Jan. 29, 2011 to Nov. 14, 2013.
SDSU won 26 consecutive home games from Dec. 31, 2016 to Dec. 22, 2018.
South Dakota State won 34 consecutive home nonconference games inside Frost Arena from Dec. 31, 2016 to Dec. 22, 2018. That mark was the fourth-longest active streak when it ended.
SDSU put together undefeated seasons inside Frost Arena the following years: 1984-85 (18-0), 2002-03 (17-0), 2011-12 (14-0), 2012-13 (13-0), 2014-15 (13-0), 2015-16 (12-0) and 2017-18 (15-0).

Quick Hits

Douglas Wilson led the team in points (25), rebounds (10), steals (two) and blocks (four), and was tied for the lead in assists (four) against Oral Roberts Jan. 2.
The Jackrabbits have trailed for less than one minute in five games this season, including three straight to end nonleague play.
SDSU is second nationally with 666 rebounds on the year, tallying 40 or more boards in eight games.
Douglas Wilson is fifth nationally with 118 field goals this season, ranking 21st in field goal percentage and 20th in total points.
South Dakota State has played five games against opponents this year it had not previously met.
The Jackrabbits held Mississippi Valley State to 17 first-half points on Nov. 24, 2019. That is the fewest since South Dakota State held Chadron State to 12 first-half points on Nov. 24, 2014.
SDSU's 93-91 victory over CSU Bakersfield saw five Jackrabbits reach double figures for the first time in 2019-20. The feat last happened Jan. 31, 2019 against Oral Roberts.
State posted back-to-back 50-rebound games to open the season. The last time an SDSU program had 50-plus rebounds in consecutive games was Dec. 15 and 27, 2002 against Finlandia (60) and Fort Lewis (58). The Jacks also had three-straight games with 50-plus rebounds that season: Nov. 23, 29 and 30.
Douglas Wilson's 24 points on Nov. 5 are the most in a Jackrabbit debut dating back to 2000-01, when game-by-game statistics were readily available.
SDSU went 13-0 when holding opponents under 70 points last season (11-9 when not) and scored 70-plus points in 32 of 33 contests. The Jackrabbits were 12-0 when holding opponents under 70 points in 2017-18. The Jacks have accomplished the feat seven times this year and are 6-1 in those contests, with the lone loss coming at Indiana.
At least one Jackrabbit has scored in double figures over the last 391 games dating back to Jan. 12, 2008 at IUPUI when Anthony Cordova had nine points to lead the Jacks.
State has made at least one 3-pointer in 421 consecutive games. The last time the Jackrabbits did not make a 3-point field goal was Jan. 25, 2007
South Dakota State is 94-18 all-time in home openers (where records available). Dating back to 2004-05, SDSU's first year of DI transition, the Jacks are 12-4 in those games.
SDSU is 75-39 in season-openers all-time. The Jacks are 8-8 in season-opening games at the Division I level. The Jackrabbits are 7-6 in Summit League openers.

Jackrabbits Featured on All-Decade Teams
Former Jackrabbits Mike Daum and Nate Wolters were featured on All-Decade Teams, announced Dec. 31 as 2019 came to an end.

CollegeInsider.com featured Daum and Wolters on the Lou Henson Award team, while Daum also earned Lute Olson Award All-Decade team honors from the organization.

Mid-Major Madness also tabbed Daum as one of 10 selections to its all-decade squad.

Daum posted a 22.4 career scoring average and poured in 3,067 points, closing his time as Division I's No. 7 all-time scorer. He was a 2018-19 consensus All-American and a three-time Summit League Player of the Year.

Wolters wreaked havoc on defenses and closed his career with 2,352 points, 668 assists and 601 rebounds. He was a two-time Associated Press All-American, earning third-team honors as a senior, and picked up a second team NABC All-American nod in 2013.

State Adds Two on National Signing Day
South Dakota State men's basketball announced a pair of signees on National Signing Day, with William Mfum and Noah King inking their commitments to the Jackrabbits.

William Mfum is an early enrollee at South Dakota State for the spring 2020 semester after graduating in December from Spring Creek Academy (Plano, Texas). Mfum will redshirt this semester and practice with the team after leaving Spring Creek on a high note, earning All-Texas Christian Athletic League and All-City First Team honors as a junior. Mfum averaged 19.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in 2018-19, burying 34 3-pointers and hitting 47 percent from the field. The 6-2 guard scored 20 or more points in nine games a year ago and had one double-double. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Mfum is the son of Stella Nyarko and Seth Adjei and plans to major in business management.

Noah King averaged 19 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game as a junior, helping his team reach the section 1AA semifinals. The 6-2 guard has scored over 1,900 points in his prep career and is closing in on the school's all-time scoring record. King also led Caledonia's football team to a state championship in 2018 and 2019. The younger brother of current Jackrabbit Owen King, Noah hails from Caledonia, Minnesota and is the son of Brad and Susan King. He is undecided on his major.

Jackrabbits in Two Scheduling Agreements
Summit League teams are in year two of scheduling agreements with the Western Athletic Conference and Big Sky, and this year claimed a 5-3 win in the WAC series.

The Jackrabbits took on Grand Canyon last year in the first year of the Summit League/WAC challenge, defeating the Lopes in the 2018-19 season opener. Year two of the challenge sent SDSU to face CSU Bakersfield Nov. 9, where the Jacks claimed a 93-91 double-overtime win.

The scheduling agreement with the Big Sky is a four-year contract. The Jackrabbits will play the following games as part of the deal:

2018-19: Montana (home; L, 74-85), Eastern Washington (away; W, 74-64)
2019-20: Idaho (home; W, 85-57), Montana State (away; L, 70-77)
2020-21: Eastern Washington (home), Montana (away)
2021-22: Montana State (home), Idaho (away)

Tough Tests
South Dakota State played four Power Five (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, PAC-12) opponents in the 2019-20 nonleague season, facing USC, Nebraska, Arizona and Indiana in November. Though the Jacks went winless in those games, they led for a majority of the contest at Arizona, and held Indiana (a top-10 scoring offense) to a season-low 64 points.

South Dakota State has seven wins over Power Five programs since joining The Summit League in 2007, picking up victories over Iowa State (2008), Iowa (2010 and 2017), Washington (2011), TCU (2015), Minnesota (2015) and Ole Miss (2017).

SDSU's wins over Iowa and Ole Miss in 2017-18 came in the shortest time frame of any Summit League team since 1998 (seven days). The Jackrabbits are the fifth league team to post a win over separate Power Five conferences in the same regular season, and the first to do it since 2009.

Jacks Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll
South Dakota State men's basketball earned two first-place votes and was tabbed fifth in the 2019-20 Summit League men's basketball preseason poll, released in October.

The poll is voted on by league coaches, sports information directors and select media.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
South Dakota State men's basketball opened 2020 with a 96-79 victory over Oral Roberts Thursday at Frost Arena, shooting 62.5 percent from the field with four double-figure scorers.

Douglas Wilson and Noah Freidel led the attack with 25 and 23 points, respectively. Wilson pulled down for the double-double and Freidel sank 9-of-11 from the field with four 3-pointers.

Matt Dentlinger finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Alex Arians added 17 in the scoring column, hitting 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep.

The Jacks (10-7, 1-1 Summit League) were plus-five on the glass, holding Oral Roberts to a season-low 30 rebounds to go with a 60-28 advantage in points in the paint.

"What a basketball game," head coach Eric Henderson said. "I'm really, really proud of our guys' effort against, I think, one of the better teams in the Summit League. Coach Mills does a tremendous job there. But our guys' effort tonight was fantastic. When you look at the stat sheet and you see 19 assists, I'm very proud of how selfless our guys are and how hard they competed."

ORU built an 11-8 lead early on, but State answered with a 9-0 run to take control for good, closing the burst with an acrobatic Freidel layup at 12:33.

An Arians trey, Wilson alley-oop and Dentlinger hook shot helped SDSU push its lead to double figures (29-19) for the first time, forcing an ORU timeout at 7:37.

The hot-shooting continued the rest of the half, as Arians capped off the impressive start with a driving layup on State's final possession of the frame, sending SDSU to the locker room ahead, 45-27.

ORU came out firing in the second half with 11 unanswered, cutting the lead to seven (45-38) before David Wingett sank his first 3-pointer of the night at 17:48. Freidel snuffed out any comeback hopes for ORU, though, as he scored 15 of the next 19 Jackrabbit points and SDSU grew its lead back to 15 (66-51) at the 12-minute mark.

The Golden Eagles hung around and traded buckets the rest of the way, but never cut the margin to single digits again as SDSU closed out its first league win.

Opponent Last Time Out
FARGO, N.D. – There was a bit of hype surrounding Thursday's contest between the Western Illinois and North Dakota State men's basketball teams. The two last met in a tight semifinal matchup at last year's Summit League Tournament, and a win for the Leathernecks would've extended their season's streak to three. Instead, the final fell in favor of the home team 94-74.

While the Leathernecks were looking to generate offense, North Dakota State was running on all cylinders.

"Give [NDSU] credit in terms of their effort and aggressiveness to get to the basket," said head coach Billy Wright. "They posted up well, finished at the rim, and rebounded from the very first possession. As the game went on, we made adjustments in the second half, came out with a little more focus and energy, but dug ourselves in too big of a hole."

NDSU put up just three more shots than WIU in the opening half, but built a 19-point edge by outrebounding its counterpart 25-12 and shooting a perfect 12-for-12 clip at the free-throw line with six 3-pointers. The Bison led 50-34 at halftime, and the difference continued to grow from there.

The early goings saw North Dakota State up 20-10 with 13:29 to go – helped by a slump where Western was 0-for-6 from the floor -- but then the Roderick Smith Show began. The Leatherneck big man entered the contest near the 12:25 mark and made his presence known on the next possession with an old-fashioned 3-point play. The bucket was the first of four first-half field goals for the Southwest Mississippi transfer, and he missed just one attempt for a team-high nine points by the half.

"Roderick gives us a big body down low that can finish. He's working hard, guys like him and Kyle Arrington have great attitudes. When it's their night, and their number is called, they were ready to go."

Smith finished the evening with a career-high, team-high 15 points, shooting 7-for-11. The Leathernecks also saw Zion Young (13), Kobe Webster (12), and C.J. Duff (11) finish in double-figures.

Last Matchup: SDSU vs WIU (3/9/19)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Top-seeded South Dakota State saw its comeback efforts fall just short Saturday at the Summit League Championships, falling 79-76 to No. 8 seed Western Illinois at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

Down 38-28 at half, the Jackrabbits traded buckets with the Leathernecks throughout the second half until a 5-0 spurt with just over two minutes left brought them within six (72-66).

David Jenkins hit a deep second-chance 3-pointer with 14 seconds to cut the WIU lead to one, 77-76, but that was as close as SDSU came as the Leathernecks used free throws and got one final defensive stop to escape with the upset.

The Jacks overcame a slow start to finish 46.6 percent from the field, but finished just 5-of-20 from deep and 17-of-26 at the line. The Leathernecks shot 46 percent as a team as well and had seven 3-pointers while going 14-of-25 from the charity stripe.

Jenkins finished with a team-high 29 points, scoring 24 in the final period, including 14 in the final four minutes, to lead the second-half surge.

Mike Daum tacked on 16 for the Jackrabbits and pulled down 11 boards for his 53rd career double-double.

Tevin King finished with 19 points and eight rebounds to go with two blocks and a pair of crucial steals late in the game, serving as a catalyst to the Jackrabbit attack throughout the night.

-GoJacks.com-