MEN'S SEASON BEGINS AT CROSSOVER CLASSIC

GAMES 1-3: South Dakota State (0-0) at Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic

When	Wednesday, Nov. 25 vs. No. 15 West Virginia 6 p.m.	Thursday, Nov. 26 vs. Utah State or VCU 1:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.	Friday, Nov. 27 TBD TBD
Where	Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic \| Sanford Pentagon \| Sioux Falls, S.D.
Live Radio	Jackrabbit Sports Network \| WNAX 570 AM \| Tyler Merriam
Live Audio	Jackrabbits All-Access
Live Video	ESPN2 \| WatchESPN.com	ESPN or ESPN2 \| WatchESPN.com	ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU \| WatchESPN.com
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	South Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook

The Tournament
     South Dakota State will open the 2020-21 season in its own backyard on national television, competing in the eight-team Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic, Nov. 25-27 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
     The Jackrabbits will open play on Wednesday, Nov. 25, against No. 15 West Virginia. Utah State and VCU are on the same side of the bracket as the Jackrabbits and Mountaineers. Memphis, Saint Mary's, Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky make up the rest of the field.

Summit League Favorites
     South Dakota State was the pick to win the Summit League in the conference preseason poll, garnering 33 of 36 first place votes. The Jackrabbits return the Summit's coach and player of the year and feature three preseason all-league honorees.
     Douglas Wilson was voted as player of the year, while Noah Freidel joined him on the first-team. Matt Dentlinger was chosen as second-team all-league.

Sanford Pentagon - Home Away From Home
     South Dakota's biggest city, Sioux Falls, has always been a second home to the Yellow and Blue. The record-setting crowds at the Summit League Tournaments are proof of that.
     The Jackrabbits will play six regular season games this year in Sioux Falls, competing in two different tournaments at the Sanford Pentagon.
     SDSU opens the year in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic Nov. 25-27. The Jacks will return to the Pentagon two weeks later to play its three Dakota rivals as part of the Dakota Showcase, Dec. 10-12.
     Before this year, State had played six games in the Pentagon. One multi-team event, the Sanford Pentagon Showcase, in 2016, and three individual games, the most recent being a matchup with Missouri State on Dec. 2, 2017.

Run of Success
     South Dakota State has played in eight consecutive postseasons, a run that would likely have grown to nine if not for the COVID-19 pandemic causing all the tournaments to be canceled last March. That includes five NCAA Tournaments, a pair of National Invitation Tournaments and one trip to the College Basketball Invitational.
     Only 16 programs in Division I have played in each of the last eight postseasons.
     During this string of success, the Jacks have won five Summit League Tournaments and claimed at least a share of six regular season league titles.

Frost Arena Effect
     No place in Division I men's basketball is harder for visiting teams to win in than Frost Arena. Don't believe us? Try this on for size...
     Since 2015-16, South Dakota State is 68-3 in Frost Arena. That's a .958 winning percentage at home over the past five seasons. Over that span, Kansas (77-6, .928) is second, and only Gonzaga (73-6, .924) and New Mexico State (72-6, .923) are over .920
     If that isn't enough, let's go back to 2011-12. SDSU has played 125 games at Frost in the last nine years, winning 119 of them. Six of those seasons, the Jacks didn't lose at home. Again, the .952 winning percentage is clearly at the top.
     Kansas (141-9, .940) and Gonzaga (135-9, .938) are the only two programs over the past nine years in the same discussion.
     The Jackrabbits have won 24 consecutive games at home, the third longest active streak in Division I men's hoops.
     Additionally, the Jackrabbits were one of 13 teams to go undefeated at home in 2019-20.

Youth & Experience
     This year's bunch of Jacks is a unique combination of youth and experience. Second-year coach Eric Henderson returns 89 percent of the scoring from last year's squad that won 22 games and a share of the Summit League's regular season title, but no one has scored more than 600 career points.

Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic
     The Jackrabbits could potentially see multiple new faces in this week's season opening tournament, including a first ever meeting with opening round opponent West Virginia.
     SDSU has also never played Saint Mary's or Western Kentucky.
     The Jacks have played VCU Utah State and Memphis in recent history. SDSU is 0-1 all-time against the Rams, 1-4 versus the Aggies, and winless in two tries against the Tigers.
     UNI is the opponent South Dakota State has the longest history with, dating back to the Panthers and Jackrabbits being members of the North Central Conference. SDSU owns a 52-37 lead in the all-time series.

SDSU Athletics Division I Success Unparalleled
     South Dakota State's run of overall success in men's basketball, women's basketball and football is unmatched during the past decade in Division I.
     The men's basketball program has reached eight consecutive postseasons. Football has done the same, playing in each of the last eight FCS Playoffs and nine of the last 11.
     Jackrabbit women's basketball has been just as impressive, playing in 13 straight postseasons, nine of those NCAA Tournaments, highlighted by a Sweet Sixteen trip in 2019.
     Only four schools saw both of their basketball programs make eight straight postseasons appearances - Baylor, Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and SDSU.
     When you include football - FBS bowls or the FCS playoff system - South Dakota State is the only school whose football, men's and women's basketball team have played in each of the last eight postseasons.
     This dates back to the 2012 NCAA Basketball Tournaments and the 2012 FCS Playoffs.

Efficient Post Scorers
     The combination of Matt Dentlinger and Douglas Wilson proved to be virtually unstoppable for Summit League teams a season ago, as the Jackrabbits won each of their last 13 games in which both men appeared.
     Wilson shot 62.8 percent last season, good for eighth in the nation.
     In league-only games, no one in the nine-team conference shot over 60 percent. Except for Dentlinger and Wilson, that is. Wilson finished Summit play at 64.1 percent, second only to Dentlinger, who dominated the league by converting 69.7 percent of his attempts.

Dentlinger Honored Academically
     Matt Dentlinger was recognized for his academic achievements by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, being named to its 2019-20 Honors Court list. The NABC Honors Court highlights the talent and gifts of collegiate men's basketball student-athletes on the court and in the classroom.
     To be named to the Honors Court, student-athletes must academically be listed as a junior or senior with a 3.2 grade point average or above. Dentlinger, who was recognized as a 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-District performer earlier this year, boasts a 4.00 GPA in mechanical engineering.
     He was also one of five named to the academic all-Summit League team.

All-Americans
     Two Jackrabbits have reached Division I all-America status while leading South Dakota State to national recognition.
     Nate Wolters led the Jacks to their first two NCAA Tournaments in Division I. He averaged 21.2 points, 5.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds, earning honorable mention all-America honors from the Associated Press.
     Wolters followed that up with a senior season that saw him average 22.2 points, 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds. He won the Summit League Player of the Year and was named third-team all-America by the AP.
     The point guard from St. Cloud, Minn., graduated with a school record 2,363 points He was chosen in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards.
     Not long after that, Mike Daum hit the scene, and the Kimball, Neb. native rewrote the SDSU record books again.
     Daum scored 15 points per game as a freshman, then averaged 20 or more in each of his final three seasons, ending his career with 3,067 points. He's one of just 10 players in the history of Division I men's hoops to eclipse 3,000 points in his career and ranks seventh all-time.
     "The Dauminator" was three times the Summit League Player of the Year, leading the Jacks to three NCAA Tournaments. An Associated Press honorable mention all-American in both 2017 and 2018, he was voted by both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the United States Basketball Writers Association as a third-team all-American in 2019.

Jacks Sign Two For 2021-22
     Head Coach Eric Henderson announced that Broden Lien and Isaiah "Zeke" Mayo signed letters of intent, indicating they will enroll at South Dakota State next fall and join the Jackrabbit men's basketball program.
     Lien (6-8, 220, Flom, Minn.) will graduate from the Andrews Osborne Academy in Willoughby, Ohio, in May. He previously attended Norman County East High School in Ulen, Minn. A two-year starter, he was Pine to Prairie Conference co-MVP last year, averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds per game.
     Mayo (6-3, 170, Lawrence, Kan.) will graduate from Lawrence High School in May. He earned second-team all-state honors in the largest class in Kansas last year. Mayo posted averages of 16.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists last year. Those numbers propelled him to the 2019-20 Lawrence Journal-World Boys Player of the year. He was also a finalist for the Class 6A player of the year.

No Home Games Until January
     In this most irregular of years, South Dakota State does not have a non-conference home game scheduled. In fact, the Jacks are not expected to be at home until Jan. 8 when they open league play vs. Western Illinois.
     If the schedule does indeed play out this way, it would mark the first time since in 35 years that SDSU did not have a home game in November.
               To go a step further, you have to go back to the 1925-26 schedule to find a season the Jackrabbit men didn't host a game until January. That season, SDSU played 20 games total, and only two in December - road games at Wisconsin and St. Mary's (Minn.)

Calendar

Upcoming Events

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Players Mentioned

Mike Daum

Matt Dentlinger

Noah Freidel

Douglas Wilson

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Mayville State (Exhibition) on October 29, 2025 at 8:30 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Merrimack on November 3, 2025 at 8 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Dakota State on November 6, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Northern Iowa on November 9, 2025 at TBD

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Oregon on November 12, 2025 at TBD

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Peru State on November 17, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus North Dakota on March 7, 2025 , Loss , 69, to, 85

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Denver on March 1, 2025 , Loss , 62, to, 78

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Oral Roberts on February 27, 2025 , Win , 77, to, 69

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Kansas City on February 23, 2025 , Win , 70, to, 65

Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus North Dakota State on February 19, 2025 , Loss , 68, to, 77

Completed Event: Men's Basketball at South Dakota on February 16, 2025 , Win , 94, to, 91

South Dakota State University Athletics