South Dakota Splits Opening Weekend of Summit League Action, Plays Fort Wayne and Omaha in Week Two

The South Dakota men's basketball team did things a little backward during the opening week of the 2016 Summit League schedule - lose at home and win on the road.

The Coyotes came put flat against IUPUI in the conference opener, trailing by as many as 13 before falling 77-66 to the Jaguars. It was a game that saw USD shoot the ball poorly from long range (2-of-15 3's) and IUPUI dominate the glass (+7 rebounding edge).

South Dakota rebounded two days later in Tulsa with a 94-84 win over Oral Roberts. The Coyotes shuffled their starting lineup for disciplinary reasons, but still responded by forcing 22 turnovers and shooting 63 percent in the second half.

Tre Brunette led USD with 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting, Casey Kasperbauer bounced back from a poor shooting night against IUPUI to go 5-of-12 for 20 points.

Week two begins in Indiana Wednesday night as the Coyotes play at Fort Wayne. The Mastodons are led by two of the top 10 scorers in the Summit - Mo Evans And Max Landis, who between them, average 33 points a game. IPFW is the top rebounding team in the league, with John Konchar leading the Summit with eight boards a game.

Tipoff in Fort Wayne is 6:00 PM Wednesday.

Saturday, USD returns home to host Omaha in a women's - men's double header at the DakotaDome.

The Mavericks are the #1 scoring team in the league, with Devin Patterson and Tre' Shawn Thurman averaging better than 30 points a game between them.

Both teams like to push the tempo, UNO leading the Summit in shots attempted (1,034) with USD a close second (985).

Tipoff in Vermillion is 4:00 PM Saturday.

I talked with South Dakota head coach Craig Smith about last week's split and this week's match-ups: