Summit League Preview: South Dakota State Men at Purdue-Fort Wayne, South Dakota
Just two games into the 2018-19 Summit League schedule and we've already hit one of the biggest match-ups of the season as South Dakota State plays at Purdue-Fort Wayne.
There will be a ton of offense on display in Indiana tonight (January 3) as five of the top seven scorers in the Summit will be on the floor for the two best scoring teams in the conference.
SDSU's Mike Daum, David Jenkins Jr., and Skyler Flatten combine for better than 60 points per game, while Fort Wayne's John Konchar and Kason Harrell 37 a game.
The Mastodons (10-7/2-0 Summit League) are the most prolific three-point shooting team in the Summit and also lead the conference in assists.
Defensively they are tops in steals and Konchar is second in the Summit in rebounding.
Tipoff is 6:30 PM, tonight in Fort Wayne.
The Jackrabbits finish a three-game road swing to start league play at South Dakota Sunday (January 6).
The Coyotes (7-8/1-1 Summit League) are coming off their first conference win at Denver Wednesday (January 2) night as Cody Kelley scored with seven seconds left to lift USD to a 71-70 win.
USD has been riddled with injuries this season and are without center Tyler Hagedorn and forward Logan Power for the year.
New head coach Todd Lee has four players (Trey Burch-Manning, Triston Simpson, Tyler Peterson, and Stanley Umude) averaging in double figures in scoring.
Defensively, the Coyotes are allowing the fewest points of any Summit League team so far (66 per game).
Tipoff is 3:30 PM, Sunday in Vermillion.
South Dakota State (11-5/1-0 Summit League) opened conference play with an impressive wire-to-wire 100-58 win at Western Illinois last week.
The Jackrabbits shot 62 percent and hit 13 three-pointers, including nine first-half triples.
Jenkins finished with 23 points, while Daum notched his NCAA-best 12th double-double of the season with 15 points and ten rebounds. Flatten, Tevin King, Owen King, and Alex Arians all scored in double figures.
I talked with SDSU associate head coach Eric Henderson about the Western Illinois win and this week's match-ups with Purdue-Fort Wayne and South Dakota: