With a brutal stretch of road games behind them, the South Dakota men set up shop at home for the second half of the Summit League season, knowing six of their last nine conference games are in the DakotaDome.

The Coyotes finished a run of five of their first seven Summit League games on the road last week, splitting a pair.

USD won 68-58 at Western Illinois last Thursday, picking up their first win in Macomb since the 1969-70 season.

The Coyotes scratched out the victory despite being down ten at the half and allowing WIU's Garret Covington to run wild in the first half.

USD head coach Craig Smith says that was not the game plan:

Two days later in Indianapolis, the Coyotes fell behind 20-5 early and never recovered, losing to IUPUI 65-50, in a game that saw USD make just six of their 27 shot attempts in the first half.

Coach Smith says it was just one of those days:

Back home Thursday, the Coyotes host a Fort Wayne team they beat by a basket in Indiana earlier this month.

In that game, the USD defense gave up 24 points to Mastodons center Steve Forbes. Coach Smith is hoping for a better defensive effort in the post Thursday night:

Tipoff is 7:00 PM in Vermillion Thursday night.

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