Jackrabbits Start Week atop Summit League Standings

With ten wins in their last eleven games, the South Dakota State men's basketball team has climbed even with North Dakota State for first in the Summit League standings with two weeks to play in the regular season.

• Summit League Women's Preview: SDSU at Omaha

That tie was achieved with the Jackrabbits 68-58 win over the Bison in Brookings last Saturday.  In that game, SDSU held NDSU to 32 percent shooting in the first half and pulled away late to capture their 19th win of the season, tops in the conference.

Deondre Parks sparked the Jacks second half play, scoring all 12 of his points in the final eight minutes of the game.  Head coach Scott Nagy says it was his team's physical play that was a difference in this one:

Wednesday, SDSU has a chance to take over sole possession of first place with North Dakota State idle.  The Jackrabbits play at Western Illinois, a team they beat 75-44 at Frost Arena in early January.  The Leathernecks have two of the top 15 scorers in the league (Garret Covington and JC Fuller) but are struggling lately, losing nine of ten, and Coach Nagy knows why WIU has hit hard times:

Tipoff is 7:00 PM Wednesday in Macomb.