Jackrabbits, Coyotes Close out Regular Season in Vermillion
The final day of the Summit League regular season is here and South Dakota's two in-state rivals will finish things against each other in Vermillion.
South Dakota State needs to win at USD to get them a share of the conference title with North Dakota State. The Jackrabbits notched a pair of victories last week to run their current win streak to four.
Last Wednesday, SDSU won 79-77 at Western Illinois, in a game that saw both teams shot over 50% percent from the floor, but not play a lot of defense.
Jackrabbits head coach Scott Nagy says there was room for improvement, but a win is a win:
Last Saturday, SDSU put together a much more complete game in a 81-52 rout of Oral Roberts. Four minutes into the game a 19-2 Jackrabbit run game them the cushion they needed. SDSU also got 14 players into the game, putting 10 in the scoring column. Coach Nagy says it all started with defense:
Saturday in Vermillion, the Jacks go for a season sweep of the Coyotes. USD grabbed an early 20-0 lead in the first meeting last month, only to see SDSU score 28 of the next 30, en route to a 71-57 victory. The Jacks will be well rested coming in, having not played in a week, which Coach Nagy says isn't necessarily a good thing:
South Dakota head coach Craig Smith knows his team will have to play better in the rematch to knock off their rivals and move up a seeding spot or two heading to the Summit League Tournament next week:
Tipoff is 4:00 PM Saturday in Vermillion.