Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Mayville State (Exhibition) on October 29, 2025 at 8:30 p.m.
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8:30 p.m.
Men's Basketball
vs Mayville State (Exhibition)
South Dakota State University Athletics
Jacks welcome Broncos for season opener
11/10/2011 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The vast majority of teams start the 2011-12 basketball season on Friday, but the South Dakota State season starts on Saturday, when the Jackrabbits host Western Michigan in both team's home opener at Frost Arena at 1 p.m.
The Jacks utilized on exhibition game to prepare for Saturday's opener, beating MSU, Moorhead 77-64. Nate Wolters led the Jacks with 24 points, including a perfect 11-for-11 night at the free throw line. Chad White added 12 points and Jordan Dykstra 11 points in the win. Griffan Callahan led the Jackrabbit defense with seven rebounds to go along with his five points.
Western Michigan prepared for the opener with exhibition wins against Kalamazoo College, 92-57, and Northwood, 78-63.
2011-12 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE SEASON PREVIEW -The Jackrabbits continued their climb up The Summit League in 2010-11, and even though they entered The Summit League Championships as the No. 5 seed, the Jackrabbits won their opening round game and advanced to the conference semifinals before falling to the eventual champion Oakland.
The Jackrabbits did not reach the season goal of reaching their first NCAA Tournament at the Division I level, but the season did not go down as a complete disappointment on a team or individual level.
As a team, the Jackrabbits won a Division I best 19 games, topping the previous mark of 14 set in 2009-10. The 19-12 overall record also marked the Jacks first winning season at the D-I level and the first since a 27-7 mark in 2003-04. The 2010-11 Jackrabbits also set team records for three-pointers in a season, both made and attempted, by going 276-of-672 from long range.
The graduation Clint Sargent, who set the SDSU record for career three-pointers, may keep the Jacks from topping the three-point mark again, but the return of junior point guard Nate Wolters puts SDSU in great position to reach numerous other goals.
Wolters set the SDSU sophomore scoring record in 2010-11 with 604 points, which leaves him just 97 points shy of reaching the 1,000 point milestone, and puts him on pace to break the SDSU career scoring record of 1,931 points. More than just a scorer, Wolters also enters his junior season on pace to finish his career in the top three in assists and top five in steals at SDSU.
A solid supporting cast also returns, including senior swingman Griffan Callahan, sophomore forward Jordan Dykstra and host of other players with plenty of game experience to help the Jackrabbits in 2011-12.
RABBITS ON THE RADIO - Originated from the AM 570 WNAX studios in Yankton, S.D., SDSU men's basketball games can be heard on a total of five stations throughout South Dakota on the Jackrabbit Sports Network.
– 570 AM - WNAX -
Yankton
– 910 AM - KJJQ "The
Ranch" - Brookings
– 1060 AM - KGFX -
Pierre
– 950 AM KWAT or 96.9
FM KDLO - Watertown
– 99.5 FM - KRKI -
Rapid City
Pierre, S.D., native Tyler Merriam takes over the play-by-play duties in 2011-12, replacing six-time winner of the South Dakota Associated Press Sportscaster of the Year and 1998 National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association South Dakota Sportscaster of the Year, Steve Imming, who retired in the summer of 2011.
THE JACKRABBIT EXTRA ON GoJacks.com - Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com watch every Jackrabbit home game and select road games streaming live on the internet. In addition, subscribers can listen to every game, home and on the road, streaming live on the internet.
To learn more about the Jackrabbit Extra, or to subscribe, log onto GoJacks.com and click on "SIGN UP NOW"
THE JACKRABBIT INSIDER ON FOX - Fans of South Dakota State Athletics can get a weekly behind-the-scenes look at all 21 Jackrabbit varsity sports teams by tuning into "The Jackrabbit Insider."
Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the show airs on Sundays on KTTW FOX 17 at 10:30 p.m., and can also be seen on Fox Sports North at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays.
WOLTERS CLOSES IN ON 1,000-POINT MILESTONE - Junior Nate Wolters set the sophomore scoring record last season with 604 points. Add that to his 303 points as a freshman, and the standout point guard needs just 97 points to become the 42nd member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club.
WOLTERS CHASES SCORING RECORD - Nate Wolters scored 303 points as a freshman, then set the SDSU sophomore scoring record with 6-4 points. Double his two-year point total of 907 points, and it does not appear that he enters his junior season on pace to break the all-time SDSU scoring record of 1,931 points, but if he can average 512 points per season over his last two years, the record, set by Mark Tetzlaff from 1981-85, would indeed fall.
WOLTERS DRAWS NATIONAL ATTENTION - Following a sophomore season that saw Nate Wolters garner numerous postseason awards after shattering the SDSU sophomore scoring record with 604 points, and after leading the Jackrabbits with 19.5 points per game and the league with 6.1 assists per game, a number of different media outlets took notice:
– College
Basketball's Top 25 Players you might not know, but should
– CBSsports.com
25th ranked Point Guard
– CBSsports.com
Summit Pre-Season Player of the Year
– Rivals.com
All-Summit First Team, Ballin' is a Habit Mid Major Second Team
NAGY NEARS MILESTONE WIN - Already the most prolific coach in SDSU history, Jackrabbit head coach Scott Nagy enters the 2011-12 season with 289 wins, just 11 shy of reaching the 300-win milestone.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
Western Michigan Broncos (0-0, 0-0 MAC) - Western Michigan returns all five starters from last year's team that went 21-13 and captured the sixth MAC West title in program history. That paved the way for The Mid-American Conference preseason media poll to select the Broncos as the favorite win the MAC West Division with 14 first-place votes. In addition, the Broncos' Flenard Whitfield and Demetrius Ward both earned Preseason All-MAC selections.
The Broncos made their way to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament last season before falling to eventual champion Akron. The Broncos would go on to host a pair of postseason tournament games, defeating Tennessee Tech in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament before falling to Buffalo in a tight 49-48 contest.
The Series vs. Western Michigan - The Broncos lead the all-time series with the Jackrabbits 2-0, including an 81-68 win on Dec. 7, 1957 and a 77-74 win last season on Dec. 18, with both games played in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The Last Meeting vs. Western Michigan, 12/18/10 - Down by 19 points early in the second half, South Dakota State outscored Western Michigan 42-16 over the next 16 minutes to take a seven point lead, only to see it vanish in an 8-0 run that propelled Western Michigan to a 77-74 win.
The Jacks trailed 44-30 at the half, and then watched the Broncos score the first five points of the second half to take a commanding 49-30 lead before the Jackrabbits, namely Nate Wolters, got hot.
Wolters led the Jacks with 28 points in the loss, including 18 points during the 16 minute stretch the ended with the Jacks up 72-65 with 2:49 left to play.
WMU got back on track to score the next eight points to take a 73-72 lead with just under a minute to play. Wolters scored his final two points of the game the next trip down the floor to put the Jacks back on top by one, but the Broncos scored on their next possession to go up for good.
Trailing 77-74 with just over a second on the clock, Clint Sargent just missed on a three-point attempt to force overtime.
In addition to Wolters, who added seven assists to his game-high 28 points, Jordan Dykstra scored 12 points, 10 in the second half, while Sargent added 10.
NEXT UP FOR THE JACKRABBITS - The Jackrabbits the road on Monday for their annual match-up against Minnesota at Williams Arena. The Jacks and Gophers tipoff at 7 p.m., from historic Williams Arena.
Following the Minnesota game, SDSU plays its next four games in the state of Georgia, starting with a game against Georgia on Wednesday, followed by three games at the CBE Classic on Nov. 21-23, in Macon.
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