Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Mayville State (Exhibition) on October 29, 2025 at 8:30 p.m.

12/9/2011 5:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
After playing eight straight games away from home, South Dakota State plays is second of three straight games at home this week on Saturday, when the Jackrabbits welcome former North Central Conference foe North Dakota to Brookings for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
The Jackrabbits opened the home stand in style on Tuesday with a convincing 92-69 win over Southwest Minnesota State.
SDSU went on an 11-0 run to end the first half of Tuesday's game, and then turned it into a 22-2 run to start the second half to seal the win.
Playing in their first game at Frost Arena since the home opener on Nov. 12, the Jackrabbits improved to 7-3 on the season. The Mustangs, playing their sixth straight road game this season, fall to 2-4.
Taévaunn Prince led the Jackrabbits with a career-high 16 points in the win, Nate Wolters added 14 points playing a season-low 28 minutes. Wolters also added five assists and a pair of steals. Tony Fiegen scored 11 points in the win, while Zach Monaghan added a career-high 10 points.
Jordan Miller led four Mustangs in double figures with a game-high 18 points before fouling out of the game late in the second half. Vinard Birth scored 15, Lavione West 13 and Matt Zager 10 points in the loss.
The Mustangs hung with the Jacks for much of the first half, forcing nine ties and eight lead changes, but the Jackrabbits held SMSU without a field goal from the 3:49 mark of the first half until the 16:33 mark of the second half. SMSU scored four points in that span, compared to 24 for the Jackrabbits.
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. That select list includes Saturday's game at Western Illinois. 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.
JACKS RECEIVING VOTES MID-MAJOR TOP-25 - South Dakota State received three votes in the most recent collegesinsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll released on Dec. 5. The Other Summit League teams in the poll include Oakland at No. 18, with North Dakota State and Oral Roberts also receiving votes.
WOLTERS NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK - The Summit League named Nate Wolters its co-player of the week on Monday, after the junior point guard helped lead South Dakota State to a pair of Summit League road wins at IUPUI and at Western Illinois
Wolters, who shares this week's honor with Oakland's Reggie Hamilton, collects his fifth career accolade and second this season after averaging 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists in wins at IUPUI and Western Illinois.
In the league opener against the Jaguars, Wolters tied a season-high with 32 points, adding eight rebounds and eight assists in leading SDSU to its first-ever win at IUPUI. Two nights later against the Fighting Leathernecks, he totaled 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists with just one turnover.
For the week, Wolters vaulted from 33rd to 25th on SDSU's all-time scoring list and recorded a 2.5 assist/turnover ratio while averaging 41 minutes per game.
WOLTERS JOINS THE 1,000-POINT CLUB - 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 entered the 2011-12 season needing just 97 points to become the 42nd member of the SDSU 1,000-Point Club, which he accomplished in the Jacks win over Sam Houston State on Nov. 22. Wolters enters tonight's game with 1,113 career points, good for 25th all-time at SDSU, two points shy of moving up two spots on the list.
WOLTERS CHASES SCORING RECORD - Nate Wolters scored 303 points as a freshman, and then set the SDSU sophomore scoring record with 604 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 AND CALLAHAN EARN CBE CLASSIC HONORS - Nate Wolters averaged 19 points per game and dished out 14 assists in leading the Jackrabbits to three wins at the CBE Classic Macon Sub-regional last week, all of which earned him MVP honors at the event. Senior Griffan Callahan averaged 15.7 points and led the Jacks with 6.7 rebounds per game to earn all-tournament team honors.
NAGY NEARS MILESTONE WIN - Already the most prolific coach in SDSU history, Jackrabbit head coach Scott Nagy entered the 2011-12 season with 289 wins, just 11 shy of reaching the 300-win milestone. His seven wins this season give him 296 for his career, four wins shy of the milestone.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
North Dakota (4-4, 0-3 Away) - North Dakota closes a three game road trip tonight against the Jackrabbits, and then returns home to Grand Forks, N.D., to prepare for its next home game on Thursday against the same Jackrabbits.
Fresh off a 78-75 loss at UMKC on Thursday, North Dakota also fell to Summit League foe Western Illinois at home, 65-62, on Nov. 26, its only home loss of the season. Winless on the road thus far, UND picked up home wins over Waldorf, Idaho State, Montana (in overtime) and Jamestown, with road losses to Bradley, Idaho State and UMKC.
Troy Huff leads four UND players averaging in double figures with 14.8 points per game. Huff also leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game. Aaron Anderson averages and even 13.0 points per game, Patrick Mitchell an even 12 points and Jamal Webb 10.8 points per game to go along with his team-high 31 assists.
The Series vs. North Dakota - North Dakota leads the all-time series 103-97, including a 42-11 win in the first meeting in 1914. The Jackrabbits won the last three meetings, the last being a 74-63 in the first round of the North Central Conference Tournament on March 2, 2004
The Last Meeting: at Frost Arena, March 2, 2004 - Matt Jones poured in a game-high 22 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, all off the bench and in just 18 minutes, to lead South Dakota State past North Dakota by the score of 74-63 in the first round of the North Central Conference Wells Fargo Finals at Frost Arena in Brookings.
Andy Moeller added 12 points, seven rebounds and a game-high four assists in the win, which keeps the No. 2 seed Jackrabbits in the hunt for the conference title. Derrick Shantz rounded out the Jacks double-digit scorers with 11 points.
Only Mike Johnson cracked double-digits for the visitors, he finished with 19 points.
SDSU opened the game on a 12-0 run, only to see North Dakota cut the lead to just two points at 18-16 with 6:25 left in the first half.
The Jacks would push the lead back to five points in taking a 25-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Down by as many as 10 points in the second half, UND came back to tie the game at 48-48 and eventually took a six point lead at 60-54 with 4:15 left in the game.
SDSU responded with a 14-0 run and never looked back.Dakota State Trojans (7-4, 3-1 Away) - Already 11 games into their season, the Trojans last played on Dec. 3, and do not play again until they take on the Jackrabbits on Monday. The Trojans, who received a vote in the latest NAIA Division II Coaches Poll released on Dec. 5, posted a 1-2 record so far this season against teams ranked in the same poll. It took two overtimes on Nov. 8, for No. 7 Northwestern (Iowa) to earn a 99-90 win over DSU, who bounced back to beat No. 23 Morningside 78-72 three days later. No. 4 Bellevue (Neb.) downed the Trojans 85-65 on Nov. 26.
Jesse Bean leads the Trojan offense with 12.3 points per game, followed closely by Spencer Adams and his 12.0 points per game. Luke Lamb and Donald Stewart add 10.8 and 10.2 points per game respectively. Keith Biggers adds 6.8 points to go along with his team-high 6.2 rebounds per game.
The Series vs. Dakota State - The Jackrabbits lead the all-time series 18-4, a series that dates back to the Jacks inaugural season in 1903-04. Known as Madison Normal then, the Trojans won both meetings that season. SDSU won the last seven meetings in the series, with the last DSU win coming during the 1934 season, when the Trojans won 35-34.
The Last Meeting: at Frost Arena, Nov. 25, 2000 - South Dakota State outscored Dakota State 45-25 in the first half, and kept its foot on the gas in the second half in a dominant 87-51 win in front of 2,839 fans at Frost Arena.
All 13 Jackrabbits to play in the game recorded at least two points, led by Luke Condill and his 14 points off the bench. Ryan Johnson and Cody Volmer both scored 10 points in the win, also off the bench.
J.F. Jensen led the visiting Trojans with 13 points, Scott Namanny added 11 and Adam Bobzien 10 points in the loss.
NEXT UP FOR THE JACKRABBITS - The Jackrabbits close the three game homestand on Monday against Dakota State at 7 p.m., and then return to the road to take on North Dakota for the second time in a week on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by a game at Washington on Dec. 18, at 12 p.m. PT.