Men's Basketball falls in season opener

Friday, November 11

Berkeley, Calif.

7 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. CT

South Dakota State University

0-1

California

1-0

South Dakota State

CAL

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

11/12/2016 12:21:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BERKELEY, California -- South Dakota State men's basketball fell at California in its season opener, 82-53, Friday evening inside Haas Pavilion.

SDSU (0-1) were unable to sustain runs throughout the night, shooting just 28.6 percent from the field while Cal (1-0) hit 46.9 of its field goals and 12-of-32 from long range. The Jackrabbits were eight-of-30 from beyond the arc.

Reed Tellinghuisen and Mike Daum each finished with 14 points to lead the team as Tellinghuisen led the Jacks on the boards, pulling down five rebounds.

Tevin King finished with nine points and two assists and Theisen had eight, including two first half three-pointers.

For California, four players were in double-digits as Jabiri Bird and Sam Singer each had 14 while Grant Mullins added 13 and Roger Moute a Bidias notched 12.

Scoreless through the game's opening 6 minutes, SDSU's first points of the new campaign came from Tellinghuisen on a transition layup at 13:35 after Cal ran off nine unanswered. The Jacks' slow start from the field continued, however, and the Bears pushed the game to a 21-5 score over the next two minutes.

Inside the 12-minute mark of the opening half, Ian Theisen hit a three-pointer at 10:54 that posed as a spark to the Jackrabbit offense, but it was Cal who countered over the next few minutes go up 24-6 at 8:12.

Down 18 at that point, SDSU closed three game over the next minute as Mike Daum knocked down his first three-pointer of the game and Tevin King added three points of his own the old-fashioned way, making a free throw after a contested layup drew a foul.

The Bears pushed things back to 15 soon after, but SDSU looked to be turning the tide as it heated up from the field and kept things close, trailing 32-19 at the under four media timeout.

A pair of Daum layups in consecutive possessions saw SDSU make it 34-23 just inside two minutes to go in the half, and though the Bears went up 15 after a three-pointer at the 30-second mark, Theisen answered on the other end with his second long-range bucket of the day and sent the teams to the locker room at 40-28.

At the break, Theisen led the Jacks with eight points while Daum and King each had seven.

Out of the pause, SDSU looked build momentum early after Tellinghuisen threw down a two-handed dunk in the opening minute off an assist from Theisen, pulling the Jacks within 10 (40-30). Moments later, a technical foul was issued to California's Kinglsey Okoroh and the deficit shrunk to eight as Daum hit both free throws.

That was as close as SDSU would come, however, as California recovered with a 30-3 run over the next 13 minutes, going up 70-35 before Tellinghuisen hit a three-pointer at 5:26.

Over the final stretch, including Tellinghuisen's three, the Jacks outscored the Bears, 14-12.

Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger
On the game...
"I think we came out pressing early to start. It took us a bit to get going offensively and once they got up on the 9-0 jump, we couldn't come back. Same thing happened in the second half, after our first basket they went on a heck of a run. We're still trying to find our rhythm offensively. Obviously tonight, we struggled really at the start of the game and then that portion of the second half. We know what we have to work on, now we just need to get to work.

On Cal's ability to deny post pressure...
"They did a great job. We knew it was going to be a battle trying to keep their big guy at the rim and we had to try to take advantage of that, and obviously we weren't so successful at that endeavor. Mike came out, rushed a couple early, had a couple get blocked and then we had a tough time getting them in there, and that allowed them to settle in defensively and in the paint."

On the first half run...
"Tevin (King) did a great job. He really had a lot of great moments for us. He was very aggressive, getting downhill to the basket, getting them in foul trouble. We got to the basket and got some late free throws on his behalf towards the end of the half. He's done a great job at that type of aggressiveness, and hopefully we can get some more guys to get in there and shake it up."

What's Next
South Dakota State wraps up its two-game swing through the Golden on Monday, Nov. 14 at UC Irvine. Tipoff from Irvine, Calif., is set for 7 p.m. PT/9 p.m. CT.

Game Notes

After having 20 turnover's in last week's exhibition, SDSU trimmed that mark to 12 turnovers against the Golden Bear defense.
SDSU is now 72-39 in season-openers all-time.
Jacks are 5-8 in season-opening games at the Division I level.
The Jackrabbits are now 0-12 since the first year of Division I transition (2004-05) in California, and all-time have gone 0-15.
At least one Jackrabbit has scored in double figures over the last 278 games dating back to Jan. 12, 2008 at IUPUI when Anthony Cordova has nine points to lead the Jacks.
SDSU has made at least one three-pointer in 305 games. The last time the Jackrabbits did not make a three-point field goal was Jan. 25, 2007 at Utah State when the team went 0-for-13.
Mike Daum has now reached double figures in 22 consecutive games dating back to last season.