Summit League Championship on tap for Jacks

Broadcast Information

Radio	Jackrabbit Sports Network \| WNAX 570 AM / 99.9 FM
Radio Talent	Tyler Merriam (Play-by-Play) and Brad Newitt (Analyst)
Free Audio	Jackrabbit All-Access
Live Video Stream	WatchESPN
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Television	ESPN2
TV Talent	Clay Matvick (Play-by-Play) and Sean Harrington (Analyst)

The Setup

No. 4 seed South Dakota State continues its Summit League Tournament run Tuesday against third-seeded Omaha in the finals. Tipoff from the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center is 8 p.m.
SDSU (17-16) has reached the championship game the previous three years, and five times in the last six. The Jacks have three Summit League Tournament titles.
The Jacks opened the tournament with a 83-73 win over No. 5 seed Denver before winning a 74-71 thriller against top-seeded South Dakota in the semifinals.
Omaha (18-13) is in its first championship appearance and is in its second year of tournament eligibility. The Mavs defeated No. 6 seed Fort Wayne, 84-80, in the quarters and dominated No. 7 seed IUPUI, 90-62, in the semis.
This is the first Summit League Championship to not include a No. 1 or 2 seed since 1993. It is the fifth time in league history one of the top two teams was not included.
Tuesday's matchup is the third of the season between teams. SDSU lost at home, 101-93, Jan. 7 before claiming an 88-84 road win in Omaha on Jan. 25.
SDSU and Omaha's all-time series dates back to 1919-20 and was played all throughout the days of the NCC before SDSU left in 2004. The series was renewed at the Division I level in 2012-13 when Omaha joined the Summit League, and since then the Jacks hold a 7-3 lead with Omaha. All-time, SDSU 55-32 in the series.
The Jackrabbits and Mavericks have never faced each other in The Summit League Tournament.
The winner earns The Summit League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Scouting the Mavericks

Omaha finished 9-7 in conference play to earn the No. 3 seed. The Mavs reached the finals by defeating No. 6 seed Fort Wayne, 84-80, in the quarters and dominating No. 7 seed IUPUI, 90-62, in the semis.
Marcus Tyus (17.1 ppg), Tre'Shawn Thurman (13.6 ppg), Tra-Deon Hollins (1.3 ppg), Mitch Hahn (11.6 ppg) and Zach Jackson (10.9 ppg) are all averaging double figures for the Mavericks, as Thurman has grabbed 240 total rebounds this season (7.7 per game).
Hollins leads the conference with 104 steals on the year and ranks among the nation's. He has dished 206 total assists for the season as well.
Omaha is averaging 84.1 points per game while shooting 45.4 percent as a team. The Mavs have hit 288 of their 742 3-point attempts and are shooting 75 percent as a team at the charity stripe.
Opponents have scored 83.7 points per game against the Mavericks and are shooting 46.3 percent combined. Beyond the arc, opponents have hit 283 or 763 (37.1 percent) and have gotten to the line 664 times against Omaha.
The Mavericks hold a minus-1.3 rebound margin as a team.
Hollins was the Summit League's Defensive Player of the Year and earned First Team honors. Tyus was an All-Summit Second Team pick and Thurman earned an honorable mention nod. Hahn earned a spot on the All-Newcomer team.

Daum named Player of the Year

After averaging 25.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest for the season, Jackrabbit sophomore Mike Daum was named The Summit League's Player of the Year March 2 by the conference.
Daum is now a two-time All-Summit League First Team selection after earning the honors last year alongside gaining a nod for the All-Newcomer Team and Newcomer of the Year award.
Daum was the Preseason Player of the Year and lived up to the hype, earning weekly honors three times in addition to being the National Player of the Week Feb. 20. He was the league's December Athlete of the Month and is nominated for February's honor.
Read more about Daum's highlights on page six of the game notes.

From Long Range

SDSU has set school records in 3-pointers made and attempted this season as conference tournament begins. The Jacks are 305 of 838 on 3-point attempts this season. The previous record for makes was 284 (set in 2011-12) and the former record in attempts was 732 (set in 2014-15).
South Dakota State has attempted fewer than 20 3-pointers in a game just five times this season. The Jacks average 25.4 3-point attempts per contest and are 28th nationally with 9.2 3-pointers made per game.
As of March 5, the Jacks rank 16th in NCAA Division I in 3-point attempts (838) and are 21st nationally in 3-pointers made (305), shooting at 36.4 percent beyond the arc.
SDSU leads the conference in 3-point attempts and is second in 3-pointers made.
South Dakota State set a new school record for 3-point field goal attempts in a single game on Nov. 19, 2016 at Wyoming, firing 37 shots from beyond the arc. The previous record was 33, set twice, last at Oakland on Jan. 26, 2012.
The Jacks have set a new school single-game record for 3-pointers made twice this season. Entering 2016-17, the previous mark was 15, set at Oakland on Dec. 31, 2008. SDSU hit 16 at Idaho on Nov. 21 and reset the record Jan. 21, 2017 against Fort Wayne, sinking 17 from long range.
Mike Daum set a school record for 3-pointers made and attempted against Fort Wayne on Jan. 21, going 10 of 16 beyond the arc. Daum's 10 3-pointers made is fourth most in Summit League history. He reset the school record for attempts in a game Feb. 18 with 18 at Fort Wayne.
Mike Daum (76), Reed Tellinghuisen (73), A.J. Hess (67) are all at or above 60 made 3-pointers this season and either rank amongst or are are closing in on the top 10 of SDSU's single season record list. Daum is now sixth on the list while Reed Tellinghuisen is tied for ninth with 73.
Reed Tellinghuisen ranks fourth on SDSU's single-season 3-point attempts record list with 206 this year. He will join the top three if he shoots 207 for the season, and No. 1 on the list is Clint Sargent (2010-11) with 213 3-point attempts. A.J. Hess is two shy of the top 10 with 176 attempts this year.

Charity Stripe Success

South Dakota State has gotten to the free throw line more than its opponents in 26 of 33 games this season. The Jackrabbits are shooting 77.2 percent on free throws this season, have four players at or above the 80 percent mark and eight active players shooting above 70 percent on free throws.
As of March 5, South Dakota State ranks 51st in free throw attempts (757), 32nd nationally in free throws made (585) and 11th in free throw percentage (.772).
SDSU leads the conference in field goal percentage and free throw makes.
From Dec. 7 to Dec. 22, Mike?Daum hit a school record 43 consecutive free throws, breaking the previous record of 35, set by Garrett Callahan in 2008-09. Over the final seven non-conference games Daum hit 60 of 63 at the charity stripe (95.2 percent).
Mike Daum set a school record with 16 made free throws (out of 16 attempts) against Murray State (Dec. 18) and tied it Feb. 18 at Fort Wayne.
Daum is second on the single season free throw makes record list (246) and fifth in free throw attempts (283) for a season at SDSU. He is five makes short of the school record and 18 shy of the attempts mark.
As of March 5, Daum remains the national leader in free throw makes and is second in attempts.

#FearFrost

The Jacks own a 74-5 record at Frost Arena over the last five seasons, which includes perfect home records in four of the last five years. That span includes two home winning streaks of 30 or more games.
SDSU's 34-game winning streak ranked as the nation's second longest active streak when it ended Wednesday, Dec. 28. The streak began Jan. 30, 2014.
SDSU won 30 consecutive home games from Jan. 29, 2011 to Nov. 14, 2013.
SDSU put together undefeated seasons inside Frost Arena the following years: 1984-85 (18-0), 2002-03 (17-0), 2011-12 (14-0), 2012-13 (13-0), 2014-15 (13-0), and 2015-16 (12-0).
Since 2011-12, South Dakota State has won 93.7 percent of its home games, a mark that ranks fifth among all Division I programs. The list of top 10 home winning percentages since 2011-12 is available on page four of the game notes.

Player Quick Hits

Tellinghuisen scored 16 points against South Dakota in the Summit League Quarterfinals, and with a pair of free throws with just over one second remaining, became the 47th member of the Jackrabbits' 1,000-point club.
Reed Tellinghuisen has hit double figures in 22 of 33 games this season, pushing his career mark in that category to 50 games with double figures.
SDSU owns two of the top four NCAA scoring performances in the last five seasons (Wolters - 53 in 2013 vs Fort Wayne, Daum - 51 in 2017 vs Fort Wayne).
A.J. Hess went down with an arm injury at Denver on Jan. 23 but made his return to the court Feb. 18 at Fort Wayne. He reappeared in the starting lineup Feb. 25 against Denver and dropped 14 points on his Senior Day.
After seeing limited action with a 2.8 ppg average in the non-conference portion of 2016-17, Chris Howell burst onto the scene as a top scoring option in conference play. Howell averaged 11.4 points per game in 13 Summit League contests and has reached double figures in the seven of the last eight games. He had 10 points in the Summit League quarterfinal game and 11 in the semis.
Reed Tellinghuisen went off for a career-high 28 points and eight 3-pointers at South Dakota on Feb. 11, 2017, helping the Jacks recover from a 14-point deficit with five 3-pointers in the second half. SDSU lost the game but Tellinghuisen led all scorers.
Michael Orris has 61 assists over the last 11 games after tallying 26 assists in the nine games prior. He had a career-high 10 assists against Fort Wayne on Jan. 21, which was the most for a Jackrabbit since Nate Wolters went for 12 against Fort Wayne on March 11, 2013.
In 16 conference games, Michael Orris posted a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio with 74 assists and 39 turnovers.
Reed Tellinghuisen ranks second in The Summit League with 1,079 total minutes played this season.
Feb. 4 against Oral Roberts marked the first time South Dakota State had two players post double-doubles since Nov. 11, 2014 when Cody Larson and Zach Horstman did it. Against ORU, Mike Daum had 38 points and 17 rebounds and Chris Howell finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
After a slow start to the season where A.J. Hess scored just 11 points total in the first four games, the graduate transfer raised his average to 10.8 points per game with 14 double figure scoring games and a double-double before an injury stalled his graduate transfer season. Hess reached double figures in seven consecutive games before going down, and hit the mark in 12 of his final 14 appearances in the regular season.
A.J. Hess came to South Dakota State with 840 career points at Southern Utah. On Dec. 28, 2016, Hess scored his 1,000 career point against North Dakota State.
Cole Gentry, who started four games for the Jackrabbits earlier this season, has been granted his release from the program.
A.J. Hess posted his first career double-double on Jan. 4 at Western Illinois, scoring 13 points to go alongside a career-high 14 rebounds.
A.J. Hess pulled down 42 total rebounds over 15 non-conference games to open the year, but in the first half of conference play Hess had 51 over eight games. Hess set career-highs in rebounds against North Dakota State (10) and Western Illinois (14).
Over a span of three games from Nov. 21 to Nov. 26, South Dakota State saw A.J. Hess, Reed Tellinghuisen and Mike Daum all reach double figures and score a majority of SDSU's points. Of the 200 points SDSU scored in those games, the three Jackrabbits had 161, or 80.5 percent of the points. Daum scored 63 points in that stretch (31.5 percent), Hess had 57 points (28.5 percent) and Tellinghuisen had 41 points (20.5 percent). Mike Daum posted his first-ever 30-point game against Milwaukee on Nov. 27, finishing with 32 points off of 10-for-13 shooting in the field and an 11-for-13 effort from the charity stripe. Daum also dished out a career-high six assists.

Team Quick Hits

Prior to SDSU's semifinal win, the last time a team overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to win a Summit League Tournament game was March 10, 2009 when NDSU came back from 14 down to defeat Oakland in the championship.
SDSU's quarterfinal game marked the third time in its last five Summit League Tournament contests SDSU has faced a deficit of 13 or more points and came back to win.
South Dakota State has scored 50 or more in a half six times this season, including five second half performances of 50 or greater that have led to wins against Omaha, Oral Roberts, IUPUI and Fort Wayne in the final five weeks of the regular season.
Winning the rebounding battle has been vital to SDSU's success this year. The Jacks are 15-1 in games they out-rebound opponents and 1-12 in contests they trail in rebounding margin. State is 1-3 in games it matches opponents on rebounds.
The Jackrabbits were whistled for only 10 fouls on Nov. 30 against UMC and on Dec. 16 versus Murray State, and only eight on Nov. 27 against Milwaukee. The Jacks have been whistled for less than 15 personal fouls 14 times this season.
The Jacks are 47th nationally and lead the conference with just 16.6 personal fouls per game.
At least one Jackrabbit has scored in double figures over the last 309 games dating back to Jan. 12, 2008 at IUPUI when Anthony Cordova has nine points to lead the Jacks.
10 times this season the Jacks have seen four players reach double figures. The Jacks last did it March 6 when Michael Orris (20), Mike Daum (18), Reed Tellinghuisen (16) and Chris Howell (11) did it against South Dakota in the . 25 when Mike Daum (30), A.J. Hess (14), Chris Howell (11) and Skyler Flatten (11) did it against Denver in the regular season finale.
Four times this season South Dakota State has had two players score over 20 points in the same game. It last happened Feb. 11, 2017 at South Dakota when Reed Tellinghuisen scored 28 and Mike Daum finished with 22. Daum has been a part of all three occurances this year.
SDSU has had five different players hit double figures in a game three times this season. The Jacks first did it in the win over Minnesota Crookston on Nov. 30, 2016. SDSU also did it Jan. 7 against Omaha and against Western Illinois Feb. 1.
SDSU has made at least one 3-pointer in 337 consecutive games. The last time the Jackrabbits did not make a 3-point field goal was Jan. 25, 2007 at Utah State when the team went 0-for-13.
From Jan. 31, 2009 through the 2013-14 season, SDSU put together a streak of 179 games with at least one 1,000 point scorer on the floor. SDSU snapped a streak of 90 games without a 1,000 point scorer when Mike Daum joined the club on Jan. 21, 2017. SDSU has now restarted a streak of 11 games with a 1,000 point scorer on the court.
The last time SDSU went 0-2 to open the year was 2014-15 when the squad finished with a 24-11 overall record and was a Summit League regular season co-champion.
SDSU is 91-18 all-time in home openers (where records available). Dating back to 2004-05, SDSU's first year of DI transition, SDSU is 11-2. Since joining the Summit League in 2007-08, SDSU is 9-2 in home openers.
SDSU is now 72-39 in season-openers all-time. The Jacks are 5-8 in season-opening games at the Division I level.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out -- March 6, 2017
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 4 seed South Dakota State gave a nod to last season's Cardiac Jacks in the 2017 Summit League Tournament semifinals Monday night, knocking off top-seeded South Dakota, 74-71 in front of a tournament-record 11,235 fans at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.
SDSU (17-16) faced a 16-point deficit early in the first but didn't panic and steadily climbed out of the hole until Michael Orris drained an 18-footer with 1.5 seconds left to complete the comeback and give State its first lead since the opening minute of the game.
USD's long heave went out of bounds on the ensuing possession and Reed Tellinghuisen's pair of free throws sealed the win and gave the junior 1,000 points for his career.
Orris led the way with 20 points and five rebounds, while Mike Daum just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds. Tellinghuisen had 16 points, seven rebounds and two well-timed blocks on the defensive end, and Chris Howell joined the group in double figures with 11 points
After State scored the opening bucket, USD went on a 22-4 run to lead by 16 just ahead of the 11-minute mark of the first. The Jacks clawed back to within single digits (26-17) when Daum hit a layup at 6:53, though it was Orris who led the team with nine points in the stretch. USD recovered, though, and carried a 44-33 lead into break.
The roller coaster play continued in the second when SDSU cut the Coyotes' lead to seven, 50-43, in the opening five minutes. USD again responded, pushing the lead to double digits.
Down 56-43 with 13 minutes to play, Lane Severyn grabbed an offensive board and sank the put-back floater to open a 12-2 Jackrabbit run to pull the team within three and began the final push with 10 minutes to play.
After tying it for the first time at 65 with 3:58 to play, the Jacks and USD traded punches until a Matt Mooney 3-pointer with 34 seconds left put the Yotes ahead three, 71-68. Daum sunk free throws on the other end with 24 seconds on the clock, and after the opening shot of USD's one-and-one fell off the rim, Daum grabbed the rebound, passed it to Orris and let the graduate transfer go to work.

Mavericks' Last Time Out -- March 6, 2017
(OMavs.com)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Double-doubles from sophomore Mitch Hahn and junior Tre'Shawn Thurman powered the Omaha men's basketball team Monday night, as the Mavericks defeated IUPUI in a commanding 90-62 win in the Summit League semifinals at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Omaha, which improves to 18-13 on the season with its fifth straight victory, advances to Tuesday night's Summit League Championship Game with South Dakota State.
Hahn posted his first career double-double with a team-high 21 points and a season-best 10 rebounds alongside two steals, an assist and a block. The Fremont, Neb., native shot 8-of-13 from the field with two 3-pointers.
Thurman's double-double -- his team-leading ninth of the season -- came on 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The Omaha Central product shot 6-of-9 from the floor for the night.
Senior Tra-Deon Hollins added 19 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists and shot a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line. Sophomore Zach Jackson was the Mavericks' fourth double-figure scorer with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting with six rebounds, three assists and a steal.
As a team, Omaha shot 50.8 percent (32-of-63) to IUPUI's 31.7 percent (19-of-60) and outrebounded the Jaguars 50-34. The Mavericks also had a 46-26 advantage in the paint, outscored IUPUI 24-16 on points off turnovers and had a 37-13 bench scoring edge.
Darell Combs led IUPUI, finishing with a game-best 22 points and seven rebounds.
Omaha led for more than 36 minutes in the game and raced out to a 16-7 lead by 12:42 left in the first half with a pair of Hahn free throws. IUPUI pulled within five at 16-11, but the Mavericks used a 24-4 run to end the half, leading 42-18 by the intermission. Thurman led the way in the first 20 minutes with a double-double effort on 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Mavericks built their largest lead at 9:15 in the second half, surging to a 34-point advantage when a Hahn trey punctuated 8-0 run. IUPUI got it under 20 twice in the remaining minutes, but Omaha captured the win and a place in the league title tilt with a final tally of 90-62.

-GoJacks.com-

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