Jacks turn attention to Golden Eagles

GAME 17: South Dakota State (9-7) vs. Oral Roberts (7-6)

When	Thursday, Jan. 2 \| 8:15 p.m.
Where	Frost Arena \| Brookings, S.D.
Live Audio / Radio	Jackrabbits All-Access \| Jackrabbit Sports Network I WNAX 570 AM \| Tyler Merriam
Television / Live Video	Midco Sports Network \| ESPN+ \| Jackrabbits All-Access \| Tom Nieman, Brad Newitt & Elaina Lanson
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Game Notes	South Dakota State
Social Media	Twitter I Facebook

Previewing the Game
South Dakota State welcomes Oral Roberts to Frost Arena Thursday as part of a doubleheader with the Golden Eagles. The women's game tips at 6 p.m., followed by the men at 8:15 p.m.

Thursday's game sponsor is Sanford on #BeatType1 Diabetes Day at Frost Arena. The #BeatType1 initiative is a collaborative effort between the league's nine-member institutions and Sanford Health and administrators from each institution have toured the Sanford Health facilities during visits to Sioux Falls in the past and recorded public service announcements once again that will air at each of their respective institutions during these awareness games.

South Dakota State (9-8) saw its three-game winning streak snapped Sunday afternoon at Omaha, falling 81-78 in a seesaw game that featured 17 lead changes. The Jackrabbits are 8-0 at home this season and have won 16 consecutive games in Brookings, currently tied for the nation's fourth-longest active home winning streak.

Oral Roberts (7-6) arrives in Brookings for its league opener, wrapping up nonleague play last Saturday with a 79-73 setback at BYU. Prior to that, the Golden Eagles had won four straight over Haskell, Central Oklahoma, Chicago State and Missouri State.

SDSU leads the all-time series with Oral Roberts, 14-9, winning the previous five matchups. The Jacks are 8-3 at home against the Golden Eagles.

About South Dakota State
Fresh off securing a winning nonleague record for the third-straight season, the Jackrabbits open their home slate of Summit League play looking to build on the growth seen in head coach Eric Henderson's first two months at the helm.

South Dakota State has blended seven newcomers and nine underclassman into a roster with six returning letterwinners, framing together a defensive unit that has held opponents to 69.7 points per game. The Jacks have limited opponents to under 60 in six games, including the final three of nonleague play against Nebraska-Kearney, Florida Gulf Coast and Idaho.

Offensively, the Jackrabbits are shooting 45.6 percent with 114 3-pointers, third-most among Summit League teams. SDSU has buried 218 of its 318 free throw efforts and is 9-1 in games where it shoots more free throws than its opponents.

Douglas Wilson is the lone Jackrabbit to average double figures at 16.5 points per game, scoring 10 or more in 14 contests. The Des Moines, Iowa native has four 20-plus scoring performances and three double-doubles. Wilson, who also leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game, is second among Summit League scorers. The two-time NJCAA All-American and 2018-19 NJCAA Player of the Year is shooting 61.3 percent from the field and 65.8 percent at the line, including a 26-for-34 (76.5 percent) run over the last eight games.

Matt Dentlinger has turned in a trio of double-doubles, most recently in a 12-point, 10-board performance against Idaho. Dentlinger is second on the team with 9.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. A 54.6 percent shooter, Dentlinger put together a run of 13 consecutive makes between the Arizona, Mississippi Valley State and Samford contests (going 8-for-8 against MVSU).

Brandon Key (9.2 points per game) has been a catalyst at the point, posting four or more assists in 11 games, including five straight entering league action. Though he did not play in SDSU's Summit League opener, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin guard has six double-digit scoring games with 71 total assists, dishing 4.7 per contest. Key holds a 1.6 assist-to-turnover mark and is back for the Jackrabbits after redshirting a year ago. He had 112 assists in 2017-18.

Alex Arians (26 minutes per game) and Noah Freidel (23.5 minutes per game) join the three Jackrabbits above as the primary starters, though David Wingett started the final two nonconference games and made the most of the opportunity, posting 12 points in both contests.

Arians' 7.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game provide a steady-presence in the middle of the lineup, though Arians ran point at Omaha with Key's absence. Arians has tallied double figures in the four of the last five games (16 at Omaha, 15 against Idaho, 16 versus Nebraska-Kearney and 10 at Colorado State).

Freidel, the 2019 Argus Leader Class A Player of the Year, sits fourth on the team in scoring (8.6 points per game) and is tied for first in made 3-pointers (28). The Tea, South Dakota native scorched the nets for 28 points and six 3-pointers at Omaha, marking the second time this season he has buried five or more 3-pointers in a game. Freidel had five treys and 20 points in a win over Samford.

Wingett (8.0 ppg) matches Freidel with a Jackrabbit-best 28 3-pointers, burying two or more from deep in nine contests. The Winnebago, Nebraska native is one of five Jackrabbits with double-digit steals (12), sitting third in swipes behind Key (16) and Arians (16).

Baylor Scheierman has 12 3-pointers and 26 assists in his first collegiate season, averaging 6.4 points over 19.1 minutes per contest. The Aurora, Nebraska guard has also pulled down 4.4 boards on average, helping SDSU to a plus-4.3 rebounding margin at 39.4 boards per contest.

About Oral Roberts
After winning just two of its first six games, Oral Roberts flipped the script to claim five of its next seven to close nonleague play with a 7-6 mark. The Golden Eagles are averaging 78.3 points per contest and are plus-9.9 in scoring margin, allowing just 68.4 points per game from their opponents.

Four double-figure scorers lead the ORU attack, led by big man Emmanuel Nzekwesi's 17 points per game. Nzekwesi is just shy of a double-double average with a 9.8 per game rebounding average, though he missed five games in the nonconference season.

Newcomers Max Abmas and Deondre Burns have started all 13 games and are scoring 13.5 and 13.1 points per game, respectively. Abmas leads the Golden Eagles with 34 3-pointers, firing at a clip of 31.2 percent from deep, while Burns has pulled down 60 rebounds (4.6 per game) to go with a team-best 50 assists.

Kevin Obanor rounds out the top scorers at 11.3 points per contest, shooting 39.6 from the field with a 7.6 rebounds per game mark, third best on the squad behind Nzekwesi and Elijah Lufile (7.8 per game).

The Golden Eagles are plus-7.5 on the glass and are limiting opponents to a .411 shooting percentage through 13 contests.

Paul Mills is in his second season as head coach of the Golden Eagles. He is 29-48 on the bench.

A South Dakota State Win Would ...
Make SDSU 10-7 on the year and 15-9 all-time against Oral Roberts ... hand State its first league win of the year and move the team to 9-0 at home with 17 consecutive victories at Frost Arena ... give SDSU a 1,545-1,047-1 program mark.

A South Dakota State Loss Would ...
Drop the Jackrabbits to 9-8 on the year and 0-2 in Summit League play ... snap a 16-game home winning streak ... make the Jacks 14-10 all-time against Oral Roberts ... give the Jacks a 1,544-1,048-1 program mark.

Wilson Honored by Summit League
Douglas Wilson was selected as the Summit League's Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week, announced Nov. 11.

Wilson posted a monster debut week for the Jackrabbits, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest with a trio of double-figure scoring performances. Wilson helped SDSU to a 3-0 record to begin the year, scoring 24, 13 and 26 against UTRGV, Peru State and CSU Bakersfield, respectively. Wilson tallied his first-career double-double in the win over CSU Bakersfield with a game-high 13 rebounds.

On the Line
The Jackrabbits have seen a trend develop through 16 games of its 2019-20 schedule related to the free throw line.

Though SDSU is shooting just 69.2 percent as a team at the charity stripe, the Jackrabbits are 9-1 in games where they attempt more free throws than their opponent. Additionally, State is winless in the six games where opponents get to the line more.

SDSU has held opponents to single-digit attempts three times this season, including back-to-back games against Nebraska-Kearney (four attempts) and Florida Gulf Coast (eight attempts).

Basketball Coaches Show Every Monday
The Jackrabbit Basketball Coaches Show is live at Cubby's Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Brookings Monday evenings at 6 p.m.. The hour-long show covering the 2019-20 basketball season tips off every Monday through March 2.

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the weekly look at the South Dakota State basketball teams features interviews with head men's coach Eric Henderson and head women's coach Aaron Johnston, as well as segments with Jackrabbit student-athletes and members of the coaching staff.

Fans can attend in person and will be eligible for weekly drawings.

The show also airs live on flagship radio station WNAX 570 AM and Jackrabbit Sports Network affiliates, and can be heard live or on-demand for free via Jackrabbits All-Access and the Jackrabbit App.

New Faces, New Roles
South Dakota State's lineup will feature new roles and new faces throughout the season, as the Jackrabbits return only 16.9 percent of their scoring from 2018-19, and 10.7 percent of their 3-point makes. SDSU's 15.8 points per game returning ranks sixth-lowest nationally, and the 16.9 percent back is the third-lowest margin (according to available records).

#FearFrost

The Jacks own a 111-6 record at Frost Arena over the last seven seasons dating back to 2011-12, which includes perfect home records in five of the last seven years. That span includes two home winning streaks of 30 or more games and three of 25 or more.
The Jackrabbits' current home winning streak of 16 games is tied for fifth-longest in NCAA Division I.
Since 2011-12, South Dakota State has won 94.9 percent of its home games, a mark that top all Division I programs in that span. South Dakota State won 34 consecutive games from Jan. 30, 2014 to Dec. 28, 2016. It ended as the nation's second-longest active streak.
The Jackrabbits won 30 consecutive home games from Jan. 29, 2011 to Nov. 14, 2013.
SDSU won 26 consecutive home games from Dec. 31, 2016 to Dec. 22, 2018.
South Dakota State won 34 consecutive home nonconference games inside Frost Arena from Dec. 31, 2016 to Dec. 22, 2018. That mark was the fourth-longest active streak when it ended.
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), 2015-16 (12-0) and 2017-18 (15-0).

Quick Hits

The Jackrabbits have trailed for less than one minute in five games this season, including three straight to end nonleague play.
SDSU is second nationally with 631 rebounds on the year, tallying 40 or more boards in eight games.
Douglas Wilson is ninth nationally with 106 field goals this season, ranking 19th in field goal percentage and 27th in total points.
South Dakota State has played five games against opponents this year it had not previously met.
The Jackrabbits held Mississippi Valley State to 17 first-half points on Nov. 24, 2019. That is the fewest since South Dakota State held Chadron State to 12 first-half points on Nov. 24, 2014.
SDSU's 93-91 victory over CSU Bakersfield saw five Jackrabbits reach double figures for the first time in 2019-20. The feat last happened Jan. 31, 2019 against Oral Roberts.
State posted back-to-back 50-rebound games to open the season. The last time an SDSU program had 50-plus rebounds in consecutive games was Dec. 15 and 27, 2002 against Finlandia (60) and Fort Lewis (58). The Jacks also had three-straight games with 50-plus rebounds that season: Nov. 23, 29 and 30.
Douglas Wilson's 24 points on Nov. 5 are the most in a Jackrabbit debut dating back to 2000-01, when game-by-game statistics were readily available.
SDSU went 13-0 when holding opponents under 70 points last season (11-9 when not) and scored 70-plus points in 32 of 33 contests. The Jackrabbits were 12-0 when holding opponents under 70 points in 2017-18. The Jacks have accomplished the feat seven times this year and are 6-1 in those contests, with the lone loss coming at Indiana.
At least one Jackrabbit has scored in double figures over the last 390 games dating back to Jan. 12, 2008 at IUPUI when Anthony Cordova had nine points to lead the Jacks.
State has made at least one 3-pointer in 420 consecutive games. The last time the Jackrabbits did not make a 3-point field goal was Jan. 25, 2007
South Dakota State is 94-18 all-time in home openers (where records available). Dating back to 2004-05, SDSU's first year of DI transition, the Jacks are 12-4 in those games.
SDSU is 75-39 in season-openers all-time. The Jacks are 8-8 in season-opening games at the Division I level. The Jackrabbits are 7-6 in Summit League openers.

State Adds Two on National Signing Day
South Dakota State men's basketball announced a pair of signees on National Signing Day, with William Mfum and Noah King set to join the Jackrabbits in fall 2020.

William Mfum enters his senior campaign at Spring Creek Academy (Plano, Texas) on a high note, earning All-Texas Christian Athletic League and All-City First Team honors as a junior. Mfum averaged 19.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in 2018-19, burying 34 3-pointers and hitting 47 percent from the field. The 6-2 guard scored 20 or more points in nine games a year ago and had one double-double. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Mfum is the son of Stella Nyarko and Seth Adjei and plans to major in business management.

Noah King averaged 19 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game as a junior, helping his team reach the section 1AA semifinals. The 6-2 guard has scored over 1,900 points in his prep career and is closing in on the school's all-time scoring record. King also led Caledonia's football team to a state championship in 2018 and 2019. The younger brother of current Jackrabbit Owen King, Noah hails from Caledonia, Minnesota and is the son of Brad and Susan King. He is undecided on his major.

Jackrabbits in Two Scheduling Agreements
Summit League teams are in year two of scheduling agreements with the Western Athletic Conference and Big Sky, and this year claimed a 5-3 win in the WAC series.

The Jackrabbits took on Grand Canyon last year in the first year of the Summit League/WAC challenge, defeating the Lopes in the 2018-19 season opener. Year two of the challenge sent SDSU to face CSU Bakersfield Nov. 9, where the Jacks claimed a 93-91 double-overtime win.

The scheduling agreement with the Big Sky is a four-year contract. The Jackrabbits will play the following games as part of the deal:

2018-19: Montana (home; L, 74-85), Eastern Washington (away; W, 74-64)
2019-20: Idaho (home; W, 85-57), Montana State (away; L, 70-77)
2020-21: Eastern Washington (home), Montana (away)
2021-22: Montana State (home), Idaho (away)

Tough Tests
South Dakota State played four Power Five (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, PAC-12) opponents in the 2019-20 nonleague season, facing USC, Nebraska, Arizona and Indiana in November. Though the Jacks went winless in those games, they led for a majority of the contest at Arizona, and held Indiana (a top-10 scoring offense) to a season-low 64 points.

South Dakota State has seven wins over Power Five programs since joining The Summit League in 2007, picking up victories over Iowa State (2008), Iowa (2010 and 2017), Washington (2011), TCU (2015), Minnesota (2015) and Ole Miss (2017).

SDSU's wins over Iowa and Ole Miss in 2017-18 came in the shortest time frame of any Summit League team since 1998 (seven days). The Jackrabbits are the fifth league team to post a win over separate Power Five conferences in the same regular season, and the first to do it since 2009.

Jacks Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll
South Dakota State men's basketball earned two first-place votes and was tabbed fifth in the 2019-20 Summit League men's basketball preseason poll, released in October.

The poll is voted on by league coaches, sports information directors and select media.

Jackrabbits' Last Time Out
OMAHA, Neb. -- South Dakota State men's basketball came out on the short end of a seesaw Summit League opener, falling 81-78 to Omaha Sunday in a contest that included 17 lead changes.

Noah Freidel poured in a career-high 28 points with six 3-pointers on the afternoon, leading a Jackrabbit attack that shot 50.8 percent from the field.

Alex Arians and Douglas Wilson each hit 6-of-10 from the field and finished with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Arians added a team-best seven rebounds, while Wilson led the way with a career-high four assists.

Matt Dentlinger tallied six boards and seven points in the post as one of four Jackrabbits to record a block.

SDSU and Omaha traded buckets early with six lead changes through the opening 10 minutes. Freidel's 3-pointer near the 12-minute mark flipped the script to give State an 18-16 lead, and three minutes later Arians' wide-open 3-pointer forced a Maverick timeout at the close of a 7-0 run.

The Jacks, who scorched the net at 63 percent in the opening frame, took a 29-21 lead on another Freidel trey at 5:52 and maintained control the rest of the half to carry a 42-36 lead into the locker room.

Omaha came out firing in the second, cutting the lead to one (47-46) before the under-16 break and going in front 50-48 on a JT Gibson jumper moments later. Freidel stopped a 10-1 Maverick rally with a 3-pointer at 13:51, and the teams settled into back-and-forth play the rest of the way.

Down 70-67 with under six to play, Baylor Scheierman followed a Friedel dunk with a corner 3 as part of a five-point Jackrabbit spurt, but saw the Mavericks answer and go in front for good on a Matt Pile layup at 1:48.

Arians' layup with 20 seconds left pulled the Jackrabbits within one (79-78), but after the Mavericks missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw, Omaha recovered with a block on the other end and sealed the victory with free throws at 1.9 seconds. SDSU looked to force overtime with a buzzer-beater, but the last-second shot fell off the rim.

Opponent Last Time Out
PROVO, Utah – Ty Lazenby hit a 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining to tie the game for the Oral Roberts men's basketball team on the road at BYU, but could not pull off the upset falling 79-73 Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

After Lazenby's triple tied the score, 67-67, the Cougars made a strong push to the finish for the victory erasing the comeback bid and double-double performances from Emmanuel Nzekwesi and Kevin Obanor, who combined for 35 points and 27 rebounds.

A 3-pointer from Sam Kearns gave the Golden Eagles a quick, 3-2 lead until the home side used its transition offense building a 12-point cushion, 21-9, thanks to an 8-0 run. ORU turned up the defensive pressure and held BYU without a basket for nearly five minutes, missing seven-straight shot attempts, and took advantage of a 7-0 stretch climbing back into the game, 29-26.

Max Abmas scored five points during the run and turned a mid-court steal into points as the freshman rose up for a buzzer-beating layup getting the Golden Eagles within two at halftime, 32-30.

ORU eliminated the halftime deficit to even the score, 34-34, before BYU scored eight of the next 10 points. The Golden Eagles fought back to tie the Cougars twice more, but the home crowd propelled BYU to a 10-0 run over a three-minute stretch at the mid-point of the frame for a 54-44 advantage.

Trailing by eight with eight minutes remaining, the Golden Eagles continued to chip away as Nzekwesi and Obanor took over combining to score 11 points getting the team within three, 67-64. Lazenby knocked down his second 3-pointer of the night knotting up the action for the fourth time as the visitors turned momentum in its favor.

BYU defended its home court in front of 12,365 fans using a 9-2 run until a final basket by Nzekwesi made it a 79-73 final.

Last Matchup: SDSU vs ORU (1/31/19)
TULSA, Okla. -- South Dakota State used a well-balanced attack Thursday night on the road, fighting off a pesky Oral Roberts team in an 86-80 victory as all five starters scored in double figures.

The Jackrabbits improved to 18-6 (8-1 Summit League) with their seventh-straight win, holding off a late-charging Golden Eagle team that is now 8-16 on the season and 4-5 in league play.
Mike Daum led the way with 23 points and nine rebounds, just missing a fifth consecutive double-double while hitting 11-of-12 at the charity stripe.

David Jenkins (18 points) and Skyler Flatten (14 points) each had three 3-pointers, as Flatten added eight boards while Jenkins dished three assists.

Alex Arians finished with 11 points and a team-high four assists, and Tevin King, who matched Flatten with eight rebounds, had 10 points for his 13th double-figure scoring performance of the season.

SDSU shot 50.8 percent from the field and went 10-of-23 from deep while hitting 16 of its 19 attempts at the line.

Oral Roberts was led by Kevin Obanor's 17 points and eight rebounds, while Emmanuel Nzekwesi had 14 points and nine rebounds. The Golden Eagles were 44 percent from the field as SDSU limited them to just eight free throw attempts for the game.

The Jackrabbits got off to a slow start, falling behind 11-3 in the opening four minutes of action. An old-fashioned 3-point play from Tevin King out of the under-16 media ended a burst of seven unanswered for the Golden Eagles, helping jump start an SDSU attack that started just 1-of-6 from the field.

After climbing back to tie it at 16 on a Flatten jumper at 11:35, the Jacks traded buckets with the Golden Eagles until 6:42, when another Tevin King jumper (this time from deep) opened a 7-0 run for State and helped State take the lead for good. All told, the Jackrabbits outscored the Golden Eagles by 12 in the final 6:55 to lead 44-33 at intermission, raising their shooting percentage to 53.1 at the break.

South Dakota State kept the offense rolling to early in the second, pushing its lead to 15 in the first five minutes of the period and 20 (62-42) on an Owen King trey at 12:12. ORU did not wilt, however, as the Jackrabbits were forced to deal with a Golden Eagle comeback effort that saw the home team crawl back within single-digits over the next eight minutes, making it 76-67 with 4:18 to play.

Oral Roberts cut it to five (80-75) inside the final minute, but with 28 seconds to play Flatten provided a dagger for the Jackrabbits, burying a 3-pointer off the assist from Arians to give State an 83-75 edge late. SDSU hit 3-of-4 at the free throw line the rest of the way to hang on for the win.

-GoJacks.com-

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Players Mentioned

Alex Arians

Mike Daum

Matt Dentlinger

Skyler Flatten

Noah Freidel

David Jenkins

Brandon Key

Owen King

Tevin King

Baylor Scheierman

Douglas Wilson

David Wingett

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