South Dakota State continues its road-heavy non-conference schedule on Wednesday when the Jackrabbits face Boise State at 8 p.m. CST. The matchup follows a nail-biting season opener for the Jackrabbits at Akron that ended in an 81-80 overtime defeat to the Zips.
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SDSU and Akron exchanged the lead nine times on Monday and featured seven ties over the course of 45 minutes in James A. Rhoades Arena. The Zips, who were led by Xavier Castaneda's 31 points, used a free throw with two seconds left in overtime to claim the one-point victory over the Jacks.Â
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SDSU finished with five double-digit scorers and was led by
Matt Dentlinger's 15 points. His scoring total was his second-best output since the 2020-21 season while his three blocks were his most since that same year.Â
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William Kyle III joined Dentlinger in the team's front court within the starting lineup and played a solid 30 minutes. In his collegiate debut, Kyle III scored 14 points (7-10 FG). His point total was the most by a first-year Jackrabbit in the season opener since Douglas Wilson recorded 24 in the 2019 edition versus UTRGV.  Kyle III recorded the most points by a freshman in a season opener since David Jenkins Jr. scored 16 in SDSU's 2017-18 win over UC Irvine.
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The Jackrabbits had two athletes play roughly an entire contest in the season opener as
Zeke Mayo competed for 41 minutes and
Alex Arians played 39. Mayo set his career high in minutes played while tying career highs in rebounds (7) and field goal attempts (13). Arians's six assists tied his best mark in the category since his career-high seven he set in the 2020-21 season.Â
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The Jacks square off with the Broncos for the first time in Boise Wednesday. SDSU has played one game in recent memory in the newly named ExtraMile Arena in 2018 when the Jacks fell to Ohio State 81-73 in the NCAA Tournament. Boise State, picked third in the Mountain West Conference Preseason Poll, is the reigning conference champion. The Broncos, who return 10 letterwinners, lost in the NCAA Tournament last season to Memphis. Wednesday's game is the season opener for Boise State.
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How to Keep up
The matchup between the Jackrabbits and Broncos will be streamed on Stadium (
WatchStadium.com) and on the Mountain West Network (
themw.com/watch). Every SDSU men's basketball game can be heard on theÂ
Jackrabbit Sports Network or atÂ
GoJacks.com/watch. To keep up with the Jackrabbits, follow along with the program on their social media accounts @GoJacksMBB or visit GoJacks.com.Â
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