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After 30-win season, South Dakota State men's basketball fires up a new campaign

marcus traxler, the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·5 min read

Nov. 7—BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State University men's basketball team is an interesting squad to keep an eye as a new college basketball season commences.

The Jackrabbits won 30 games last season and exerted their dominance over the rest of the Summit League. Six key pieces are back for the Jacks to reload and make another run for March, but the team's top three scorers have departed, meaning there are some important shoes to fill for a team that has been picked to finish second in the Summit League in the preseason rankings.

"When you have two different age groups like we do, you have a lot of chances for leadership and chances for the group to bond together and that's what I'm seeing," SDSU coach Eric Henderson said. "We're seeing that bond, and our older guys taking the opportunity to help those young guys grow and learn and that's something that we're seeing that's very cool."

Coach: Eric Henderson, fourth season (68-22 record)

Record (2021-22): 30-5, 18-0 Summit.

Postseason: South Dakota State swept through the Summit League regular season and tournament slates for 21 consecutive wins, including a 75-69 win over North Dakota State in the Summit League championship game. In the NCAA tournament — SDSU's sixth NCAA appearance since 2012 — the 13th-seeded Jackrabbits were defeated by fourth-seeded Providence in Buffalo, New York, by a score of 66-57.

"Our record last year was historic. But let's not get it twisted, if you don't think we had some adversity and some things we had to overcome, you're crazy," Henderson said. "The way we handled it was what I was most pleased with and proud of. ... Your successes aren't dictated only by wins and losses and there's adversity in all forms that we dealt with last year and will need to be able to handle this season."

Key returners: Sixth-year senior Alex Arians returns to the Jackrabbits this season, along with seniors Luke Appel and Matt Dentlinger as seniors on this year's squad. The three were among the returners to play in every game last season, joined by Zeke Mayo and Charlie Easley, with Matt Mims playing all but one game. Among the returners, Mayo, the sophomore guard, led the team in scoring at 9.6 points per game.

Key departures: SDSU loses its top three scorers from last season, with Douglas Wilson graduating, Baylor Scheierman transferring to Creighton and Tea Area High School product Noah Friedel transferring to James Madison. Those players accounted for 45% of the Jackrabbits' points.

Key newcomers: Six players have a freshman or redshirt freshman designation for the Jacks, with the biggest of those names being Yankton native and Wisconsin transfer Matthew Mors and De Smet product Kalen Garry. Combined, they are the last four South Dakota Gatorade players of the year (Mors in 2019-21 and Garry in 2022). ... Henderson said both players have shown well in preseason practices, with Mors likely to be part of SDSU's rotation early in the season, with time to tell on Garry, who Henderson lauded for his rare scoring ability. ... Also worth watching is 6-foot-9 freshman forward William Kyle III, who hails from Bellevue, Nebraska, and packs a physical presence as SDSU's tallest player this season.

Point of emphasis: After leading the nation in 3-point shooting in 2021-22 at 44.5% and scoring nearly 86 points per game, SDSU's offensive effectiveness will be closely watched early in the season.

"One of our strengths is to share the basketball and our ability to shoot and I think we will be balanced and score in the inside," Henderson said. "We led the nation in 3-point shooting last year but we were 190th in attempts, so it's not like we chucked a bunch of shots but we made the ones we shot. I think that's going to be a very similar style and I think the ball might move a little more now. ... Doug and Baylor, they had a great ability to make big shots and that's going to be the question for this team, who is going to take those big shots? We will have a bunch of players who think can do that for us."

Notes: SDSU took an international trip in August, heading to the Bahamas for a series of practices and two games. ... The Jackrabbits are ranked No. 15 in the preseason mid-major top-25 after finishing fourth there last year behind Gonzaga, Murray State and Saint Mary's. ... Appel and Mayo were preseason all-Summit first-team selections, while Appel is the conference's reigning Sixth Man of the Year. ... Mayo, Easley, Arians, Appel and Dentlinger are the projected five starters to open the season.

Schedule notes: SDSU opens the season at Akron on Monday, Nov. 7, followed by a Nov. 9 game at Boise State, followed by a Nov. 15 game against St. Bonaventure at the Sanford Pentagon. ... The Jackrabbits' first home game is Nov. 19 against Stephen F. Austin. It is one of only two Division I opponents that will come to Brookings during the non-conference schedule, with the other being Eastern Washington on Dec. 10. ... Other higlights to the non-conference schedule includes SEC road games against Arkansas (Nov. 16) and Alabama (Dec. 3). ... Conference play begins on Dec. 19 at Oral Roberts, with the home debut on Dec. 29 against Western Illinois, with the conference contests with USD being held on Jan. 14 (Vermillion) and Feb. 11 (Brookings).