Mistakes, missed opportunities pile up in SDSU men's basketball loss to Oral Roberts
There were times Saturday when it seemed like South Dakota State men's basketball would find just enough. Late in the second half, with the Jackrabbits down three, more good defense led to a bad shot by Oral Roberts.
SDSU star guard Zeke Mayo, who has been in a lot of situations like this throughout South Dakota State's then-seven-game win-streak, had the ball in his hands with the chance to make the play.
The Jackrabbits got the look it needed to tie: Mayo created penetration and dished to a wide-open guard Charlie Easley in the corner for 3. But it rimmed out. In the weekend's 69-65 loss to Oral Roberts at Frost Arena, that's how those moments often went.
"I think it was just mental mistakes," Mayo said. "We tried to force some things."
SDSU (18-12, 13-5 Summit League) had gotten used to putting several possessions together. And to complete the comeback against the Golden Eagles, they desperately needed those runs that had made it so deadly down the stretch of the Summit League schedule.
The Jackrabbits held Summit League Player of the Year candidate Max Abmas to 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting. Forward Matt Dentlinger dominated for 23 points and seven rebounds in a mismatch with Oral Roberts 7-foot-5 center Connor Vanonver. But simple mistakes allowed ORU (27-4, 18-0) to put the Jackrabbits away with 18-20 shooting at the free throw line.
South Dakota State coach Eric Henderson said he thinks he should have told the Jackrabbits to go for 3-pointers on their final possessions to ensure those free throws don't make the games out of reach.
SDSU guard Zeke Mayo said it was the constant turnovers (13 total) and fouls that stopped the flow. Whatever it was, it wasn't enough for the Jackrabbits against Oral Roberts, who became the second team to go undefeated in the Summit League regular-season after the 2021-22 Jackrabbits.
It was a discouraging loss, but one that perhaps showed the Jackrabbits that the undefeated Golden Eagles are within their grasp with the Summit League Tournament looming next week at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
"That wasn't who we are (the last time we played them)," guard Matt Mims (10 points) said, referring to the Jackrabbits' 79-40 loss to ORU in Tulsa earlier in the season. "We were still trying to find our identity a little bit. We definitely wanted to play them again. And, yeah, I'm really, really excited for what we got coming next week."
'You have to make some hard choices"
South Dakota State had a few things out of sorts from the start Saturday. It got caught with a huge mismatch in Easley guarding the Vanover on several early possessions. "You have to make some hard choices (guarding Vanonver)," Henderson said. Some led to easy makes. Some led to fouls. Then there were fouls on the wing and fouls on the drive and fouls in transition. Oral Roberts, while SDSU turned the ball over and started 2-of-10 from 3-point range, was able to make separation at the free-throw line.
The lead grew as wide as 10 points. Dentlinger awakened the Frost Arena crowd with a block off the backboard and SDSU got a steal a possession later, but Abmas quickly flipped it by hitting a pull-up 3-pointer and then getting fouled — more chances at the line.
"We were scoring in the half court," Mayo (20 points and 12 rebounds) said. "When we were turning the ball over there, it was so easy for them to get out in transition."
SDSU needed to do something different, so in the second half, it went at Vanover with Dentlinger. Dentlinger scored nine points in the first four minutes of the half and SDSU seemed to have found something. It got closer, and the Jackrabbits started to play clearer "without fouling," Henderson said. The defense was there, and things started to look a little more difficult for Oral Roberts with South Dakota State becoming more active.
"That was our goal," Henderson said. "I thought we needed to be a little more gritty on the defensive end... We did a better job of moving our feet."
The team just couldn't put enough together
Easley, for one, turned what could have been a damaging offensive play into an energizing defensive one. As he was about to get blocked on a 3-pointer, he dropped the ball down. He couldn’t touch it as it bounced freely on the ground. That is, until Oral Roberts did. And as soon as the ORU defender swiped for it, Easley pounced and knocked it out of bounds off of the Golden Eagles.
The South Dakota State offensive didn’t clean up for a little while longer. It still had its passes tipped, lost the ball and point-blank shots. But Oral Roberts wasn’t converting on opportunities to pull away, in part, because those 50-50 opportunities started going in the way of the Jackrabbits — long enough for Matthew Mors to hit a 3-pointer, Zeke Mayo to hit a 3-pointer and Mors to convert on a layup to cut the Oral Roberts lead to two point 53-51.
Frost Arena got as loud as it had been all Saturday as Mors raced down the floor and Mayo waved his arms in the air, finally seeming to be playing off of the energy that has propelled SDSU to a seven-game win streak before the matchup with the Summit League’s No. 1 in the Golden Eagles. But it didn’t last long.
South Dakota State just couldn't put enough together. It had big shots, big opportunies, big plays go their way. But mixed in: Forward Matthew Mors got a dump pass down low and had his shot blocked by two ORU defenders. Charlie Easley mistimed his jump and ORU scored on an offensive rebound. Mors leaped up for a putback after Mayo air-balled a layup, pushed it too hard off the backboard and missed. It all just added up.
"We wanted to pick up the tempo," Henderson said. "I knew we'd have to score some — they're a very good offensive team and a very good defensive team, too. I thought we got probably sped up just a little bit."
Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Missed opportunities pile up in SDSU men's basketball loss to ORU
