Under the Radar Game of the Day: Middle Tennessee vs South Dakota State, 5:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports North/Fox College Sports Central
With the holiday break over, and conference play about to begin in earnest, the UTR Game of the Day will be heading up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota today as the Sanford Pentagon plays hosts to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in the first of a two-day showcase event (Florida Gulf Coast and South Dakota will battle in the Pentagon tomorrow night). South Dakota State has been one of our top-rated Under the Radar teams all season long, and will enter conference play as the favorite to win the Summit League regular season title. Scott Nagy’s squad is currently 10-3, with wins over Illinois State, TCU and Minnesota. Their losses have come at UMKC, at Texas Tech and at Weber State last time out. Today’s game is the team’s final game before they begin Summit League play. The Jackrabbits have been led by Deondre Parks this season. He has surpassed the 20-point mark four times so far this year, including tieing his season best 23 points in the Weber State game. He will need to score well into double-digits again today if the Jackrabbits want to pick up the win over one of Conference USA’s top teams.
Middle Tennessee currently sits at 7-3 on the season, with wins over Auburn and Belmont and the championship of the Great Alaska Shootout already in their back pockets. The Blue Raiders’ three losses came at Murray State, at home to VCU and at Georgia State last time out. This will be their last true non-conference test (though a game against non-D1 Trevecca Nazarene awaits on Wednesday night). Reggie Upshaw picked up a double-double in the Georgia State game, scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, while Darnell Harris chipped in 18 points as well. Both payers will be called upon to try to help lead Kermit Davis’ squad to one last notable win before they head to Birmingham on January 3 to start conference play at UAB. As this game matches up two teams that should be right in contention for their league titles, we expect a great game that could be used to springboard he winner into the heart of their regular season play.