Under the Radar Game of the Day – Friday, February 5

South Dakota at South Dakota State, 8:30 PM Eastern, MIDCOSN2/espn3

The Under the Radar Game of the Day features an absolutely huge rivalry matchup in the state of South Dakota tonight as a pair of teams that are undefeated so far in Summit League play matchup head to head.  The Yotes of South Dakota (10-6 overall, 8-0 in Summit League play) will be travelling to Brookings, SD to take on their rival Jackrabbits of South Dakota State (10-3 overall, 4-0 in conference).  This is actually the second of at least three matchups between these two teams, as South Dakota puled off an upset 91-78 win back on December 12 during an all-Dakotas round-robin event that did not count towards conference standings.

The South Dakota Coyotes have been red hot, winning 9 straight games.  In fact, they have only lost once since their earlier win over the Jackrabbits, and that was against an undefeated Drake team.  Stanley Umude has been leading the way, averaging 20.5 points and 7.3 boards per game, while A.J. Plitzuweit is adding 16.3 points per game.  The Jackrabbits will need to find a way to slow down this two-headed monster if they want to avoid a second loss to the Yotes.  This was something they completely failed to do last time out, as Umude exploded for 41 points and 11 rebounds!

The Jackrabbits have also been playing very well since the teams last met, and have not lost a game in that time.  Unfortunately, with COVID shutdowns, they have only gotten on the floor 5 times in that stretch.  They do, however, hold fairy impressive wins already on the season against Utah State, at Bradley and at Iowa State.  Noah Friedel leads the team with 17.6 points per game, and three other players are also averaging double figures.  Most notably, perhaps, Baylor Scheierman is averaging close to a double-double, with 13.8 points and 9.2 rebounds.  South Dakota State has a on of offensive firepower, and will need to be hitting on all cylinders, especially after not having played a game in almost two weeks, if they want to move into sole possession of first place tonight.  Regardless of who wins tonight, however, there will be a chance for revenge tomorrow, as the teams will go at it one more time.