South Dakota Men Begin Defense of GWC Championship Title Against Chicago State
www.usdcoyotes.com/sports/mbball/release.asp?release_id=6276Full release attached (pdf)
Game 31
Opponent: Chicago State
Event: Great West Conference Championship
When: Thursday, March 10, 8:30 p.m. CT
Where: UCCU Center, Orem, Utah
Live Stats: USDCoyotes.com
Live Audio: USDCoyotes.com
Live Video: USDCoyotes.com
Radio: B102.7 FM (Sioux Falls)
Television: None
On the Slate
The South Dakota men’s basketball team (16-14, 7-5 GWC) begins defense of its Great West Conference Championship title on Thursday, March 10 against No. 5 seed Chicago State. Tipoff is 8:30 p.m. CT in Orem, Utah. The Coyotes, who are the No. 4 seed, won the tournament title last year and earned an automatic berth to the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament as a result. If the Coyotes win Thursday they will face No. 1 seed Utah Valley at 8:30 p.m. CT on Friday night in the semifinals.
South Dakota is coming off of a 96-87 win over Houston Baptist on March 5. Junior guard Louie Krogman scored a career-high 37 points and tied a USD single-game record with 10 three-pointers.
The Coyotes enter the tournament having won four of their last five games.
Junior guard Charlie Westbrook leads the Coyotes at 16.3 points per game while Krogman is at 14.8 points per contest. Sophomore guard Jake Thomas is at 13.2 points per game. South Dakota averages 80.5 points per game -- best in the Great West Conference -- and allows 76.3. The Coyotes are shooting 46.0 percent from the field and have a -0.5 rebounding margin and a +0.8 turnover margin.
Links for live stats and live audio are available on the 2010-11 Basketball Gameday Page on USDCoyotes.com. All USD men’s basketball games can be heard on B102.7 FM with veteran Warren Swain calling the action with color commentary provided by RJ Pattison.
Scouting Chicago State
First-year head coach Tracy Dildy and Chicago State are 6-25 heading into the tournament. The Cougars finished fifth in the Great West Conference with a 3-9 mark. Chicago State has lost eight games in a row; the Cougars’ last win came on Feb. 5 at Texas-Pan American.
Senior forward Carl Montgomery leads the Cougars in scoring at 17 points and also leads the team in rebounding (7.6). Montgomery is shooting 52 percent from the field. Senior guard Jonathon Montgomery scored 9.9 points per game while senior guard Antonio Lofton is at 9.8 points per game.
The Cougars average 66.4 points per game but allow 87.1. They shoot 39.9 percent from the field while allowing teams to shoot 47.6 percent from the field. Chicago State has a -7.0 rebounding margin and a -3.1 turnover margin.
Coyote History versus Chicago State
South Dakota holds a 4-0 lead in the series against Chicago State. The Coyotes won the previous meeting, 105-73 on Feb. 26 at the DakotaDome, with Jake Thomas scoring a career-high 40 points. Thomas broke the school record with 10 three-pointers in the game. It will be the first time the two clubs have met on a neutral floor.
Last Time Out: South Dakota Downs HBU
Junior guard Louie Krogman tied a single-game school record with 10 three-pointers and scored a career-high 37 points to lead the South Dakota men’s basketball team to a 96-87 Great West Conference win over Houston Baptist Saturday night in Houston. The Coyotes improved to 16-14 overall and 7-5 in the Great West Conference with the win.
Krogman set career-highs in points, three-pointers made and also finished with 13 field goals overall, another career-high. He tied the record set by sophomore guard Jake Thomas just a week earlier against Chicago State.
The Coyotes finished with five players in double figures, including Krogman. Thomas added 14 points, while freshman guard Steve Tecker added 12 points, all in the first half. Junior guard Charlie Westbrook and senior guard Kendall Cutler each added 11 points. Cutler dished out a game-high eight assists while freshman post Trevor Gruis had nine rebounds.
The Coyotes led by four at halftime, and the game stayed close for the first 12 minutes of the second half. Houston Baptist was within 70-69 before the Coyotes – Krogman and Thomas in particular – caught fire from behind the arc.
Starting with a basket by Westbrook with 8:02 left, the Coyotes went on a 20-8 run over the next 5:29 to build a 90-77 lead. Krogman drained 4 three-pointers during that run while Thomas had two. After that decisive spurt, the Coyotes never led by less than nine the rest of the way.
South Dakota shot 50 percent (33-of-66) for the game compared to 40 percent (29-of-73) for Houston Baptist.
Great West Championship Title Game to Be Televised
The 2011 Great West Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament title game will be televised on Fox College Sports, the league announced last week. Fox College Sports is seen in roughly 11 million homes.
The GWC Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-12, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. For the second consecutive year, the winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
The game will be carried on Fox College Sports Atlantic at 8:30 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, March 12. Check local cable providers for the station and coverage in your area.
One for the Record Books...
Sophomore Jake Thomas put on a shooting display at the DakotaDome on Feb. 26 that will be talked about by Coyote fans for years. The Racine, Wis., native hit a school-record 10 three-pointers and scored a career-high 40 points in the Coyotes’ 105-73 win over Chicago State. Thomas finished 10-of-16 from three-point range and broke the single-game record of nine he set in 2009-10. In fact, the 10 three-pointers are tied for the second most made by a Division I player in a game this season, trailing only Mike James of Lamar, who hit 11 in a game earlier this season.
The 40-point game was the first time a Coyote men’s player has scored 40 points since Turner Trofholz accomplished the feat with 42 points against Nebraska-Kearney on March 12, 2005.
...and Another One for the Record Books
Not to be outdone by the record set by Thomas, junior guard Louie Krogman added his name to the record books a week later. In the Coyotes’ 96-87 win over Houston Baptist, Krogman also drained 10 three-pointers -- including several key shots down the stretch -- to tie the record set by Thomas. Krogman finished a red-hot 10-of-14 from three-point range and 13-of-20 from the field overall. The White River, S.D., native set career-highs for points (37), three-pointers (10) and field goals made (13) in the win.
Converting at the FT Line
South Dakota not only got to the free-throw line against the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Feb. 24 -- but the Coyotes also converted their chances. South Dakota hit 33-of-39 attempts -- 84.6 percent -- to earn the 99-84 win over the Highlanders, the preseason favorite in the Great West Conference. NJIT, meanwhile, converted 15-of-28 attempts in the game. The Coyotes set season-highs for free throws made and attempted in the game.
Trevor in the NCAA
South Dakota isn’t officially listed in the NCAA Division basketball stats because the Coyote are a transition school, but that hasn’t bothered one Coyote. Freshman center Trevor Gruis would rank 11th in the nation in field goal percentage at 59.5 percent. Gruis has hit 116 of his 195 shots this season. Gruis was 8-of-11 shooting and scored 18 points in the loss at Utah Valley and followed with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the win over SIUE.
Career-Highs -- 3 in a Row
In the Coyotes’ past three games, three players have recorded career-highs in scoring. Jake Thomas scored a career-high 40 points in the win over Chicago State on Feb. 26. Senior Kendall Cutler followed with a career high 22 points in the loss at Texas-Pan American on March 3, and junior Louie Krogman scored a career-high 37 points in the win over Houston Baptist on March 5.
Krogman Hits 1,000...and counting
Junior guard Louie Krogman has already put his name in the Coyote record books. Krogman became the 41st Coyote men’s basketball player to surpass 1,000 points for his career when he did so against Chicago State on Feb. 10. Krogman is ranked 32nd all-time with 1,129 points.
Dynamic Duo
Charlie Westbrook and Jake Thomas were quite the dynamic duo in USD’s 105-73 win over Chicago State on Feb. 26. The two combined for 63 points -- with Thomas scoring 40 and Westbrook adding 23 -- in the victory. The two combined to go 20-of-29 from the field and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. The 63 points were the most two players have combined for since Turner Trofholz and Josh Mueller combined for 66 points against Nebraska-Kearney on March 12, 2005 in Denver, Colo.
At Home at the Dome
If there has been a consistent staple during Dave Boots’ tenure as South Dakota head coach, it has been the Coyotes’ ability to win at home. This year was no exception, as South Dakota finished 13-2 (.867) at the DakotaDome. In the 23 seasons under Boots, the Coyotes are an amazing 296-49 (.858) in home games. In fact, since 2004-05, South Dakota is 81-9 (.900) in home games.
Another Milestone for Boots
Already a coaching legend at USD, head coach Dave Boots is quickly approaching another milestone in his career with the Coyotes. He currently sits just seven wins short of 600 for his coaching career with a 596-259 record in 30 seasons. He has posted a 481-196 record in 23 seasons at USD to outdistance second-place on the all-time wins list by 312 victories.
This Looks Familiar
Sitting at 16-14 this season, South Dakota was in a similar position heading into conference play last season. In 2009-10, the Coyotes entered their first GWC game with an 8-8 record, before rolling through the conference schedule with an 11-1 record to win the regular season. USD picked up two more wins to claim the GWC tournament title and qualify for the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament to end the season at 22-10.
The Buddy System
Kendall “Buddy” Cutler has quietly continued to be the man behind USD’s offense this season. He set a season-high with 10 assists against Chicago State and now has a team-high 123 for the season. His 4.7 assists per game average would put him close to USD’s single-season list for assists in a season. Cutler has led USD in assists in 19 of 28 games.
Climbing the Top 10
If he couldn’t before, Louie Krogman can now say he is one of the best sharp shooters in Coyote history. The junior guard has made 72 three-point baskets this season to move into eighth place on USD’s career top-10 list for treys. Krogman has made 206 during his time in Vermillion and now sets his sights on the 209 made by Randy Rosenquist.
The Chase is On
Sophomore guard Jake Thomas made his way into USD’s single-season three-pointers list last year with 89 treys for fourth. He’s back at it again this year, but he has a little competition. Thomas has connected on 76 threes so far, including 10 against Chicago State, to put him on pace for over 100, but fellow guards Louie Krogman and Jordan Boots can shoot from deep as well. Krogman trails Thomas by four at 72, while Boots has connected on 44 treys. Thomas has 165 career threes and is now ninth all-time in school history -- reaching that feat in less than two seasons. Thomas recently surpassed current Coyote assistant coach Mitch Begeman for 10th on the list.
Record by Month
Life as a transition school to the NCAA Division I level can sometimes be tough. Early-season schedules can have teams traveling far away to play tough opponents and multiple games at one tournament. All before playing a conference schedule if the school is lucky enough to have a conference. Over the last two seasons, the Coyotes have shown an ability to overcome a challenging start to the season and win games late in the season when they are the most important. Check out USD’s record by month over the last two seasons.
November - 6-7; December - 8-6; January - 9-6; February - 9-3; March 6-2
Coyotes Earn GWC Weekly Honors
South Dakota has won six Great West Conference Player of the Week honors in 2010-11, with junior Charlie Westbrook and sophomore Jake Thomas each leading the way with two awards. Westbrook won the award on Nov. 15 and Nov. 29, while Thomas won the award on Nov. 20 and Dec. 27. Freshman Trevor Gruis won the award as well on Dec. 20 with junior Louie Krogman the latest to win the award on March 7.
Next Up
The Coyotes, with the regular season over, will turn their attention to the Great West Conference tournament, to be held March 10-12 in Orem, Utah. The winner of the Great West Conference Championship reaced an automatic berth to the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament.
