BROOKINGS – South Dakota State’s men’s basketball team is entering the final month of the season and it will be an important one for the Jackrabbits as they have five of their final seven home games in Brookings at Frost Arena.
SDSU enters February with a record of 12-11 overall and is 7-4 in Summit League play. The Jacks are coming off of a three-game road trip in which they were without three players that they thought were going to be starters at the beginning of the season.
Fifth year forward Luke Appel has missed most of the season and will not play the rest of the year due to a foot injury and junior guard Charlie Easley has been sidelined since the beginning of conference play due to a foot injury as well. Alex Arians then did not make the trip this past weekend due to personal issues. SDSU went 1-2 on the road trip as they closed the trip out with a one-point win over Kansas City on Monday night after falling to St. Thomas and Western Illinois.
Henderson said that he expects to get Easley back soon, but did not say for sure if he’d play this weekend. He also said that Arians is day-to-day as well.
“You have to be a little be creative when your shorthanded. We’re certainly hopeful that [Easley] and [Arians] are back sooner than later. Both of them are kind of on a day-to-day basis, but they’re working hard and we’re excited to continue to grow as a team, but hopefully get some guys back,” Henderson said.
With Easley and Arians being out this past weekend and SDSU electing to redshirt two of its freshmen, the Jacks played with just seven players on the road trip. Henderson said that even though they went 1-2, he was proud of his team’s effort over the weekend.
“Obviously, what [the guys who are playing] are giving us is incredible. They’re playing maybe a few more minutes than we’d like and that did affect us a little bit, especially early in the week, we got wore down late in the game situations and our mental capacity probably wasn’t where it needed to be. When you can get a rest or breath, and it can be a short one, those are just so important. So, we’re continuing to work on that. We played a little bit of zone last night and that was able to give our guys a little bit of breather as well, and foul trouble was part of that too. … Those guys are stepping up in a huge way,” Henderson said.
Henderson has pointed out that SDSU will be a totally different team once it gets Easley back into the rotation. He said on Tuesday that Easley impacts the game in many different ways.
“[Easley] was shooting 44% from the 3-point line and is one of the best defenders in our league on the perimeter. He’s tougher than heck and is a great chemistry guy. All of his teammates love him. Depth is something that will also be really valuable [when he comes back]. How he impacts our team is pretty invaluable,” Henderson said.
SDSU will begin its final stretch of games with a weekend against the North Dakota schools. The Jacks will host UND (7-16, 1-9) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Fighting Hawks are in last place in the conference. SDSU will then take on NDSU on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Frost Arena and the Bison are 9-13 overall and 6-4 in conference play.
The past 10 meetings between SDSU and NDSU have been decided by six points or less, including the Bison’s 65-59 victory over the Jackrabbits in the first meeting on Jan. 5. Henderson said his team knows what kind of game it’s going to be on Saturday.
“I think we all know what we’re going to get [for the game against NDSU]. They have a lot new kids and are playing a lot of young kids as well and have a couple of staples in there as well that understand what it takes to win. Very similar to us. … So, we know what that’s going to be like on Saturday and I’m sure we’ll have a great environment,” Henderson said.
This weekend will have a big impact on the Summit League standings as the Jackrabbits are tied with Western Illinois for second place in the conference and the Bison are just a half game back of WIU and SDSU. Oral Roberts sits in first place as the Golden Eagles are 11-0 in conference play.
The top two seeds at the Summit League Tournament get to play their quarterfinal game on Saturday and will be playing a team who played on Friday night. Henderson said his team will take it one game at a time but knows the importance to the seeding come tournament time.
“We look at things a game at a time and all of our focus is on North Dakota,” he said. “Now, we also understand that the two seed is a really big advantage when it comes to the Summit League Tournament. So, it’s something that we need to look at, but we’re in a situation where we’re trying help young people moving forward, especially because four out of the seven guys we’re playing right now our freshman.
“So, to continue to get those guys experience and continue to try to help them be really impactful, and also getting [Arians] and [Easley] back into the mix hopefully sooner rather than later is really what our focus is on. … We hope to be at full strength by Summit League Tournament time and we’re not right now. But there’s still a process of trying to win every game you play and a process of hey, let’s try to get these young guys better and better every time we step on the floor.”
