South Dakota State men set for Saturday’s quarterfinals

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Previewing the Game

No. 1 seed South Dakota State begins the 2018 Summit League Championships with a quarterfinal showdown against eighth-seeded Western Illinois Saturday. Tipoff from the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls is set for 6 p.m.

The Jackrabbits (25-6, 13-1 Summit League) enter the tournament on an eight-game winning streak and wrapped up the regular season with a 97-90 win at Fort Wayne Feb. 24. SDSU reached the 25-win plateau for the fifth time in its Division I history and is the No. 1 seed in the league championship for the third time.

Western Illinois (12-15, 3-11 Summit League) fell in its season finale to Denver, 89-52, and dropped four of its final five regular season games.

The Jacks and Fighting Leathernecks have faced off 26 times prior to the first-round bout, with State holding a 22-4 edge. The teams have battled twice this season, with SDSU winning both by an average of 24 points (98-70 and 82-62). South Dakota State and WIU have squared off three times in The Summit League Championships, with the Jacks winning all three.

For the 2017-18 season series, David Jenkins Jr. is averaging 23.5 points per game and Mike Daum has a near-double-double of 20.5 points and nine rebounds. Tevin King reached double figures in both games as well, scoring 12 in the Macomb, Illinois matchup and 10 (with eight rebounds) in Brookings.

Summit League Championships Outlook 

South Dakota State is 17-5 all-time at The Summit League Tournament and has claimed four titles. SDSU and North Dakota State are the only teams to win titles in the last six years. The Jacks have been the top seed two other times, reaching the championship game both years. The Jacks are 5-1 as the No. 1 seed and won the title in the top spot in 2013.

The winner of Saturday’s game will face either No. 4 seed Fort Wayne or No. 5 seed North Dakota State in Monday’s semifinals at 6 p.m. South Dakota and Omaha will face off in the 2 vs. 7 game in the other Saturday quarterfinal, and the third-seeded Denver Pioneers will face Oral Roberts Sunday night. The winner of those games will face off in the 8:30 p.m. Monday contest. Both semifinals air on MidcoSN with an ESPN3 simulcast.

Tuesday’s championship game is set for 8 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPN2 and available through WatchESPN.

The Summit League Championships bracket can be found on page nine of the game notes.

About South Dakota State

The Summit League Player of the Year Mike Daum is the nation’s top returning scorer and has picked up where he left off in 2016-17, averaging a double-double of 23.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest. He has 18 double-doubles on the campaign (including 12 in 14 Summit League games) and has reached double figures in all but one contest, including 11 30-point performances.

Daum has been named the Summit League’s Player of the Week six times and was named the Summit League’s Athlete of the Month for November and December.

He joined the 2,000-point club on Feb. 1 and is sixth nationally in scoring average.

In league play, the Kimball, Neb., native is averaging a double-double of 26 points and 12.5 rebounds per contest while shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 89.2 (91-for-102) percent at the charity stripe.

Daum will look to continue his impressive play at the PREMIER Center this weekend. Over six games in the league tournament, he is averaging 25.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He is shooting 51.7 percent at the PREMER Center and is 48-for-57 in the tournament at the line. He has been the tournament MVP the last two seasons.

David Jenkins Jr. has made his presence known in his first season at the collegiate level and earned Summit League Freshman of the Year, All-Summit League Second Team and Summit League All-Newcomer team honors after sitting second on the Jacks with 15.9 points per game and 25 double figure scoring performances. He has led the team in scoring four times and is shooting 43.5 percent from the field. Jenkins has reached the 20-point mark in 10 games, including a 31-point performance at Colorado where he drilled seven 3-pointers. He matched that total and sank six 3-pointers at Denver on Feb. 8.

The Tacoma, Wash., native is second among Jackrabbits with 76 total 3-pointers this season (behind Daum’s 81), firing at a clip of 38.8 percent.

Reed Tellinghuisen is third on the team with season averages of 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 48.3 percent from the field. He was named All-Summit League honorable mention.

The Sac City, Iowa, native is 57-for-143 (39.9 percent) from beyond the arc, and has scored 20 or more in two Summit League games, finishing with 22 at NDSU and 24 against ORU.

Tevin King is putting up 9.6 points per game, just below double figures while grabbing 170 total rebounds (5.5 per contest), second-most on the squad. He has 92 assists and a team-best 57 steals while shooting 52.6 percent from the field. From Chicago, King has scored 10 or more in 17 games this season and has done it in nine league contests. Additionally, he has two double-doubles on the season, both coming against Fort Wayne.

SDSU is seventh in NCAA Division I with 85.3 points per game, and the Jackrabbits hold a plus-10.6 scoring margin (28th nationally). State is shooting 47.4 percent as a team and ranks in the top 15 for 3-point makes and percentage.

Defensively, the Jacks are allowing 74.6 points per game and have held opponents to a 43.3 field goal percentage.

State has outrebounded its opponents 20 times on the season and hold a plus-3.7 rebounding margin, averaging 38.7 boards per game.

About Western Illinois

Western Illinois is led by three double figure scorers, with freshman Kobe Webster (16.3 points per game) leading the pack. Webster has started all 27 games and played a team-high 33.4 minutes on average, shooting 43.9 percent from the field with a team-high 58 3-pointers at a clip of 37.2 percent. The guard is averaging 3.6 assists per game to pace the team as well and has come up with 20 steals.

Dalan Ancrum is second on the team with 13.6 points per contest and has hit 48 of his 126 3-pointers (38.1 percent). He is also second on the team in rebounds (5.4 per game) and has 50 assists (1.8 per night) with a team-leading 26 steals.

Brandon Gilbeck (10.7 points per game) is third in team scoring and leads the squad with 7.1 boards per contest. The big man is atop The Summit League with 68 blocks for the year and is shooting 65.4 percent from the field.

All three top scorers were held to single digits (six, four and four, respectively) in the Feb. 17 showdown against SDSU in Brookings.

The ‘Necks are averaging 72.3 points per game and allowing 72 on average, shooting 46.7 percent as a team while holding opponents to a 42.9 field goal percentage. On the boards, WIU is plus-0.1 in rebounding margin.

Billy Wright is in his fourth season leading the Leathernecks and holds a 38-72 record on the bench.

A South Dakota State Win Would ... 

Give SDSU its 26th win of the season and send them to The Summit League semifinals to face either No. 4 seed Fort Wayne or No. 5 seed North Dakota State ... move SDSU to 23-4 all-time against Western Illinois and give them four straight wins in the series ... push Otzelberger to 44-23 at South Dakota State ... give the Jackrabbits a 1,509-1,030-1 all-time mark.

A South Dakota State Loss Would ... 

Put the Jacks at 25-7 and end their league tournament run, though not the season as State has automatically qualified for at least the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) with the regular season crown ... move SDSU to 22-15 all-time against the Leathernecks ... make Otzelberger 43-24 at South Dakota State ... drop SDSU to 1,508-1,031-1 all-time.

Four recognized by Summit League

Mike Daum has been named the Summit League Player of the Year, David Jenkins Jr. was tabbed as Freshman of the Year and head coach T.J. Otzelberger earned Coach of the Year honors as three Jackrabbits were named to the All-Summit League teams, announced Wednesday by the league office.

Daum was named to the All-Summit League First Team for the third time in his career, joining Nate Wolters with the most all-league first team nods in Division I while becoming the sixth player in Summit League history to repeat as Player of the Year.

Jenkins capped an impressive regular season with Freshman of the Year, All-Summit League Second Team and Summit League All-Newcomer team honors. He joins Daum as the only freshmen at SDSU to earn all-league honors (at both Division I and II levels).

Reed Telllinghuisen was named All-Summit League honorable mention and earned all-league honors for the first time in his career.

Otzelberger earns the top coaching award in his second season leading the Jacks, helping the team tally 13 league wins (second-most in program history), 25 wins overall (fourth time in last seven years to hit the 25-win plateau) and put together a 15-0 home run while building the nation’s longest active home winning streak of 20.

Let It Rain

South Dakota State’s 3-point offense ranks among the nation’s best for the second-straight season, as the team is fifth the nation in 3-pointers made and 22nd in attempts for the Feb. 28 stats release. The Jacks are 12th nationally with 10.7 3-pointers per game and 12th with a 40.7 long range shooting percentage.

South Dakota State has already reset the school record for single-season 3-pointers this season (332) and is second in attempts (815). The Jacks set both last year as well, making 318 of 883.

Last season, the Jacks had three players that hit 60 or more 3-pointers last season, including two returners in Mike Daum (79) and Reed Tellinghuisen (74). That duo ranked 13th nationally among active returning duos in combined 3-pointers from a year ago. State has four already with 40 or more 3-pointers this year: Mike Daum (81), David Jenkins Jr. (76), Reed Tellinghuisen (57) and Skyler Flatten (50).

Through 31 games last season, SDSU was 294-for-792 beyond the arc. This year, the Jacks are 332-for-815 from long distance.

Nov. 28 saw the Jackrabbits reset the school’s Division I record for 3-pointers made and attempted in a game for the third (makes) and fourth (attempts) time, going 18-for-41 beyond the arc.

Since the arrival of T.J. Otzelberger, the Jacks now hold all of the top five spots in the record book for 3-pointers made and attempted in a Division I game.

The Otzelberger-led Jackrabbits have hit 14 or more 3-pointers in 12 games over the last two seasons, and prior to his arrival a State team had hit 14 or more 3-pointers in just six games.

Through the first 12 seasons of Division I basketball (starting in the first transition year of 2003-04), SDSU had 71 games of 10 or more 3-pointers, with a max of 13 in one season (2010-13). The Jackrabbits did it 13 times last year and this season has already hit 10 or more 3-pointers in 19 games.

Under T.J., the Jackrabbits have attempted 30 or more 3-pointers in a game 14 times. The Pre-Otzelberger era teams did it on 11 total occasions since the adoption of the 3-point line in 1986. It happened three times at the Division II level and eight times between 2003-04 and 2015-16, the last season Scott Nagy led the program.

SDSU is one of six Division I teams to have seven or more players with 10-plus 3-pointers on the year, joining TCU, Creighton, Holy Cross, UTSA and Louisville

Charity Stripe Success

South Dakota State has gotten to the free throw line more than its opponents in 24 of 31 games this season. The Jackrabbits are shooting 76.2 percent on free throws and have seven active players shooting above 70 percent on free throws.

As of Feb. 28, South Dakota State ranks 38th in free throw attempts (675), 16th nationally in free throws made (516) and 27th in free throw percentage (.764).

SDSU leads the conference in makes, attempts and percentage.

Mike Daum opened Summit League play with 35 consecutive free throws, matching the second-longest streak in Jackrabbit history (Garrett Callahan, 2008-09) after setting the record last season with 43 straight from Dec. 7-22, 2016.

Photo from www.gojacks.com.