SIOUX FALLS — With just four players returning from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits were a big unknown when they battled the McNeese State Cowboys during the Field of 68 Opening Day Showcase at the Sanford Pentagon on Monday night.

But while the Jackrabbits endured a cold start from the field, SDSU leaned on some stellar defense in the first half, a strong effort on the glass and a group of freshmen that combined for 41 points in an 80-73 win to open the year.

“That was a total team effort,” SDSU head coach Eric Henderson said of the win. “When you have as many new guys as we do and they trust each other the way we did, this wasn’t a one person show tonight.”

It was clear this was the first game of the season for both teams in the first half. Joe Sayler knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to get the Jacks on the board early but SDSU shot just 36.4 percent in the first half including just 5-for-19 beyond the arc.

With the offense looking to heat up, it was the Jackrabbits’ defense that carried the load, holding McNeese State to just 23.5 percent shooting as they took a 15-14 lead into the eight-minute media timeout.

“I thought we were physical,” Henderson said of SDSU’s defense. “We tried to force them into certain shots and for the most part, I thought we did that.”

The Jacks’ offense started to get going with a 9-0 run that was accentuated by Sayler’s third 3-pointer of the night and an easy basket by Oscar Cluff that gave SDSU a 24-14 lead with 6:10 left in the first half. But McNeese state responded with an 8-2 run coming out of a timeout and another 8-2 run before halftime to enter the break tied at 33-33.

When the Jacks emerged from the locker room, the confidence from their freshman began to pay off. SDSU shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the second half and they shot 7-for-16 on 3-pointers, showing off the balance that saw Sayler (18 points), Owen Larson (14 points) and Stoney Hadnot (12 points) all score in double-figures in their Jackrabbit debuts.

“It’s something that I hope within our program, we help instill that [confidence] in our guys,” Henderson said of his freshmen overcoming the slow start. “We believe in them. We tell them everyday that we believe in them and we never want them to play hesitant and they didn’t do that tonight.”

While the Jacks’ perimeter players were taking what they could from the McNeese State defense, Cluff had to be more patient. The senior transfer from Washington State finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds and played his role on the court well while dominating the paint.

“We’ve got everyone else that can shoot the ball…very well, so my job is just to be in the paint, be dominant, own the paint and then everyone gets open and that’s how we’re going to win games.” Cluff said.

Henderson was also complimentary in Cluff’s acceptance of his role and taking advantage of his opportunities when they were present.

“I thought Oscar’s patience was incredible. It was hard to get him the ball and we play through our post a lot, but he’s not in the huddle saying ‘Give me the ball,’” Henderson said. “It’s not about Oscar. He knows he’s impacting the game in so many ways and that’s the great thing about this group. There’s a lot of ways to impact the game and Oscar impacted that game as much as anybody.”

Cluff’s physicality on the glass was one of the areas that Henderson believed help flipped the game in the Jacks’ favor, opening up a 59-49 lead on a pair of Kalen Garry free throws with 10:07 to play. 

SDSU took a 66-57 lead on Stoney Hadnot’s layup with 7:36 to play but back-to-back 3-pointers by Joe Charles and Javohn Garcia cut the lead down to 66-63 with 7:02 to go. The lead hovered around three points for most of the remainder of the game and McNeese State cut the lead to 75-73 on Christian Shumate’s free throw with 1:29 remaining.

But Shumate’s free throw was the only points the Cowboys would score on a trip with four offensive rebounds and the Jacks made them pay on the other end when Larson knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to effectively ice the game.

A layup by Matthew Mors added a few more points for good measure and a new-look SDSU team secured a victory over a team that had lost just four games all of last season on their way to the NCAA Tournament.

“I had a lot of hope in this group,” Henderson said of the win. “Their effort, their energy, when they come into practice has been at a high level. …But you never really know how it’s going to go when you’re playing three true freshmen and a redshirt freshmen and we had a lot of fight. I was just extremely proud of their effort and their connectivity and their ability to trust each other.”

Jaden Jackson added nine points for SDSU in the win while Garry had six points and four rebounds. Hadnot also grabbed eight rebounds off the bench.

Alyn Breed led McNeese State with 18 points while Garcia had 15 and D.J. Richards had nine. Shumate finished with 11 points and nine rebounds while Charles grabbed five rebounds for the Cowboys.

Henderson believes the season-opening win wasn’t perfect and his team has a lot of areas they need to work on. But he also believes that the best is yet to come and that includes coming into the first official game at First Bank & Trust Arena against Long Beach State on Friday night.

“I hope the best is yet to come and I believe that it is, but to be able to be in that engaging of a game this early in the season and comout on the right side? You feel pretty good about our guys.” Henderson said.