Men look to improve record, avenge early season losses

After capping off last week with a home win over Oral Roberts, USD broke a four-game losing streak. The Coyotes currently sit tied at second to last place in the Summit League standings, and face two tough tests in the coming week.

USD will first face North Dakota State at home Thursday. Last time out against the Bison, a Coyote comeback fell short. Trailing 59-43 with eight minutes left, the Coyotes came together to make it a one -point game. Unable to get the winning shot to fall, USD fell 65-66 to NDSU.

Coyote head coach Craig Smith saw that, despite the loss, the team still showed a spark against the Bison.

“I thought our guys showed a lot of heart,” Smith said. “Our press really bothered them. We had two really good looks at the end of the game and neither one would fall. We’ve got to play from in front this time no doubt.”

Following the match-up with the Bison, USD will travel to Brookings to take on rival South Dakota State. The first match-up between the two saw the Coyotes losing at home after leading at the half. SDSU is currently number one in the Summit League and poses a tough threat, boasting three preseason all-league players.

Despite the loss to the Jackrabbits at home, Smith knows how close the Coyotes came to coming away with a win.

“They’re a really good team,” Smith said. “They just made a few more plays than us.”

Playing at home against SDSU and playing in Brookings are two very different stories. The Frost Arena is an intimidating venue to play in and has proven a tough place to sneak away with a win from, Smith said.

“It’s a tough place to play,” he said. “They’ve won 27 straight at their place and we haven’t won there since a long time ago. We’re going to have to play our best basketball to have a chance to win.”

Despite falling to both teams already, USD is using the early season trials as motivation for what’s to come.

Junior forward Tyler Flack is optimistic for the team’s chances this time out.

“It’s in the back of our minds, knowing we were just a couple plays away from beating them. I know that if we play the whole game the way we can play we can beat them both. They’re not that much better than us,” Flack said. “Not that much better at all.”

Flack, recently returned from injury, has been a huge boost to the Coyote front court. Flack is averaging 7.2 points and 4.1 rebounds in 10 games played and has started the past two games. In his first two starts, Flack has been very efficient shooting, part of which comes from his ability to throw down some big dunks.

Flack attributed his high field goal percentage to his proficiency above the rim.

“When I can dunk it it’s usually a pretty easy one to make,” Flack said.

A big storyline going into this week is the indefinite suspension of junior starting guard Shy McClelland. McClelland started 21 games for the Coyotes and averaged 11.5 points. Smith noted the loss of McClelland will hurt, but the team seems ready to keep going.

“It certainly hurts us in terms of our depth. We don’t have a whole lot of depth on the perimeter the way it is,” Smith said. “The good news is we played two games without him last week and we were able to figure some things out, so it’s just next man up.”

The Coyotes will take on NDSU in the DakotaDome Thursday at 7 p.m. They follow NDSU up with a trip to Brookings on Saturday to take on the Jackrabbits. Tip-off time is set for 4:30 p.m.