COLUMN: Holiday season no cake walk for pair of USD teams
Holiday break.
A time for students and faculty to take a well-deserved break from all things school related and to enjoy the holiday season surrounded by family and friends.
However, while most students are knee deep in holiday cheer, some University of South Dakota teams will still be hard at work.
For both Coyote men and women’s basketball teams, winter break is chock full of crucial conference match-ups mixed in with Division I heavyweights scheduled over the next month.
The Coyote men (4-6) have a string of winnable games beginning with Ball State (4-4) Dec. 15, Morehead State (5-5) Dec. 19 and Wisconsin-Green Bay (4-4) Dec. 22 to kick off their winter break before their schedule starts to turn south.
Games against Kansas State (7-1), North Dakota State (8-2) and South Dakota State (8-3) comprise a triple blow that could knock the Coyotes down after an easy ride earlier in December.
Head coach Dave Boots will need to call upon the consistent offensive production from senior guard Juevol Myles and junior guard Karim Rowson to carry the team to wins against lesser opponents but even that won’t be enough against Kansas State and fellow Summit League foes.
To win those games, the Coyotes will have to step things up on defense, something the team as been inconsistent about, throughout this season.
Junior center Trevor Gruis, who stands at 6’ 10”, is the tallest player on a distinguishably short roster.
This puts USD at a significant height disadvantage, which makes defending the post a practical nightmare for the Coyotes.
Look to the Coyotes ability to keep the ball out of the post as a key in the majority of games over the break.
This means stellar perimeter defense and smart zone assignments are a must in order to slow down taller teams.
However, this could be quite a challenge for the group of USD guards. Myles’ subpar defensive performance early in the season along with lack of experience leaves them mismatched against superior Summit League squads.
If the Coyotes come out of the winter break at .500 or better, consider it a success.
The monthly outlook for the Coyote women (4-6) is more or less the same as the men’s. A mixture of winnable games coming from Peru State, Utah State and North Dakota State, followed by games with South Dakota State (6-4), Nebraska-Omaha (6-2) and Boise State (6-5) balances out the team’s schedule.
The challenge for the Coyotes during this stretch will be their willingness to win on the road.
Four of the team’s next six games are on the road, including a two-game road trip west to Logan, Utah and Boise, Id.
Along with back-to-back games at the beginning of the new year in Brookings and Fargo N.D. will inflict quite a toll, even for a youth Coyotes team.
Head coach Amy Williams will have to rely on the team’s youth to pick up the slack for a group of tired starters, something USD has been able to do rather well this season, with consistent play from players like freshman McKayla Knudson and sophomore Nicole Seekamp.
Both Coyotes teams could use any win they can muster before they hit the thick of their conference schedules.
If the both teams are able to do the number of things outlined above and remain resilient over the next string of games, they just may have a holly jolly holiday season
