UMKC Continues Road Trip with Contest at SDSU Saturday
1/13/2012 7:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UMKC (7-12, 1-6) at South Dakota St. (14-5, 6-1)
January 14, 2012 - 7:30 p.m. (Central)
Frost Arena * Brookings, S.D.
Radio: 1140 AM / 102.9 FM (Steven Davis)
THE GAME
The Kangaroos look to snap a seven-game skid on Saturday against the second place South Dakota State Jackrabbits. SDSU has lost only to league-leading Oral Roberts in conference play, and sit in second place. The Jackrabbits are coming off an 86-56 win over heated rival South Dakota on Thursday.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
South Dakota State is 14-5 overall, and 6-1 in conference play after winning five of their last six games. The Jackrabbits are receiving votes in the Mid-Major top 25, and boast a perfect 7-0 record at home.
They are led by first-team All-Summit guard Nate Wolters, who is averaging 21.1 points per game to go with his league best 106 assists. Sharpshooting guard Griffan Callahan is second on the squad with 11.4 points and a team-b est 5.6 boards per game. He also leads the team with 45 threes (.441).
As a team, SDSU averages a league-high 79.0 points per game, and out-scores the opposition by 8,8 per contest. It shoots .464 from the floor, and holds opponents to a league second-best .313 from three-point land.
THE COACHES
Matt Brown is in his fifth season as the head coach of the UMKC men's basketball program, and comes off his most successful season at the helm. In 2010-11, he posted his first winning record at 16-14 overall. The 'Roos also posted the third-most home wins in school history, going 11-4 in Kansas City, and the third-most overall wins in program history.
Brown joined the 'Roos as the eighth head coach in school history on April 12, 2007. In his five seasons as head coach, Brown has guided UMKC to a 49-89 overall record and has coached seven players to all-Summit League recognition.
Scott Nagy is in his 17th season as the head coach of the Jackrabbits and has a 303-195 overall record there. He has led the SDSU program from Division II to Division I, and picked up numerous conference titles and NCAA Tournament berths in the NCAA-II days. He was also named conference coach of the year five times.
THE SERIES
The Kangaroos and Jackrabbits are meeting for the 10th time, with SDSU holding a 6-5 lead in the series. UMKC won the last meeting in upset fashion by a 63-58 margin in Brookings last season. SDSU won the Kansas City meeting though, 91-71.
In Brookings, UMKC is 2-3, winning last year and in 2008.
Matt Brown has a 4-4 mark against SDSU, but had two wins later forfeited, while Scott Nagy is 6-5 vs. UMKC.
A WIN WOULD MEAN...
- UMKC would have snapped its seven-game losing streak, the longest since an eight-game streak from 1/17/09-to-2/14/09.
- UMKC would move its record to 2-6 in league play and 8-12 overall.
- UMKC would have handed SDSU its first loss of the season at home.
UPCOMING MILESTONES
- Dustin Dibble will be playing in his 101st career college basketball game on Saturday, and needs just four more games to crack the UMKC top 10.
- Reggie Chamberlain needs six more threes to crack the career top 10 at UMKC at 112. His current 2.7 made per game is third all-time at UMKC.
- Chamberlain also needs only four points to crack the top 20 in scoring at UMKC. He has 674 points now, could be the 19th player to reach 700 pts at UMKC.
