USD Men Vs. Graceland

The University of South Dakota men’s basketball team opens its home schedule with a 7 p.m. game tonight against NAIA Graceland University.

I won’t be having a live action blog, but I’ll post a halftime update, as well as post-game thoughts later tonight.

Quick look at the game:

** USD is 1-3 after losing to Post University 104-92 on Saturday. Junior Tyler Cain had 33 points and 14 rebounds in that game.

** Graceland comes in 2-6, and Jewell Carter is the team’s leading scorer at 14.6 points per game.

Back with more later.

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HALFTIME: USD 38, Graceland 30

To put it simply, the Coyotes aren’t hitting their shots. USD has hit 13-of-38 shots from the field for 34 percent, 5-of-17 from three-point range (29 percent). Meanwhile, the GU Yellow Jackets have hit 12-of-27 shots for 44 percent thus far.

USD’s biggest lead has been eight (28-20 and 38-30) and the game has been tied five times, the latest at 20-20.

Graceland’s Jewell Carter has hit some big shots so far, with 16 points at halftime. Dude hit a three at the 8:29 mark to tie the game at 20, but USD responded with a pair of threes from Jesse Becker and Louie Krogman, and a Mitch Begeman layup.

Becker leads USD with 11 points at halftime, while Tyler Cain has seven and Krogman has six. Cain already has eight rebounds and four assists.

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FINAL: USD 78, Graceland 66

There was actually a point in the second half when the Coyotes only led 58-51. But following a media timeout (welcome to D-I), USD ballooned the lead to 70-53 in four minutes.

For the game, the Coyotes shot 40 percent from the field and just 8-of-27 (30 percent) from three-point range. It’s not that they were taking bad shots, its just that they couldn’t hit them.

Senior point guard Jesse Becker hit six of USD’s eight 3’s and finished with 24 points. Both Steve Smith and Tyler Cain had double-doubles for the Coyotes, while freshman Louie Krogman had 11 points. In all, USD played just seven guys due to injuries, and of their two bench players (John Kreklow) left with an ankle injury.

It wasn’t the prettiest 12-point win, but even the players said that after Saturday’s loss to Point University, they just needed a win. And that’s what they got.