Summit League Preview: Jackrabbit Men Host Fort Wayne, at North Dakota State

Week three of the Summit League men's basketball schedule finds South Dakota State at home, hosting the hottest team in the conference.

The Fort Wayne Mastodons (14-4/3-0) have won seven in-a-row thanks to three-point shooting and rebounding. About one of every three baskets made by the Dons in league play is from behind the arc. In fact three IPFW players (Max Landis, DeAngelo Stewart, and Mo Evans) are among the six best long range shooters in the conference.

The Mastodons also boast the best rebounding numbers in the Summit League with John Konchar and Joe Reed in the top ten. On average, IPFW is outrebounding conference opponents by more than 12 a game.

Tipoff is 7:00 PM in Brookings Thursday night.

The Jackrabbits (13-4/2-1) are back on the road Saturday as they play at North Dakota State.

The Bison (12-6/2-2) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 66-65 win over South Dakota Wednesday night. Kory Brown had a double-double against the Coyotes with career highs in both points (21) and rebounds (15).

Paul Miller leads NDSU in scoring with 17 points per game, while Dexter Werner is in the top ten in the conference in rebounding.

The Bison had been among the best in the nation in taking care of the ball, but in their last three games they're turned it over 46 times.

Tipoff is 4:30 PM in Fargo Saturday.

South Dakota State is coming off its' first loss of the Summit League schedule, a 74-67 defeat at IUPUI last week. The Jackrabbits squandered an early eight-point advantage and gave up several runs to the Jaguar offense throughout the game.

The biggest bright spot for SDSU in the loss was the play of reserve forward Mike Daum. The redshirt freshman had a career-high 23 points.

I talked with Jackrabbits head coach Scott Nagy about the loss and this week's games with Fort Wayne and North Dakota State: