Summit League Basketball: Reactions from Saturday’s conference tournament opening round

Day one of the 2018 Summit League tournament saw two teams advance while two others had their season’s end. Before we move on to Sunday, let’s unpack what happened on Saturday.

The top two seeds in this year’s competition opened up play on Saturday evening. After an afternoon that saw the women take the floor, number one seed South Dakota State was the first men’s game to tip-off. As is customary, the top seeded Jackrabbits faced off with the eighth seeded Western Illinois Leathernecks.

On the outset, the outcome of this game seemed relatively obvious. South Dakota State is good and Western Illinois is not. It seemed so black and white. We failed to remember that the calendar has since changed to March, meaning anything can happen. Sure enough, the lowly Leathernecks gave the Jackrabbits a run for their money for the full 40 minutes.

South Dakota State struggled mightily on offense throughout the first half, only posting 29 points. Western Illinois was not a whole lot better, but they were able to head into the locker room with a three-point advantage. It was at this point that Summit League aficionados (like myself) wondered if this monumental upset could occur. Quite frankly, monumental may not even be the proper adjective to illustrate how huge of an upset this would have been. However, you will notice my use of the past tense in that last sentence. This hints at the fact that something shifted in the final 20 minutes.

And that is what happened.

The Jackrabbits outscored the Leathernecks by nine points in the second half. Mike Daum woke up and paced the number one seed to a 66-60 victory. Daum finished the game with an astounding 33 points and 19 rebounds. Outside of that, the Jackrabbits did not have a player score in double figures (Reed Tellinghuisen had nine). The team as a whole only shot 36 percent from the field and an awful 25 percent from three.

Perhaps it was less about how good South Dakota State was in the second half, but how poorly Western Illinois’ top player played all game. Freshman Kobe Webster had only seven points on a paltry three of 14 shooting. The Leathernecks top performer was guard Isaac Johnson, who scored a team high 17 points and 15 rebounds. It is worth noting that Johnson is rarely relied upon to be the top scorer. The freshman only averaged seven points per game this season.

All in all, the Jackrabbits should feel lucky after tonight. If they were to turn in a performance like this against a Fort Wayne or Denver, they probably would have lost. However, Western Illinois is the worst team in the league and rightfully so. What worries me is if South Dakota State can be more offensively sound on Monday night. If they are not, they could be in some serious trouble.

The final game of the day saw second seeded South Dakota take on seventh seeded Omaha. Though the Coyotes defeated the Mavericks handily in their two meetings in the regular season, this game was not as clear-cut. Omaha could have possibly been a sneaky upset pick given some of the talent they had to offer. However, South Dakota showed themselves to be a real threat to South Dakota State with their performance in this contest.

It was South Dakota’s suffocating defense that set the tone and stifled the young Mavericks early on. Within the first 15 minutes of the game, Omaha has already turned the ball over six times. That is a staple in the Coyotes game that could make them a serious danger if they are able to make the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, they will need to win this tournament to do that.

Newly christened All-Summit League player Matt Mooney led the way for the Coyotes. The junior scored 20 points by game’s end. Factor in several solid performances from Trey Burch-Manning, Brandon Armstrong, and Nick Fuller and you have an easy win for South Dakota. The final score showed that with the Coyotes on top  87-73.

Based on what we saw today, you would think that South Dakota would be the top team in the Summit League. We know that they split their regular season series with South Dakota State, but the Coyotes looked so much sharper than the Jackrabbits on day one. Whether or not that continues to be the case will have to wait until Monday.

For Omaha and Western Illinois, their seasons are over. Neither team is making it to any sort of postseason tournament this time around. However, the positive for them is how young their teams are. Both teams will return their best player as well with Kobe Webster coming back as a sophomore for the Leathernecks and Zach Jackson becoming a senior for the Mavericks.

So, the two top seeds move forward and will play again on Monday. South Dakota State will play either Fort Wayne or North Dakota State. Those two teams play at 7 pm Eastern on Sunday. As for the Coyotes, they will take on either Denver or Oral Roberts. That game will wrap up day two of the 2018 Summit League tournament with the Pioneers and Golden Eagles set to tip at 9:30pm Eastern.

Next: Player of the Year power rankings for March

It is sure to be another exciting day on Sunday as we iron out the semi-finals on the men’s and women’s side. For now, it seems that South Dakota has put themselves at the forefront of this tournament. However, to overlook Mike Daum and the Jackrabbits would be extremely idiotic.