South Dakota State vs. Grand Canyon: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

Two top mid-major programs battle on opening night when South Dakota State hosts Grand Canyon. Which team starts out the season with a win?

TV Schedule: Tuesday, November 6, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN3

Location: Frost Arena, Brookings, South Dakota

Two of the better mid-major programs face off on opening night in Brookings, South Dakota as the South Dakota State Jackrabbits host the Antelopes of Grand Canyon. The two teams combined to win 50 games last season and both teams made an appearance in their conference tournament title game, South Dakota State won the title and went to the NCAA Tournament. It may just be opening night, but for these two teams, it’s a chance to make a statement against a strong opponent.

South Dakota State has a lot going for them. They have one of the best young coaches in the country in T.J. Otzelberger and one of the best players in the country in senior forward Mike Daum and coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances with a 28-win campaign, expectations will be at an all-time high when they take the floor on Tuesday.

The 6-9 Daum is the team’s unquestioned leader with his 23.9 points and 10.3 rebounds. In addition to Daum, the Jackrabbits return three other starters, senior guards Skyler Flatten and Tevin King, along with sophomore David Jenkins. The trio combined to net 32 points, for a team that averaged nearly 84 per game. Another key contributor should be senior guard Brandon Key, who scored 16 points off the bench in the team’s NCAA Tournament loss to Ohio State.

Grand Canyon won 22 games and made the WAC tournament final in their first season of NCAA Tournament eligibility. The Antelopes were one of the better defensive teams in the country last season, allowing just 65 points per game, while opponents shot just 40% from the field and just 27.8% from three-point range, the top percentage in the country. Head coach Dan Majerle relied heavily on his starting five last season with his six-man rotation off the bench averaging just over 13 minutes per game. Just two starters return to GCU this season, Alessandro Lever and Oscar Frayer.

Lever is a 6-10 sophomore center who led the team in scoring at 12.2 per game and his 4.4 rebounds are second best to Frayer. Frayer is the team top returning three-point shooter at 36% while potting 9.6 points and grabbing 5.2 rebounds.  A big key for the Antelopes will be a group of newcomers in the backcourt. J.J. Rhymes, a 6-4 guard arrives from Hutchinson Community College where he was a member of a National Championship as a freshman and earned NJCAA All-America honors averaging 19.6 points last season.

Carlos Johnson brings the Lopes high-major experience, transferring from Washington where the 6-3 guard where he appeared in 17 games last season. 6-6 Tim Finke is the school’s most heralded recruit in school history. The Illinois native scored over 2,000 points in high school and averaged 21.0 points and 9.0 rebounds as a senior.

Key matchup

The key matchup in this game isn’t a player vs. player matchup, but the offense of SDSU vs. the defense of GCU. The Jackrabbits’ 84.5 points is the 7th best offense in the country and Grand Canyon coughed up just 65 points per game. South Dakota State was the nation’s 10th best three-point shooting team at 40.3%, while GCU allowed opponents to shoot 27.8%.

Prediction:

South Dakota State returns more firepower than Grand Canyon and it could take some time for the Antelopes to gel defensively with all the newcomers: South Dakota State 76 Grand Canyon 68