Game Notes (.pdf) I Live Audio I Live Stats I IUPUI Tournament Central

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The IUPUI basketball team will enter the postseason as the No. 8 seed and will take on top-seeded South Dakota State (22-9) on Saturday, Mar. 9 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern inside Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls, S.D.. Saturday’s game will be televised on Fox College Sports and Midco Sports Net and broadcast in Indianapolis on WNDE 1260 AM, WNDE.com and on the free iHeartRadio app. Scott McCauley (pxp) will be on the radio call with pregame coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m..
 
The Jaguars come in having dropped 15 straight decisions, dating back to a late-December win over Fort Wayne at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. IUPUI (6-25) closed the regular season with three straight home losses, including a 48-44 defeat to Kansas City last Saturday (Mar. 2) on Senior Night. Junior center Mitchell Patton capped a strong individual weekend with a game-high 19 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots, but the rest of the squad combined to score just 25 points on 8-of-32 shooting.
 
UMKC’s Thomas Staton broke a 40 all tie with five points in succession over a 65 second stretch and the visiting Kangaroos led the rest of the night. Trailing 45-40, IUPUI got a layup from Patton off a nifty Greg Rice feed and then the senior point guard sank a 10-footer to pull IUPUI within one. Rice had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 9.1 seconds left, but came up empty on both freebies and the Jaguars were unable to corral the offensive board, allowing UMKC’s Kirk Korver to ice the win at the foul line.
 
Patton continues to lead the Jaguars in scoring (13.6 ppg) and blocked shots (30), while ranking second on the club in rebounding (5.1 rpg). The 6-foot-9 lefty has ascended to No. 10 nationally in field goal percentage, having connected on 58.6 percent of his attempts this year. Classmate Donovan Gibbs checks in at 10.2 points and a team-high 6.4 caroms per game and is shooting just under 55 percent from the floor. Rice (8.8 ppg, 3.5 apg) and Sean Esposito (8.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 56 3’s) have been pressed into extended duty since the start of the calendar year as Head Coach Todd Howard’s squad has been limited to just seven scholarship student-athletes since the turn of the calendar.
 
South Dakota State is coming off a 100-82 road win at Omaha last Thursday (Feb. 28) and captured a share of The Summit League’s regular season title and the tournament’s top seed. SDSU is led by Summit League Player of the Year Nate Wolters, who leads the Jackrabbits in scoring (22.8 ppg), assists (5.7 apg), steals (49) and is shooting nearly 50 percent from the field this season. Up front, junior Second Team All-Leaguer Jordan Dykstra (12.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Tony Fiegen (9.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 54.5 FG%) lead Head Coach Scott Nagy’s club while Chad White (10.1 ppg, 70 3’s) is among four Jackrabbits to have hit at least 44 treys this season.
 
SDSU dominated the regular season series with IUPUI, winning 80-65 in Indianapolis on Jan. 19 before later claiming an 82-45 victory in the meeting in Brookings, S.D. on Feb. 14. IUPUI junior Donovan Gibbs was one of the few Jaguars to enjoy success against the Jacks this season, averaging 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and making 14-of-20 field goal attempts in the two losses.
 
SDSU leads the all-time series against IUPUI, 7-6, and has won six straight dating back to 2011. The Jackrabbits are 1-0 against IUPUI in the postseason tournament, having eliminated the Jaguars last season, 77-56 inside Sioux Falls Arena on Mar. 3. IUPUI is 3-4 in the four previous tournaments in Sioux Falls and 16-11 all-time in conference tournament games.