Big weekend for USD basketball team

The USD men’s and women’s basketball teams have two North Central Conference home games this weekend, starting with tonight’s women’s game at 6 p.m. in the DakotaDome against Minnesota-Duluth.

The Bulldogs, who look to be underdogs on both the men’s (8-12, 1-4 NCC) side and women’s (4-15, 1-4 NCC) side, most league games are never a cake walk, regardless of record.

The NCC-leading Coyote women (17-1, 3-0 NCC), who are winners of 15 straight games, could tie for the best start of any USD women’s team if they can pick up two wins this weekend.

USD head coach Chad Lavin coached the 1983-84 team that set the consecutive wins mark. That team went on to finish 22-7 with an NCC title.I don’t think the women will have many problems with UMD, but you never know and basketball can be a funny game.

The USD men get UMD at 8 p.m. The Bulldogs are the last team to beat the Coyotes on their home floor when they came into Vermillion Saturday, Feb. 17 and bounced USD 83-75.Again, USD looks to be the better team on paper, but you never know. The Coyotes match up zone defense and their balanced offense should cause the Bulldogs problems.

Jordan Nuness is a guy the Coyotes will have to keep an eye on defensively. Nuness leads the NCC with 79 made 3-point field goals.

Hope to see you at the games tonight, but if you can’t make it, check back with the volanteonline.com and this blog for stories and opinions on tonight’s games.

- – Vance Janak

USD women first in region

Thanks to a 15-game win streak, the USD women’s basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the North Central Region, according to the first rankings of the season released Wednesday.

The Coyote women (17-1, 3-0 NCC) rise to the top thanks to a win over North Dakota two weeks ago and a loss by Concordia-St. Paul last weekend.

Fourth-ranked USD is followed in the region by 2) North Dakota, 3) Concordia-St. Paul, 4) Fort Lewis, 5) Augustana, 6) MSU-Mankato, 7) Wayne State, 8- Nebraska-Kearney, 9) Nebraska-Omaha and 10) Metro State.

So, in other words, if the season ended today, the Coyote women would host the regional tournament. And, the North Central Conference would send four teams to the national tournament. Just something to chew on as we wait for Thursday night’s home doubleheader against Minnesota-Duluth.

FYI, the regional rankings will be released every Wednesday through March 5. The North Central Region will send its top eight teams to the Division II national tournament at the end of the season.

— Jeremy Hoeck

USD women: fifteen and counting…

After taking down the then number one team in the nation in North Dakota last weekend, the USD women’s basketball team responded with a wire-to-wire 78-57 win over the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in the DakotaDome on Thursday night.

 

The victory extends the sixth-ranked Coyotes’ winning streak to 15 games.

 

USD owned a 44-24 lead early in the second half but the Mavericks pulled to within 9 with 13:34 left in the game. The Coyotes hit six three-pointers in a six minute span midway through the second half to pull away for the 21 point win.

Head coach Chad Lavin said the team has had similar stretches of hot shooting throughout the season.

“We have been a streak team all year,” Lavin said. “That run where we made all those threes in a row, that is what we have been all year. Instead of consistent shooting through a whole game, we’ve been a team of runs.”

Senior Jeana Hoffman paced the Coyotes with 16 points in the game. Her sister, senior Jenna Hoffman, added 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.

USD received a boost off the bench in the first half from freshman Amber Hegge and sophomore Jasmine Mosley to maintain their lead. Mosley had 8 points in the half while Hegge had 7. Hegge finished with 11 points, 5 blocks, and 4 steals. Mosley put up 12 points in the game.

Junior Bridget Yoerger also finished in double figures with 11 points to go with 8 rebounds.

Senior Ashley Robinette contributed 7 points and junior Maggie Youngberg had 6 points in the game. Both hit big three-point shots during the team’s run of six three-pointers in six minutes.

UNO was lead by junior Cayla Hargrove, who came off the bench to score an impressive 25 points in the losing effort.

Turnovers played a big part in the game. The Coyotes had just 9 turnovers while UNO had 21.

The next game for USD will be at home on Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. against Minnesota Duluth.

-Matt Dahlseid

 

Report: Hoffner hired as MSU coach

The Mankato Free Press is reporting on its Web site that University of South Dakota offensive coordinator Todd Hoffner has been hired as the new head coach at MSU-Mankato. Check out the update here.

He will be announced at a 5:15 p.m. press conference today.

Hoffner was one of four candidates to replace Jeff Jamrog, who resigned last month to accept an administration job at the University of Nebraska. Hoffner was on campus last Friday to interview.

The other candidates were Wayne State coach Dan McLaughlin, Illinois State assistant head coach Jim Williams and Truman State coach Shannon Currier.

Hoffner has been at USD for two seasons, directing one of the top offenses in Division II. Last season, the Coyotes led the North Central Conference in total offense, averaging 496.2 yards per game, with 263.5 yards rushing.

Hoffner becomes the fourth assistant football coach at USD to leave this off-season.

For more on this story, read next week’s edition of The Volante.

Little returns, Coyote men win

The Coyote men’s basketball team returned home to play in front of a fairly large student body crowd last night, defeating Nebraska-Omaha 81-70.

The sixth-ranked Coyotes connected on 11-of-12 free throws in the final two and a half minutes to hold off a Mavericks squad that had already knocked off two top 10 teams this season.

“We didn’t play poorly. They’re a good team and we had some problems, which they caused,” USD coach Dave Boots said. “It was a typical North Central game; you’re not going to blow out many teams in this league.”

The only free throw blemish down the stretch was a miss by senior Nick Morrell with 34 seconds left. Yet, by that time the USD lead was back up to 79-70.

“We’ve got experienced guys who aren’t afraid to step up there and take those shots,” said USD junior Dylan Grimsley, who scored 17 points and had eight rebounds. “When it really counted in the end, we hit them. That just shows how good we are.”

In all, the Coyotes had five players in double figures: Jesse Becker (19), Grimsley (17), Eric Hall (13), Morrell (12) and Tyler Cain (10). Hall also pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out five assists.

Yet, the two points off the bench by senior guard Dustin Little may have been the more important stat for the Coyotes. Little, who had been out three games after breaking a bone in his right hand, took just one shot in 13 minutes Thursday.

“We thought we could use him for a few minutes; not a ton,” Boots said. “For being out three weeks, he did great.”

— — — — — —

The back-and-forth game also featured one of the greatest dunks you’ll ever see in college basketball. Nebraska-Omaha 6-foot-5 junior Justin Petersen got the ball on a fastbreak, drove down the right baseline and dunked over USD 6-11 junior Steve Smith. That’s right, over.

— — — — — —

For more on the USD men’s basketball season so far, check out next week’s issue of The Volante.

- Jeremy Hoeck

2008 Football Schedule Update

Came across this little nugget earlier today:

Culver-Stockton College, a private university in Canton, Mo., has released its 2008 football schedule. Check it out here.

And who do we see in Week Three (Sept. 20)?

The University of South Dakota.

Culver-Stockton is an NAIA school that competes in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. The Wildcats went 1-10 last season.

Just because the school has USD on its schedule, doesn’t make the game a certainty. I just want that to be known.

I’ll hold my opinions on this matchup until the game is for sure a go. If it becomes that, look for our thoughts on it.

— Jeremy Hoeck

(Jeana) Hoffman earns NCC honor

And again, the USD Coyotes sweep the NCC weekly awards.

Jeana Hoffman of the USD women’s basketball team was named NCC Player of the Week in the latest conference release.

Hoffman, a senior guard from Mitchell, S.D., scored 20 points and added three rebounds, two assists and a steal to push South Dakota to an upset over previously unbeaten North Dakota.

The 10th-ranked Coyote women have now won 14 straight games and are firmly atop the NCC standings.

FYI, the first regional rankings are due to come out later this week. Might we see USD in the top three?

Cain earns NCC honor

For the third time this season, Tyler Cain of the USD men’s basketball team has been honored as the North Central Conference Player of the Week.

In the latest conference release, Cain shares the weekly honor with Jadee Jones of MSU-Mankato.

Cain, a sophomore from Rochester, Minn., finished the week shooting 10-of-11 from the field in two Coyote victories. He also set a single-game school record with 10 blocks against Hastings last week, and followed that up with five blocks at North Dakota.

He now has 91 blocks on the season, with still 10 games to go. Consider this: The next highest block total in the NCC is 24 (Mitch Gosson, MSU). And amazingly, Cain has more blocks himself than every other team in the conference.

— Jeremy Hoeck

This one is over; USD wins 88-65

The Coyotes are going to come away with an 88-65 win. USD gets into the win column in the NCC.Becker leads the way with 25 points as five other Coyotes reached double-figures. Now it’s time to go get the interviews. - – Vance Janak  

3:08 remaining, ice cold car awaits

Although all time has not run out, this one is pretty much over with the Coyotes lead by 22, 81-59 with 3:08 remaining. The temp. today when I got to Grand Forks was a cozy -10. Now, four hours or so later, it will be probably -15 to -20, no joke.Becker adds two more points, 83-55, Coyotes cruising.