SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – All 10 Summit League men's basketball teams will be in action during the opening day of the collegiate season with three of those squaring off against Top 10-opponents.
Omaha and first-year head coach Chris Crutchfield open at (5/5) Kansas in a 7 p.m. CT tilt on ESPN+. North Dakota State takes on (9/9) Arkansas in a clash on SEC Network Plus at 7 p.m. CT and St. Thomas is playing at (9/9) Creighton in a nationally-televised game on FS1 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Preseason favorite Oral Roberts and South Dakota State will be playing in opening-night matchups featuring a quartet of teams ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Preseason Top 25 Mid-Major poll. The 12th-ranked Golden Eagles take on third-ranked St. Mary's at 9 p.m. CT/7 p.m. PT, while the 15th-ranked Jackrabbits will match up with 23rd-ranked Akron in a game on ESPN3 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT.
Crutchfield is one of three Summit League head coaches making debuts at their respective schools. Kansas City is taking on Lincoln (Mo.) in Marvin Menzies first game on the bench, while South Dakota and Eric Peterson travel to Wisconsin for a 7:30 p.m. CT tip on Big Ten Network Plus.
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TEAM TRACKER
DENVER PIONEERS (11-21; 7-11 SL) | @DU_MensHoops
Next Up: vs. Idaho (11/7; 7 p.m. MT); vs. Colorado College (11/10; 7 p.m. MT)
Previous Game: vs. North Dakota State (L, 82-62; Summit League quarterfinals)
The Pioneers are coming off a season where they won seven Summit League games under first-year head coach Jeff Wulbrun ... It was a marked improvement as those seven wins matched the program’s win total from league play in the previous three seasons ... Sophomore Tevin Smith was one of the top first-year players in the League a season ago, averaging 10.4 ppg overall and upping that to 12.3 ppg in 16 League play ... Smith is one of five returning Division I sophomores who averaged at least 10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.0 bpg as a freshman ... Graduate student Tyree Corbett, a 6-foot-7 forward, is expected to make an immediate impact for the Pioneers ... The Coppin State transfer averaged 13.6 ppg and led the MEAC in rebounding with a 9.2 rpg clip.
KANSAS CITY ROOS (19-12, 12-6 SL) | @KCRoosMBB
Next Up: vs. Lincoln (Mo.) (11/7; 7 p.m. CT); at LSU (11/9; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. South Dakota (L, 74-71; Summit League quarterfinals)
The Roos are under new leadership as Marvin Menzies takes the helm ... The veteran DI coach, who has led programs at UNLV and New Mexico State, has overhauled his roster with only four players back from a squad that tied for third in the League a year ago with a 12-6 mark ... Of those four returners, Anderson Kopp is the lone returning starter ... He averaged 8.3 ppg in 26 starts and knocked down 41.9 percent of his 3-point attempts ... Menzies’ first official roster certainly has an international flair as six different countries are represented among his 18-man squad ... There are also two sets of brothers on the roster: Logan and Allen Mukeba and twins Precious and Promise Idiaru.
NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (6-25; 2-16 SL) | @UNDMBasketball
Next Up: at Incarnate Word (11/7; 7:30 p.m. CT); at (9/9) Creighton (11/10; 8 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. North Dakota State (L, 79-53); vs. St. Thomas (L, 84-74)
Head coach Paul Sather carries a 14-man roster into the 2022-23 season with eight of those returning from a six-win campaign that the Fighting Hawks will look to improve upon ... Graduate student Mitchell Sueker is healthy heading into the 2022-23 campaign after missing the second half of the season a year ago ... He averaged 9.9 ppg and had seven double-digit scoring efforts in 15 starts before suffering a season-ending injury ... Also returning from an injury-riddled season is senior Caleb Nero, who averaged 7.5 ppg for the Fighting Hawks a season ago ... Nero has started 22 games over the past two seasons and appeared in 47 ... UND also has veteran Brady Danielson back, who has played in 88 career games, which is the most among the active roster.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (23-10; 13-5 SL) | @NDSUMBB
Next Up: at (10/10) Arkansas (11/7; 7 p.m. CT); at (5/5) Kansas (11/10; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. South Dakota State (L, 75-69; Summit League championship game)
Head coach Dave Richman led his Bison to their fourth straight appearance in the 2022 #SummitMBB title game and sixth in his eight seasons at the helm of the program ... NDSU has won three of those and finished 23-10 a season ago ... Richman will open his ninth season with back-to-back top 10-matchups with trips to (10/10) Arkansas and (5/5) Kansas on the docket in week one ... Junior Grant Nelson earned preseason All-League first team honors and will be the Bison’s top returning scorer after averaging 11.6 ppg in 21 starts a season ago ... Nelson is also one of the top returning defenders as well after sharing the league-lead with 38 total blocks. He also cleaned up 4.9 rpg.
OMAHA MAVERICKS (5-25; 4-14 SL) | @OmahaMBB
Next Up: at (5/5) Kansas (11/7; 7 p.m. CT); at Nebraska (11/10; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. South Dakota State (L, 87-79; Summit League quarterfinals)
Chris Crutchfield returns to his alma mater to lead the men’s basketball program ... The former Maverick has been an assistant coach at TCU, Oral Roberts, Arkansas, Oklahoma and, most recently, Oregon during his rise to a DI head coaching position ... Sophomore Frankie Fidler was a preseason all-league selection after leading the Mavericks in scoring as a rookie last season at 12.9 ppg ... Fiddler’s 37-point outing at North Dakota on Feb. 5 was the highest-scoring output by all DI freshmen last season ... He added 34 in a Summit League quarterfinal matchup vs. SDSU ... Omaha also gets La’Mel Robinson back, who missed all of 2021-22, with an injury ... He averaged 9.3 ppg and in 11 starts and 23 appearances as a redshirt freshman two seasons ago.
ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (19-12; 12-6 SL) | @ORUMBB
Next Up: at Saint Mary’s (11/7; 7 p.m. PT); vs. John Brown (11/11; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. North Dakota State (L, 92-72; Summit League semifinals)
Preseason favorite Oral Roberts is looking for its first regular season title since going 17-1 during the 2011-12 campaign ... The Golden Eagles won the 2022 Summit League Tournament as the No. 4 seed ... ORU opens the season at Saint Mary’s in a matchup of programs both ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Top 25 ... The Gaels were ranked third in the preseason poll, while the Golden Eagles were tabbed 12th ... Sharpshooting Max Abmas is back for his senior season after averaging 20-plus ppg in each of the last two seasons ... He is looking for his third straight league scoring crown ... Abmas needs to make 91 3-pointers this season to become the Summit League’s all-time leader in that category ... He enters the year ranked seventh with 301 career triples.
ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (10-20; 4-14 SL) | @TommieMBBall
Next Up: at (9/9) Creighton (11/7; 7:30 p.m. CT); vs. Chicago State (11/11; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. Denver (L, 91-80); vs. Omaha (W, 95-74)
St. Thomas won 10 games overall and four in Summit League play as it transitioned from the DIII level to the DI level under head coach Johnny Tauer ... The Tommies dialed in 334 3-pointers in their first Division I season, ranking 10th nationally with that total ... Graduate student Riley Miller returns for his fifth season and was one of two League players to bury 100 or more triples last season ... He averaged 15.4 ppg overall and 13.9 ppg in League action ... Besides their 3-point acumen, the Tommies were also among the nation’s best in not turning the ball over ... UST committed just 243, which was the fewest by any DI team in the country.
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (19-12; 11-7 SL) | @SDCoyotesMBB
Next Up: at Wisconsin (11/7; 7:30 p.m. CT); vs. Lipscomb (11/9; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. South Dakota State (L, 83-60; Summit League semifinals)
Former assistant Eric Peterson returns to Vermillion to lead the men’s basketball program as one of three new head coaches in the League this season ... Peterson just completed an assistant coaching stint at Utah before accepting his first Division I head coaching job ... He inherits a backcourt that features three returning All-Summit League players ... Kruz Perrott-Hunt and Mason Archambault were all-second team performers in 2021-22 for a Coyotes’ squad that finished fifth with an 11-7 record ... Both players averaged 15.0-plus per game in League action ... The third member of the Coyotes’ returning all-league trio is A.J. Plitzuweit, who was a first-team selection in 2020-21, but missed all of last season with an injury. He averaged 22.1 ppg in 14 league contests en route to Newcomer of the Year honors.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (30-5; 18-0 SL) | @GoJacksMBB
Next Up: at Akron (11/7; 7 p.m. ET); at Boise State (11/9; 7 p.m. MT)
Previous Games: vs. Providence (L, 66-57; NCAA Tournament first round)
Fourth-year head coach Eric Henderson has led his squad to at least a share of the Summit League regular season title in his first three seasons, including the first undefeated season in conference history a year ago when the Jackrabbits went 18-0 and also won the #SummitMBB Championship for the first time since 2018 ... Sophomore Zeke Mayo (10.6) and senior Luke Appel (11.1) both averaged double figures in League play and are the Jackrabbits’ top returning scorers ... They each earned a spot on the Preseason All-Summit League First Team ... Alex Arians has been a part of the SDSU program during its run of five consecutive regular season titles. After redshirting in 2017-18, he has started 114 contests and appeared in 123 over the last four seasons.
WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS (16-16; 7-11 SL) | @WIU_MensHoops
Next Up: at Illinois State (11/7; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Rockford (11/9; 6 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at UTEP (L, 80-54; Basketball Classic Tournament first round)
Head coach Rob Jeter overhauled a majority of his roster heading into his third season at the helm of the Leathernecks with only four players returning on his 16-man squad for 2022-23 ... Senior Trenton Massner is one of them and is the Leathernecks’ returning leader in all five major statistical categories after averaging 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks in his first season at WIU ... Massner was named the Preseason All-Summit League first team and was named to the all-league second team, the all-newcomer team and the all-defensive team as a junior in 2021-22.
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