Dentlinger delivering down low
For many of his 140 games at South Dakota State, Matt Dentlinger has likely not been at the top of opposing defense’s list of priorities. An important player – without a doubt – but when you’ve played alongside Mike Daum, David Jenkins Jr., Douglas Wilson and Baylor Scheierman, it’s understandable if you’re not the player the opponent focuses on first.
That may be changing after a dominant offensive stretch from the senior big man.
Dentlinger shone in the Jackrabbits 18-point win at Vermillion, which Eric Henderson called the most complete 40 minutes his team has played on both sides of the ball all season. The Arcadia, Iowa was a menace in the paint against South Dakota’s undersized front line, scoring 26 points on 10-11 shooting.
He was on point early, scoring 14 points in the first half as SDSU struggled to get things going from distance.
“Tonight we did a great job getting the ball into the post and letting our bigs get to work, which gave us our inside-out game and put us in a great position to get open shots,” Zeke Mayo
said after the game. “If we continue to do that we will do great things in this league.”
Dentlinger (10.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg) as a purveyor of points on the interior has been a theme as the Jacks have now won four of their last five games. Since the rough league-opening trip to Oral Roberts, the senior forward has scored in double figures in each game, shooting nearly 75 percent from the field in the process (35-47 FG).
He had the full offensive repertoire working against the Yotes, scoring off flashes to the basket as well as off his mid-range jumper. On the whole, that’s added up to a league-leading 69.2 percent effective field goal percentage in conference play and while it’s early, that would be the highest mark since his own in 2019-20 (69.7%). That helped him land on the all-league second team, a type of honor that may well be on its way again.
The offensive outburst is a nice bookend to what is already an iconic career in Brookings. He will end up on multiple program top 10 lists – games played, blocks – and has been a crucial member of good teams under both Henderson and T.J. Otzelberger. His role bigger offensively has helped offset the loss of Luke Appel, and his rim protection has contributed to a team that – if you take out that ORU loss (understandably, a big if) – has posted the best defensive efficiency mark in the league over the past five games.
“We’re starting to feel better, we still have a lot of room to grow,” Dentlinger said after the USD win. “We can still be better and know we have to be better to win this league.”
Any such Jackrabbit challenge will surely rest heavily on its surging big man.
Ngandu grabs every rebound in sight
Jeff Ngandu did not have his best game against Green Bay in early December.
The Roo freshman forward fouled out, scoring two points and grabbing three rebounds in a road loss that Kansas City likely felt it should’ve put in the win column. Ngandu said that loss – coming amidst some medical issues – was a painful moment.
“I told the coaches [after the Green Bay game] I really need to step up because conference play is the most important and we have to leave everything on the floor,” he
said last week. “I just had to play the best basketball I’ve ever played.”
A month later, the Seton Hall transfer is doing just that.
The big man is coming off a sparkling week, notching back-to-back double doubles – the first two of his career – in dominant efforts over St. Thomas (14 points, 17 rebounds) and Western Illinois (10 points, 17 rebounds). He exploded with his front court mate Allen David Mukeba sidelined, and was a spark plug in a win over the Tommies with a momentum-turning putback dunk in the second half.
There were some sour notes sprinkled in, as Ngandu got injured late in the loss to the Leathernecks, a game in which Marvin Menzies said his team simply didn’t put forth a good enough effort. Ngandu’s individual performance, however, made him just the 11th player this year with multiple games of 17 or more rebounds, joining a list that includes Zach Edey and Oscar Tshiebwe.
The physical, glass gobbling big man has not been a common sight in Kansas City in the last decade, as neither Kareem Richardson nor Billy Donlon necessarily played styles that accommodated that type of player. The record book reflects that, as Ngandu joins Spencer Johnson as the only Roo since 2010 with multiple games of at least 10 points and 17 rebounds.
It’s a different story under the current head coach.
Over his long career, Menzies’ teams have always been stocked with big men and have prioritized the offensive glass. True to form, Ngandu has been the best offensive rebounder in league play, with a league-leading 15.7 percent offensive rebounding percentage, just a tick above Tyree Corbett.
Assuming he and Mukeba can return to health, the Roos’ physical front court and high-scoring backcourt duo have shown the blueprint for success the rest of the way. If the Roos do become a factor in the league race, that Green Bay loss – and Ngandu’s response to it – may well have had something to do with it.
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