Mavs' guards will be key in rematch with Jackrabbits

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If there was a low point during UNO?s recent losing streak, it came late against South Dakota State.
The Mavericks shot 18 percent in the second half on their home floor in the most one-sided of their five conference losses, making 1 of 16 3-pointers while the Jackrabbits buried 12.

George Marshall and Reed Tellinghuisen each hit five 3s as SDSU won by 19 points.
UNO hasn?t forgotten.

?I remember Marshall was going off on me,? Mavs point guard Devin Patterson said.

Marshall scored 25, as many as UNO?s three starting guards had combined. The Mavs are counting on a better result in the rematch Wednesday in Brookings, South Dakota.

?I think we have good guards, and I think their guards outplayed our guards that day,? UNO coach Derrin Hansen said. ?We need that to be reversed to have an opportunity up there.?

Hansen said then he?d never been a part of a game in which a team scored 36 points from beyond the arc while the other had three, especially when the latter usually shoots well from deep.
?I know you?re not going to have very much success if you get outscored (by) 33 from the 3-point line, and that day we did,? he said. ?Hopefully, that?s not the same as it was the last time. But it?s not just that. We need to do a lot of things better than we did in that game.?

UNO snapped its five-game skid with a win against Denver on Saturday. The Jackrabbits, meanwhile, extended their winning streak to six games with a victory at Oral Roberts. South Dakota State enters play Wednesday with a half-game lead in the Summit League standings.

The Jackrabbits (15-7, 6-2 Summit), led by reigning conference player of the week Cody Larson, are 9-0 at home this season. They?ve won their league home games by an average of 22.3 points.

?Up there, they?re very efficient offensively,? Hansen said. ?They?re going to try to beat you up on the glass. And you can?t lay off anywhere because everybody can score that they can put on the floor. You have to respect everyone out there. We?ll have to play very efficient and very well to make it a three- or four-minute game.?


Having Patterson back to nearly full speed should help. He missed 1? games in conference play with an ankle injury and wasn?t 100 percent the last time the teams met.

The junior showed no hesitation against Denver on Saturday, the best he has looked in nearly a month.
?Last game, I think, was the best I?ve had since coming off the injury,? he said. ?I just had to take my mind off my ankle. When I first came back, I just kept thinking about my ankle when I was playing and stuff. I think I kind of rushed it because I was ready to play in the conference.?
Hansen is happy to have his playmaker healthy again for what will be a tough matchup.
?I don?t think he was as healthy then as he is now, which I hope will help us some,? he said. ?Just in the last five or six days, he?s gotten back to where he was pre-Christmas. South Dakota State?s got really good guards. It will help us. Hopefully, it?s enough.?

Hansen said his team has continued to practice well during its recent rough stretch. But he and his players are happy to have the losing streak over before heading back out on the road.
?It?s a little relief,? Patterson said. ?But five games, was it? I?m still mad about that. I?m trying to get on a five-game winning streak now instead of a five-game losing streak.?
UNO could use that if it hopes to get back into the conference race. The Mavs (8-11, 2-5) are in a three-way tie for sixth, having lost three games by a total of 10 points.

?It?s tough when you?ve lost three one-possession games, but we have,? Hansen said. ?We have to find a way to go win a game or two somewhere where it?s hard to win.?
 

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Starting lineups


UNO (8-11, 2-5)
G Devin Patterson, 5-11, Jr., 12.5
F Mike Rostampour, 6-8, Sr., 9.4
G CJ Carter, 6-1, Sr., 17.6
F Tre?Shawn Thurman, 6-7, Fr., 9.4
G Marcus Tyus, 6-1, Jr., 12.8


SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (15-7, 6-2)
G Deondre Parks, 6-1, Jr., 13.9
G Jake Bittle, 6-4, Jr., 9.0
G George Marshall, 6-1, Jr., 13.0
F Zach Horstman, 6-6, Sr., 5.8
F Cody Larson, 6-9, Sr., 13.9
 

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SDSU has relied on stops to get started in a spree of wins leading to top spot in Summit.


Coach Scott Nagy has harped on defense and rebounding for all of his 20 years at South Dakota State. The current club is justifying that in short order.

The Jackrabbits have won six games in a row to jump atop the Summit League standings at the halfway point of the conference season.

In league play, they?re leading the Summit in scoring defense (61.9 points per game) and defensive field goal percentage (38.5). The program hasn?t been so stout in either category since joining the conference in 2006. That includes the Nate Wolters-led teams that reached the NCAA Division I tournament in 2012 and 2013.

SDSU (15-7, 6-2) is doing this without much experience, either. It has played as many as eight newcomers in a game and has only two seniors on the 15-man roster.

That bodes well for the final eight outings of the regular season ? a run that starts against Omaha tonight at Frost Arena ? and beyond.

?I think it starts with our team just being unselfish ? it?s hard to play good defense and be selfish,? senior post Cody Larson said. ?It?s about team defense ? helping your guys out and really buying into what coach wants. It?s starting to work for us.?

That?s a reference to a 0-2 start in league play. The Jacks lost at Denver and North Dakota State before ripping off six in a row. The first five were by double digits and the last was at Oral Roberts, where SDSU had been 0-5 all-time.

According to Nagy, nothing has changed from a philosophical standpoint, although the Jacks have emphasized practicing their principles over worrying about the specifics of opposing offenses.

His take is that good defense is predicated on protecting the rim and preventing the drive. This team can do both.

The Jacks are in the top 50 in Division I in blocks per game (4.2) and are on pace for their best season in that area since 2001-02. The 6-foot-9 Florida transfer Larson, 6-10 sub sophomore center Connor Devine and freshman wing Reed Tellinghuisen account for most of that.

As for perimeter defense, SDSU is more diverse in terms of size and skill set than in the past. It doesn?t just rely on long guards anymore. Transfer guards George Marshall and Deondre Parks are shorter and quicker than their predecessors, while Jake Bittle (6-4) and Tellinghuisen (6-6) front a handful of versatile wing players.

In other words, the Jacks have somebody that can match up with most or all of the standout players in the conference.

?I think our guys have bought into at least wanting to be identified as a good defensive team,? Nagy said. ?They play with a sense of desperation, feel a little pressure not to be the weak link. That?s important.?

It?s downright vital in the sense that Nagy covets offensive standouts, first. Why? He feels it?s easier to teach guys to defend than to score.

SDSU has been especially locked in at Frost Arena, winning 12 in a row dating back to last season. Denver, second-place NDSU and third-place Oral Roberts are among the teams that have yet to visit Brookings. The Jacks figure to push for a second Summit regular-season title in three years if they can continue to get stops.

Then again, there are two parts to Nagy?s principle. He thinks SDSU can do better on the boards even though it leads the Summit at 36.2 rebounds per game.

The midpoint of the league slate isn?t the time to be satisfied.

?Based on our defense we should be the (best) rebounding team in the league, and we?re not,? Nagy said. ?We?re not as physical as we were last year.?
 
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