RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's basketball team is off to Nebraska for a non-conference game against the University of Nebraska – Kearney Friday in a 7 p.m. tipoff.
After earning a split on the weekend at the East vs. West Challenge, the Hardrockers enter the game with a 2-2 overall record. SD Mines played a very competitive bout against Northern State on Friday, but fell short down the stretch, 69-63, but bounced back for a solid win over Augustana University on Saturday, 76-71.
The Lopers are 2-3 on the season thus far challenging teams in their old stomping grounds of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. They beat Chadron in overtime last Wednesday, 87-79, came up short to UCCS last Friday, 76-70, and then upset Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, 74-66.
The team is shooting 45 percent on the season and has converted 31-96 from three point range. They average 30.5 rebounds as a team and averaging 73 points per game.
UNK has three individuals that they rely on heavily to manage their games. Jake Walker and Morgan Soucie lead the way for the Lopers as they are both averaging 14 points a game while AJ Jackson is right their contributing with 13.5 points a night.
With four games in the books, SD Mines is averaging 74.8 points per game while the defense is giving up 69 points each game. The 'Rockers are shooting 46 percent on the year so far and have made good on 46 of 108 three-pointers.
The Hardrockers look very balanced right now on offense with six players averaging over nine points a game.
Allec Williams leads the way with 11.5 ppg,
Troy Brady and
Mitchell Sueker are both contributing with 10 ppg, while
Jack Fiddler,
Logan Elers and
Wilfred Dickson cash in for just over nine points each time out.
Friday's game is a pay-per-view event set up by UNK and the MIAA Conference. The game can be purchased at:
https://themiaanetwork.com/unklopers/ and livestats will be available:
https://lopers.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary and the radio broadcast is provided at:
https://lopers.com/sports/2009/11/2/Live_Audio.aspx .
