BROOKINGS South Dakota State jumped out to a 17-1 lead on Wednesday night and that led to a 101-76 victory over Southern Mississippi.
SDSU (4-1) lost its first game of the season six days ago to Northern Colorado in Rapid City. Jackrabbit head coach Eric Henderson said that performance fueled Wednesday nights early success.
It was a great start for us. We were very disappointed with the way we played out in Rapid City, to be real honest. I thought we just didnt play very physically and with a great amount of energy and they kind of punked us a little bit. Were a proud program and it was important for us to come back home and get that flavor back to us, Henderson said.
SDSUs largest lead of the first half was 44-16 and the Jacks then took a 55-32 lead into halftime. The Jacks largest lead of the game came with 11:17 as they led 77-45.
The Jacks shot 61% from the field and were 8-of-21 from three. They had five players score in double figures in Jaden Jackson (19), Oscar Cluff (16), Kalen Garry (14), Stoney Hadnot (12) and Matthew Mors (10).
I thought we kept the game pretty simple, Henderson said. We established our paint presence early, which really helped, and then everything opened up. I thought we took what they gave us. I thought we were aggressive when we got by their press and we were able to get some easy baskets. I thought we used our ball fakes and shot fakes to go by people really well. We didnt settle for bad shots and when you do that, you can shoot it and be pretty efficient.
Jackson and Hadnot, who are both freshmen, both had 10 rebounds as well to secure double-doubles. Henderson said both guards showed their potential on Wednesday night.
With Jaden and Stoney both having double-doubles, it was extremely impressive, Henderson said. With Stoney, it was extremely important for us in the recruiting process, we wanted to get a little bigger on the wing. Obviously we did and Stoney is a terrific athlete. He has a great feel and probably a little even better feel than I thought when we got him, to be honest.
He plays with a great amount of energy and the way hes rebounding here at the beginning of the year is pretty special for a freshman, against some really good teams. Jaden played terrific tonight. I know he was disappointed with the way he played in Rapid City, especially with some of the shots he took, and the quality of shots he took tonight was way better and they went in at a higher clip.
William Wharton and Nate Barnhart each had eight points. Isaac Lindsey had seven points and four assists. Owen Larson had five points and five assists.
The Jacks held Southern Miss to 34.7% shooting and 7-of-35 from three. Henderson thought his team did a good job of defending the perimeter, especially against Illinois and St. Johns transfer Andre Curbelo.
I thought we had more urgency [defensively] as a group, as a whole. We really wanted to make them shoot unassisted shots because if you get Curbelo can really score with space and really pass in space, so we wanted to bottle him up a bit and make sure he wasnt making all those plays for people around him. I thought our guys did a terrific job of that, Henderson said.
The Jacks were without second-leading scorer Joe Sayler on Wednesday night. He also missed Mondays victory against Mount Marty. Henderson said he could have played on Wednesday night, but SDSU wanted Sayler to be ready to play three games in three days in the Cayman Islands Classic, which begins on Sunday.
In Saylers absence Garry said not much changed to their game plan, but the Jacks showcased their depth on Wednesday night.
Were young, but we do have some players that come off the bench that give us great minutes with [Jackson, Barnhart and Lindsey]. Were all capable of coming in and playing hard, Garry said.
SDSU has 11 new players this season and nine of them are freshmen. Henderson said hes excited by the way the Jacks have started the season but knows they are far from a finished product.
Im excited about the team. Ive been excited about this team for a long time. Ever since we got this group together in June our competitive spirit has been terrific. Were continuing to grow together. We really love each other and we really like being around each other, but were still learning how to be connected. I think thats what excites me the most because Im really excited about this group, but I also think we have a long way to go and our room for growth is still pretty high, Henderson said.
SDSU will play Duquesne in the first game of the Cayman Islands Classic on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The winner of that game will take on Boise State or Hampton on Monday and the final game of the tournament will take place on Tuesday. You can listen to the tournament games on AM 570 WNAX.
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