BROOKINGS A new era of South Dakota State mens basketball will begin on Monday night as the Jackrabbits take on Merrimack in the Field of 68 Showcase at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
Bryan Petersen will lead the Jackrabbits as the head coach after serving as assistant under Eric Henderson the past six seasons. Henderson took the head coach position at Drake and Petersen said the transition from Henderson to him has gone well because there wasnt a ton of roster turnover.
We have nine guys back who have been around each other and then have five guys that we need to bring into the fold. Getting the whole team connected was one of our goals in the summer. Having nine guys back and being at a place that Ive already been at for six years [has made this transition of becoming a head coach a lot easier]. I know the program, I know the university, I know the athletic department and how it works. Definitely, for most guys who get a Division I head coaching job, I was pretty fortunate, Petersen said.
Of guys that played last season, sophomore Jaden Jackson was the only player to return who was not from South Dakota. He said once SDSU hired Petersen it made his decision to stay easy.
It hasnt really been different [under Petersen]. Everything has kind of been the same but a little different. When [Henderson] left, I didnt know if I wanted to stay or leave, but when I heard [Petersen] got the job it made the decision easier. He was the guards coach and recruited me out of high school, Jackson said.
SDSU did lose three of its top six scorers to the transfer portal in center Oscar Cluff and guards Owen Larson and Stoney Hadnot. Cluff averaged 17.6 points per game and was second in the country in rebounding at 12.3 per game.
Petersen said SDSU will turn to sophomore Damon Wilkinson at the starting center position. He said he obviously doesnt expect Wilkinson to replicate Cluffs production but is hoping Wilkinson can make a jump in his second season.
Hes had a good offseason. Hes very skilled down there and has a great feel down there to score the ball. Now the biggest thing is getting him to slow down a little bit and get him to do both. Well need him to score down there but we need him to be a playmaker and take care of the ball. Last year he had a little bit of a turnover issue in his limited minutes. It wasnt anything crazy, but hes going to get more touches and we need to make sure hes efficient and makes good decisions and hopefully creates some shots for others, Petersen said.
Larson was the starting point guard for the Jacks for 29 games last season before he went down with a season-ending knee injury a week before the regular season ended. Larson followed Henderson to Drake and will likely miss at least half of the season for the Bulldogs, so the Jacks would have had to replace his production anyways.
Petersen said he thinks there will be multiple players that will fill in the point guard role. Sophomores Joe Sayler and Jaden Jackson and junior Kalen Garry each saw time as the lead guard in the three games after Larson was hurt. SDSU also added redshirt freshman Trey Buchanan from Iowa and Petersen said the trio of Sayler, Jackson and Buchanan will take turns as the point guard.
One of the newcomers for the Jacks is Winona State transfer Luke Haertle. Heartle is a 6-foot-3 junior who spent two seasons at Wisconsin before playing last season at the Division-II level for Winona. He was the Northern Sun Newcomer of the Year after averaging 17.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last season. He was fourth in the NSIC in points per game and ninth in rebounds.
[Haertle] is just really physical, Petersen said. I know he didnt play a ton at Wisconsin, but this is his fourth year. He played in Big Ten practices and then played a lot at Winona State and was really successful. Hes really strong and has a high IQ. Hes competitive. He plays at his own pace in a unique way. Hes not the most athletic guy out there but still finds a way to get in the paint a lot and I think a lot of that comes from his physicality.
SDSU played a lot of inside-out basketball and played through the post under Henderson because they had athletic big men and guards who could shoot. Petersen said he doesnt plan to change things up a lot but will add a few of his own wrinkles into their style of play.
Theres not going to be wholesale changes, Petersen said. I dont think thats what this team needs. I think we dont need to fix whats not broken. We do need to get better from where we were last year if we want to achieve our goals, which is winning the conference and going to the NCAA Tournament. There will be some tweaks, but thats more about our personnel. It has nothing to do with me.
We will be a lot more balanced this year because last year we gave the ball to Oscar Cluff a lot last year. We still want to play inside-out basketball, but we arent going to be throwing it in there as much. We have a few new wrinkles in our concepts in our motion offense that we did not do last year and that will hopefully help us create more advantages for our guards and perimeter players.
Mondays game between the Jacks and Warriors will tip off at 8 p.m. You can watch the game on the Field of 68 YouTube page or listen to the game on the Jackrabbit Sports Network.
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