Rivalry leftovers
Some extra news and notes from South Dakota State’s weekend basketball games against South Dakota:
It’s expected that Mark Tetlzaff - the SDSU career scoring leader until Saturday - will be at Frost Arena on Thursday when new points champ Nate Wolters is honored.
Tetlzaff scored 1,931 points in 118 games for a career average of 16.4. Wolters is at 1,943 points in 109 games for an average of 17.8 per game. Two other men who used to hold the record have gaudier averages: Lee Colburn at 19.0 from 1969-1973 and Don Jacobsen at 19.8 from 1958-61. Both played before the 3-point shot, and Jacobsen played at a time when freshmen weren’t eligible.
Wolters has scored at least 20 points 50 times and has been in double figures in 53 consecutive games. Unofficially, that’s the longest active streak in NCAA Division I. (The DePaul SID staff is compiling a list on that.)
Here’s a weird one: The SDSU men have scored in the 20s in the first half of six games this season. They are 1-5 in this games. They’ve scored in the 20s four times in the second half this season. They are 3-1 in those games.
How does that compare to last season? The Jacks scored in the 20s in six first halves during the entire regular season with just one such second-half.
A part of that: Several scoreless halves (and full games - three of them) this season by starters. Said junior Chad White: “It’s time for our team to grow up and take responsibility for our actions.”
The SDSU men wound up 3-3 on a six-game road trip that began on Dec. 15 and was split by Christmas. Their reserves scored eight points or less in five of those six games, the only exception being 13 in a blowout loss at Belmont. Junior forward Marcus Heemstra was the only sub to so much as appear in all six games.
The SDSU women have committed 11, 12 and 13 turnovers in their three conference games. Prior to that, their average was 20.4 per game.
The jacks have also flipped around their first-half scoring since starting league play. They’ve outscored Summit opponents by 62 prior to intermission after being minus-45 against everybody else.
Sen. John Thune was in Vermillion on Saturday for the men’s game, having helped America off of the fiscal cliff.
Meanwhile, former SDSU assistant and current Minnesota State head coach Emilee Thiesse was in Brookings for the women’s game. Her sister is USD coach Amy Williams.
SDSU only pulled down one set of upper-deck bleachers for the women’s game, an easy indication of what sort of crowd is expected. The attendance: 3,045. That’s down from 3,309 from the last meeting in Brookings.
The men’s game 5,045 compared to 5,189 last year in Vermillion.
SDSU women’s coach Aaron Johnston said it was “awkward” to be tied for the school record in wins with mentor Nancy Neiber, a mark he could break as soon as Thursday. Neiber hired Johnston - who is 301-104 since taking over during the 1999-2000 season - as a young assistant after he had worked with the men’s program.
Why awkward?
“Because in my mind I still look at this as still kind of being Nancy’s program,” he said. “Before she came here, it wasn’t what it is now. A big part of what we’ve done has been a continuation of what Nancy did - I have no problem admitting that.”
Scott Nagy is already the career leader in men’s wins, also surpassing the 300-mark.
USD guard Tempestt Wilson scored a team-high 19 points on 8 of 17 shooting. She also put up 19 last year at Frost on 7 of 13 shooting.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
