Kangaroos Start Three-Game League Road Swing At South Dakota

The 'Roos look to snap a nine-game skid when they hit the road for a contest at South Dakota. The Coyotes are coming in after a big win against rival South Dakota State. Kansas City will be on the road for its next three games, all in conference play.
It will be the third ever meeting between the 'Roos and Coyotes, with both of the other contests coming last season. The Coyotes won both games by at least 15 points.
South Dakota comes into the game with a 7-10 overall record, and is 3-2 in the Summit League. They dropped decisions to Western Illinois and North Dakota State, while defeating IUPUI, Omaha, and SDSU.
The Coyotes are led by Kansas State transfer Juevol Myles, who paces the squad in points (15.3 ppg), assists (55) and steals (27). Forward Trevor Gruis averages 11.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while junior transfer Karim Rowson puts up 10.2 points a contest. They also have six players with at least 25 assists.
As a team the Coyotes average 70.9 points per contest to rank third in the league. They are the league's top free throw shooting team at 78.6 percent as well. Defensively, they give up 74.9 points a contest, ranking seventh.
Dave Boots is in his 26th season at South Dakota, and has a 500-226 record there. As a head coach overall, he has a 615-287 mark in 32 years. He helped the Coyotes to a 10-18 mark last season, finishing ninth in the league.
This has been a chaotic year for UMKC. The team has used nine different starting lineups this season, including six in the last seven games. Six different players have sat out games due to injury during the last month. This lineup instability continued this past Wednesday against Utah Valley when Aaron Washington started at point guard and played 32 minutes. He had only played one minute in a Kansas City uniform prior to that contest and had only practiced with the team eight times going into the contest as well.
The team will continue to lean on their big three to lead them to victory. Fred Chatmon's 7.4 rebounds per game this season rank third in the Summit League, while Estan Tyler (.463) and Thomas Staton (.421) rank fourth and ninth in the league in three-point shooting, respectively. Chatmon also ranks fourth in blocks (1.3 bpg) while Tyler is fifth in assists (3.4 apg).
If the 'Roos are to emerge with a positive outcome they will need to stop one trend. The 'Roos have been behind at halftime in each of the past nine games. Kansas City is 0-12 when trailing at the half this year.
Kansas City will continue its road swing on Thursday with a trip to Oakland in Rochester Hills, Michigan at 6:00 p.m. CT.