South Dakota men's basketball struggles defensively in loss to NKU
The South Dakota men's basketball team got into another one of its classic shootouts on Wednesday, Nov. 4, losing 102-94 to visiting Northern Kentucky. The Coyotes' defense was exposed time and time again, with the Norse shooting 62.5% from the field and 64.3% from deep. South Dakota was 53.1% from the field and head coach Eric Peterson felt his team did enough offensively to win. "Offensively we were great," Peterson said. "I wish we would have shot a few more free throws and got downhill, but there wasn't a whole lot of resistance. We were just scoring in the paint." Northern Kentucky's offense lived in the paint, with 50 of its 102 points coming there. The Norse also went 23-for-32 from the free throw line, giving them 73 points right next to the rim or uncontested. Peterson made sure to point out that he doesn't look as much at raw numbers due to the Coyotes' fast tempo. Instead he looks at rate stats, but allowing nearly 50% of a team's points in the paint is far too many for his liking. South Dakota guard Cade Kelderman didn't think pace was a problem defensively, it was just a focus issue. "When
