After a season where very little separated South Dakota State and South Dakota, it's only fitting that the Jackrabbits and Coyotes are each headed to the same region in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The top two teams in the Summit League are both in the Portland Region in the 64-team field - SDSU as the sixth-seed, USD as the eighth-seed.

The Jackrabbits (26-6), the conference regular season and Summit League Tournament champions will take a 16-game win streak into Saturday's (March 23) opening round game against 11th seed Quinnipiac out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

The Bobcats (26-6), out of Hamden, Connecticut, have won three straight MAAC titles and four in the last six years.

The game will be played in Syracuse, New York, Saturday at 10:00 AM and will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.

The winner plays the (3) Syracuse - (14) Fordham winner in round two.

South Dakota, meanwhile, begins NCAA Tournament play a day earlier, Friday (March 22), when the eighth-seeded Coyotes play number-nine Clemson in Starkville, Mississippi.

USD (28-5) is the first Summit League/Mid-Continent Conference team to get an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament since 1994.

The Tigers (19-12) finished seventh in the ACC but won more games this season than the last five seasons combined.

Tipoff is 6:00 PM Friday. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.

The winner plays the (1) Mississippi State - (16) Southern winner in round two.


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