Iowan-heavy SDSU Jackrabbits are one NCAA win from possibly facing Hawkeyes

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s Midwest Region pod in Buffalo, N.Y., will be Iowa-heavy.

The Iowa Hawkeyes are facing Richmond Thursday at 2:10 p.m. (CT) at KeyBank Center, but some Iowans already will have graced the court that day before the Hawkeyes go out for warmups.

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are playing Providence immediately before Iowa-Richmond. Half of the Jacks’ eight-man player rotation are Iowans. Two played at Kirkwood Community College for Bryan Petersen, a former Kirkwood and Iowa State player who now is an SDSU assistant coach. Another is from Cedar Rapids Xavier High School, and one is from Carroll Kuemper High.

“It’s pretty cool, being with all the Iowa guys up here and seeing them doing what they’re doing,” Petersen said.

SDSU head coach Eric Henderson is a Coggon native who was a two-time all-state basketball player at Maquoketa Valley High in 1995 and 1996.

When Henderson got the head coaching job at SDSU in Brookings three seasons ago, he hired Clinton native Petersen away from Kirkwood. Petersen compiled a 157-38 record and won the 2016 and 2019 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II national titles.

Forwards Douglas Wilson and Luke Appel, who played for Petersen at Kirkwood, followed him to South Dakota State.

Wilson, from Des Moines, was the Summit League’s Player of the Year two seasons ago, and he’s first-team all-conference this year. He averages 16.5 points for a team that is 30-4 with a 21-game winning streak, the nation’s longest.

“I’ve coached Doug for five years,” Petersen said. “He’s an ultimate winner, and ultimate teammate, and he’s always won everywhere he’s gone.”

Marshalltown’s Appel was the Summit League’s Sixth Man of the Year this season, averaging 9.2 points. Junior forward Matt Dentlinger of Kuemper has started 14 games and is the team leader in blocked shots.

Guard Matt Mims of Cedar Rapids began his college career at SDSU after graduating from Xavier in 2018. He was the Mississippi Valley Conference’s Mississippi Division Player of the Year in ‘18. He averages 4.6 points off the bench, and is 37-of-78 from 3-point distance for a sparkling 47.4 percent.

“Matt Mims is a tremendous personality for our team,” Petersen said. “Just full of energy, brings it every day. He’s a worker, a competitive kid. He does a lot for our team. He’s a really big shot-maker, a really good on-ball defender for us.”

Petersen said leaving Kirkwood for SDSU “was a tough decision. But it’s a good spot for me to continue to grow as a coach.”

The Jacks are 68-21 with Henderson and Petersen on their bench and those Iowans on their roster. They have a good team, and it’s no secret. Though SDSU is the 13th-seed in the Midwest and Providence is No. 4, the Jacks are underdogs by only a couple points.

If they can beat Providence and the Hawkeyes defeat Richmond, the winners’ second-round game Saturday will be quite the Iowa affair.

Comments: mike.hlas@thegazette.com