VERMILLION, S.D. – The third installment of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge was announced by the league offices Wednesday. South Dakota basketball will host Portland State on December 3 inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center before heading to Northern Colorado on December 6 to face the Bears in Greeley, Colorado.
The Coyotes were the No. 5 seed in last year’s Summit League Tournament with a 9-7 conference mark. Portland State was the No. 3 seed in the Big Sky with an 11-7 record. Northern Colorado was the co-Big Sky Regular Season Champions after putting together a 15-3 record and shared the title with Montana.
The matchup with Portland State will be the first time the two teams have met on the hardwood.
South Dakota holds a 31-23 record all-time against Northern Colorado. The Bears hold a slight edge when played in Greeley (14-12) and have won the previous three games against USD. The teams last met in the 2021-22 season in Greeley with Northern Colorado taking a 74-69 win. It will be the team’s first time playing each other in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.
South Dakota ended last year as the No. 3 scoring offense in the NCAA (85.2), No. 1 in free throws made per game (20.0), No. 10 in bench points (30.9), No. 16 in turnover margin (+3.8) and No. 16 in fewest turnovers per game (9.6).
Portland State finished the 2024-25 season ranking No. 19 in blocks per game (4.9), No. 32 in turnovers forced per game (14.5) and No. 42 in steals per game (8.3). Northern Colorado led the NCAA in field goal percentage (50.7%), was No. 19 in three point percentage (38.0%) and was No. 30 in scoring offense (80.6).
The Coyotes are 1-3 in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge after picking up a 94-80 over Idaho State in the SCSC last season. The Yotes, however, fell to Northern Arizona in Flagstaff 95-82.
The matchups for the series are determined annually using data from past seasons, including NET rankings and regular-season conference finishes, along with consideration for the prior season matchups.
In year two of the challenge, the Summit League retained the trophy without needing a tiebreaker as the men’s and women’s teams posted a 24.5-17 victory thanks to a strong finish on day two when they outscored their Big Sky foes 14-6.5 on the scoreboard. The men went 11-7 overall, while the women were 10-8 to give the Summit League a combined 21 victories.
The Big Sky-Summit Challenge is a three-year challenge series that started in 2023-24. Each men’s and women’s team will play one home and one road game against two opponents from the other conference every season.