SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A third year of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge is on tap this December as the Big Sky Conference and Summit League announced Wednesday the series of men’s and women’s basketball matchups that will take place.
The South Dakota State women will get first the first hosting duties among the Jackrabbit basketball programs. SDSU hosts Weber State in First Bank & Trust Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 3. That same date sees the Jackrabbit men travel to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona.
The second set of matchups occur on Saturday, Dec. 6. SDSU’s men’s squad gets its chance to host a Big Sky foe when Idaho heads to Brookings to face the Jacks in First Bank & Trust Arena. The SDSU women will head to familiar territory for a game on the same date as they fly to Flagstaff to take on Northern Arizona in the Walkup Skydome.
Two sets of opponents will be new ones for the SDSU programs. The Jackrabbit men have never taken on NAU, while the women’s meeting against Weber State will be the first between the two sides.
The inaugural Big Sky-Summit Challenge in 2023 featured a double-overtime thriller between the SDSU women and NAU in Flagstaff. The Jackrabbits came away with a 110-102 victory which included a program Division I-record 37-point performance from Paige Meyer. It’s the only time SDSU and NAU have met in women’s basketball.
South Dakota State and Idaho have met 10 previous times on the men’s side. Both teams have recorded five wins in the series. The Vandals claimed a 98-84 victory in their last contest against the Jackrabbits in December of 2021 in Moscow, Idaho. That was one of the losses for the Jacks in their historic 30-5 campaign during the 2021-22 season
The Summit League has hoisted the Big Sky-Summit Challenge trophy both seasons of official competition. Following the opening year in which a tiebreaker was needed to favor The Summit League, the conference out-paced the Big Sky Conference by a 24.5-17 score in 2024.