2019–20 Summit League men's basketball season

The 2019–20 Summit League men's basketball season began in October 2019 with practices, followed by the start of the 2019-20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in early November. Conference play began in late December, and concludes on the final day of February 2020. The 2020 Summit League men's basketball tournament begins and concludes in early March 2020, and leads into the 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

Head coaches

Head coach changes Team Departing coach Reason New head coach Previous job North Dakota Brian Jones Took offer as Assistant HC at Illinois St. Paul Sather HC at Northern St. (DII) South Dakota State T. J. Otzelberger Took offer as HC of UNLV Eric Henderson Assistant at South Dakota State

Head coach records As of beginning of 2019–20 season. Team Coach Seasons w/ team* DI Record w/ team All-time Summit record Conference regular season titles NCAA DI Tournament appearances NCAA DI Tournament recordDenver Rodney Billups 4 39–51 (.433) 19–27 (.413) 0 0 0–0 (.000)North Dakota Paul Sather 1 0–0 (.000) 0–0 (.000) 0 0 0–0 (.000)North Dakota State David Richman 6 96–67 (.589) 45–33 (.577) 1 (2015) 2 (2015, 2019) 1–2 (.333)Omaha Derrin Hansen 15 (9 DI, 6 DII) 115–130 (.469) 52–56 (.481) 0 0 0–0 (.000)Oral Roberts Paul Mills 3 22–41 (.349) 12–18 (.400) 0 0 0–0 (.000)Purdue Fort Wayne Jon Coffman 6 95–66 (.590) 45–33 (.577) 1 (2016) 0 0–0 (.000)South Dakota Todd Lee 2 13–17 (.433) 7–9 (.438) 0 0 0–0 (.000)South Dakota State Eric Henderson 1 0–0 (.000) 0–0 (.000) 0 0 0–0 (.000)Western Illinois Billy Wright 6 48–94 (.338) 18–60 (.231) 0 0 0–0 (.000) *2019–20 season included, and seasons in other divisions marked.

Preseason

Preseason Conference Poll The Summit League released a poll in early October, which was voted on by a panel of the 9 head coaches, sports information directors and select media members. With a majority of the 34 voters, North Dakota State was deemed the favorite. Rank Team Points First place votes 1 North Dakota State 526 23 2 South Dakota 457 6 3 Oral Roberts 404 3 4 Omaha 369 0 5 South Dakota State 300 2 6 Purdue Fort Wayne 224 0 7 Western Illinois 188 0 8 North Dakota 164 0 9 Denver 113 0

Preseason All-Summit League teams The Summit League released its preseason All-Summit League first team and second team. A Preseason Player of the Year was also announced, and automatically is gifted a spot on first team. Honor Player Year School 2019–20 Preseason Summit League Player of the Year Stanley Umude Junior South Dakota 2019–20 Preseason All-Summit League First Team Emmanuel Nzekwesi Senior Oral Roberts Kevin Obanor Sophomore Oral Roberts Vinnie Shahid Senior North Dakota State Triston Simpson Senior South Dakota Stanley Umude Junior South Dakota Kobe Webster Junior Western Illinois 2019–20 Preseason All-Summit League Second Team Tyler Hagedorn Senior South Dakota JT Gibson Senior Omaha Matt Hobla Senior Purdue Fort Wayne Matt Pile Junior Omaha Tyson Ward Senior North Dakota State

Regular season

Early Season Tournaments Seven of the nine Summit League teams participated in early season event, which could be a multi-team event, or a tournament. The two teams who didn't participate in one of these tournaments were Oral Roberts and Western Illinois. Team Tournament/Event Finish Omaha Cayman Islands Classic-Mainland 1st (of 4) South Dakota Collegiate Hoops Roadshow N/A South Dakota Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic 1st (of 4) North Dakota State Islander Invitational 2nd (of 4) South Dakota State Indiana Challenge N/A North Dakota Minnesota MTE N/A North Dakota Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic N/A Purdue Fort Wayne Ohio State Classic N/A Denver Cable Car Classic T-2 (of 4)

Summit League Challenges The Summit League played in both the Summit League/WAC Challenge and the Big Sky/Summit Challenges. The games and results are as follows:

Big Sky/Summit Challenge Away team Score Home team Date and time North Dakota State 70–53 Idaho Nov. 26, 10 p.m. ET South Dakota State 70–77 Montana State Dec. 5, 10 p.m. North Dakota 70–77 Montana Dec. 6, 9 p.m. North Dakota 82–98 Eastern Washington Dec. 8, 6:30 p.m. Montana State 65–79 North Dakota State Dec. 16, 8 p.m. Omaha 56–97 Eastern Washington Dec. 17, 9 p.m. Montana 82–87 (OT) Omaha Dec. 21, 1 p.m. Idaho 57–85 South Dakota State Dec. 21, 8 p.m.

The Summit League won a total of 4 of the 8 games, therefore splitting the challenge.

Summit League/WAC Challenge After last year's loss in the Summit League/WAC Challenge by a score of 6–3, the Summit League looked to win the challenge this year. Away team Score Home team Date and time South Dakota State 93–91 (2OT) Cal State Bakersfield Nov. 9, 10 p.m. Utah Valley 68–62 North Dakota State Nov. 23, 6 p.m. South Dakota 84–83 Cal Baptist Nov. 27, 10 p.m. Purdue Fort Wayne 71–60 Grand Canyon Nov. 30, 8 p.m. Western Illinois 67–68 Kansas City Nov. 30, 8 p.m. New Mexico State 72–67 Denver Dec. 10, 9 p.m. UTRGV 82–92 Omaha Dec. 15, 1:30 p.m. Oral Roberts 97–59 Chicago State Dec. 17, 8 p.m.

The Summit League won this year's Summit League/WAC Challenge, a total of 5 games to 3 games.

Player of the Week Each Monday during the season, the Summit League offices chose one or maybe two players to be named Player of the Week.

Week Player Team November 11, 2019 Douglas Wilson South Dakota State November 18, 2019 Tyler Hagedorn South Dakota November 25, 2019 J.T. Gibson Omaha December 2, 2019 Jarred Godfrey Purdue Fort Wayne December 9, 2019 Rocky Kreuser North Dakota State December 16, 2019 Vinnie Shahid North Dakota State (2) December 23, 2019 Marlon Stewart North Dakota December 30, 2019 Matt Pile Omaha (2) Zion Young Western Illinois January 6, 2020 Marlon Stewart (2) North Dakota (2) January 13, 2020 Deondre Burns Oral Roberts January 20, 2020 Tyson Ward North Dakota State (3) January 27, 2020 Marlon Stewart (3) North Dakota (3) February 3, 2020 Tyler Hagedorn (2) South Dakota (2) February 10, 2020 Vinnie Shahid (2) North Dakota State (4) February 17, 2020 February 24, 2020 March 2, 2020

Athlete of the Month In addition to the player of week, the Summit League also announces an athlete of the month, across of all sports, but separated by gender. So far, two players have been given the honor: Tyler Hagedorn in November, Emmanuel Nzekwesi in December, and Tyler Hagedorn again in January.

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head to head results of each team in the Summit League. Each team plays 16 games, a home and away against all teams. Updated through 2/7.

Denver North Dakota North Dakota State Omaha Oral Roberts Purdue Fort Wayne South Dakota South Dakota State Western Illinois vs. Denver – 2–0 2–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 vs. North Dakota 0–2 – 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 0–1 vs. North Dakota State 0–2 0–1 – 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–0 0–2 vs. Omaha 1–0 0–1 1–0 – 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 vs. Oral Roberts 0–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 – 0–1 1–0 2–0 0–1 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 – 1–1 1–0 0–2 vs. South Dakota 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–2 0–1 1–1 – 0–1 1–0 vs. South Dakota State 0–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–0 – 0–2 vs. Western Illinois 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 0–1 2–0 – Total 1–10 5–6 9–2 5–5 5–6 5–6 8–3 9–2 2–9

Postseason

Summit League Conference tournament

References