USD basketball: A closer look at Eric Peterson's rebuilt Coyote roster
· Yahoo Sports
Jun. 18—VERMILLION — Eric Peterson did impressive work with Coyote basketball in 2025-26. A litany of injuries left the USD men's team so bereft of healthy bodies they had to appeal to the NCAA to add two players to the roster.
When things get that desperate, competing usually falls to the wayside and just getting through the schedule without forfeiting any games can become the greater priority, but Peterson managed to wring a .500 season out of his squad, which included an 8-8 mark in conference play and a season sweep of rival South Dakota State.
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His reward? Ten players jumped in the transfer portal (among them, Isaac Bruns landed at USC and Jordan Crawford at Missouri), forcing Peterson to rebuild the roster as he heads into the final year of his contract.
Three freshmen are on the way, and Peterson dropped his line in the portal waters and landed nine transfers.
It's a diverse collection of newcomers: established Division II and mid-major players, JuCo products, power conference veterans looking for an expanded role, guards, shooters and bigs.
"We visited every section of the grocery store to get these guys," Peterson joked.
We asked Peterson to give us a brief sketch of what Coyote fans can expect from each of the newcomers. Here's what the fifth year coach said:
Brandon Domsch, F, 6-7, North Platte C.C., 2 years remaining
"Big-time athlete. He's got over a 40-inch vertical. He's a wing with good size. I think he's a Swiss Army knife — can play a lot of different positions and do whatever you ask him to do."
Illiam Fevry, G, 6-5, Arizona Western, 3 years remaining
"He's the last one that we signed, played at a high level overseas (Fevry hails from Paris, France), and went to Arizona Western this past year. A bigger guard. You know, how we play, kind of four-out one-in, we just have four guys on the perimeter, and I think he's able to play any spot to be honest with you. He's just really versatile, really came on at the end of the year for Arizona Western, who won their league. He defends. You know, he needs to keep developing as a guard, but he's really good in ball screens. He's just a big physical guard that can make plays with the ball in his hands."
Cade Kelderman, G, 6-1, Iowa State, 1 year remaining
"Tough. Leader. You know, talking to the guys at Iowa State, they loved him. They love everything about him. He's a big-time culture guy, willing to do anything it takes to win. He was actually their backup point guard after they had a guy get hurt, and played pretty significant minutes for them. And was able to just come in and fit right in with their team. So a lot of experience, not necessarily playing over the last three years but, you know, that's valuable to practice against those guys at that level. He's got grit to him. He's vocal. I tell our assistants this all the time — every time I get done talking to Cade, like, I'm fired up about life, because he's got such good energy."
Kajus Kublickas, G, 6-2, Pacific, Florida,1 year remaining
"A point guard who probably can play off the ball a little bit. A winner. He was on Florida's (2025) national title team. Played a lot more later in the year at Pacific. Really fits us. Obviously we have another Lithuanian on the team with Vince (Buzelis) and, you know, very similar — smart, heady, high IQ, hit a hundred assists as a backup last year, which is an elite number. So just a guy that can really get us going and run our offense."
Tyler Netolicky, F/C, 6-10, Kirkwood CC, 2 years remaining
"One of the better rebounders I've seen in junior college basketball. He's like a vacuum.
Very physical presence, big body, can score a little bit around the basket. Played for a very good junior college program that typically competes for the national title every single year, so he's just a winner."
Melo Sanchez, G, 6-4, Central Connecticut State, Hawaii Pacific, 1 year remaining
"Just an elite shooter. One year he shot 47 percent from three, that was at Hawaii Pacific. But just, I haven't seen a guy that that shoots it like him in a long time, and we know that the Summit League is one of the most skilled leagues in the country, and we need to, you know, losing Isaac and losing Jordan, we need a guy that could really knock down shots. We will definitely need his presence from the perimeter."
Josh Townley-Thomas, F, 6-10, Creighton, 1 year remaining
"The good part about JTT, as we call him, is we got to see him in two exhibition games because we were Creighton's first game last year. So I watched two exhibitions and then he played against us. Cam Fens really struggled against him, really struggled to finish around the basket, really struggled to score. He's mobile, very athletic, and just a tough, physical defender that we feel like we can develop because of his size and because of how hard he plays."
Stef Van Bussel, C, 6-10, Duquesne, 2 years remaining
"Stef's a guy that I recruited. I actually saw him overseas when he was in high school, talked to him, and he ended up going to St. Louis. He's probably more Cam (Fens)-like than anything on our team.
He's not seven feet tall, but plays really hard, loves physicality. He's got good touch around the basket. You know, pretty good in screen-and-roll. We have really high expectations for Stef."
Elisha Warren, G, 6-3, D'Youngville, 1 year remaining
"Elisha's someone who has produced at the Division II level. I think he can really shoot it — shot over 40 percent from three. I think he's a great leader, very good defender. And one thing that I always say that translates is rebounding, and he's a very good rebounder at the guard spot. He's rebounded in junior college and at the Division II level and I just think it translates throughout wherever you play."
The freshmen
Of the three incoming freshmen — Marvin Richard, Sidy Diakhate and Michael Nee, Nee is the one most likely to make an immediate impact.
A 6-3 guard from Lombard, Ill., Nee was one of the top shooters in the state and, according to Peterson is the highest-ranked recruit the Coyotes have ever signed.
"He really shoots it," the coach said. "We have high expectations for him. Just a really efficient, tough, physical guard who knows how to play and is an elite shooter."
No matter how talented these guys turn out to be, getting them on the same page will, of course, be a big chunk of the challenge facing Peterson. He's got to get 12 new guys to gel with the five returners, whom he admits he'll lean on heavily to lead and establish culture.
That's hard to do in a few months time, and getting buy-in can be hard to when it's impossible to know how many of these new players have designs on being in Vermillion for more than the year in front of them.
Of course, that's college basketball now. Every team, particularly in the Summit League, is basically in the same boat. So if Peterson can prove himself to be adept at stirring the ingredients into something palatable, like he did last year, the Yotes can win.
"It starts with our staff, and obviously we have some new staff members (Joe White joins Peterson's staff this year, while Matt Murken and Triston Simpson enter their second year at USD), but we have to set the tone at practice," Peterson said. "We have to implement everything that has to do with our culture for eight weeks and, you know, it's gonna be different. We have a lot of guys coming from different places. I would like to think that we got guys that have come from programs that have won. You just go right down the list, we got guys that know what it takes to win, and then on top of that, you know, coaches always say this, but after four or five months it's got to be player-led. It's got to be on the the players to run the locker room and lead each other at practice."