Basketball Game Preview: Dakota Valley Panthers vs. Vermillion Tanagers

Dakota Valley is 9-1 against Vermillion since March of 2017 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Tuesday. The Dakota Valley Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Vermillion Tanagers at 7:45 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Last Thursday, Dakota Valley was fully in charge, breezing past Elk Point-Jefferson 66-39. The Panthers haven't had any issues with the Huskies recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive win against them.

Luke Bruns

Points

02/06/25 @ Elk Point-Jefferson	21
02/01/25 vs Deuel	20
01/30/25 vs Sioux Falls Christian	16
01/25/25 vs St. Thomas More	15
01/24/25 vs Tri-Valley	26
+ 11 more games

Luke Bruns and Logan Collette were among the main playmakers for Dakota Valley as the former went 9 for 14 en route to 21 points and the latter almost dropped a double-double on 19 points and nine rebounds. Bruns' evening made it 16 games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was Tyler Cornelson, who posted nine points.

Meanwhile, Vermillion had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.8 points) and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They came out on top against the Tigers by a score of 75-65.

Vermillion pushed their record up to 13-3 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.0 points over those games. As for Dakota Valley, their win bumped their record up to 11-4.

Dakota Valley beat Vermillion 75-65 when the teams last played back in February of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Dakota Valley since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.