Southern Utah's men's basketball team plays its final game of 2007 Saturday when the Thunderbirds take on Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The game will be a rematch of an earlier contest this season which Cal Poly won, 73-66, Nov. 20, in Cedar City.

The Thunderbirds (2-10, 1-1 Summit League) are looking to stop a three-game losing streak before resuming Summit League play next week when they host Western Illinois and IUPUI. Since puilling off an 82-73 upset at Summit foe Oakland Dec. 12, the Thunderbirds have stumbled at home in double overtime against Utah Valley State, 91-88, and on the road at Cal State Fullerton (99-63) and at No. 20 BYU (70-55).

Cal Poly (5-6/0-0 Big West) will be playing its final game before beginning Big West Conference play next week against Cal State Northridge. The Mustangs are also coming off a road loss to a ranked team, a 78-55 setback at No. 24 Southern Cal. Prior to that game CP had notched a 66-56 win over Division II power Cal State Bakersfield after losses at Northern Arizona (85-51) and Portland State (74-66).

The Game: Southern Utah (2-10/1-1) at Cal Poly (5-6/0-0), 7:00 p.m. (Pacific), Mott Gymnasium (3,032), San Luis Obispo, Calif.

The Series: Saturday's game marks the 11th meeting between Southern Utah and Cal Poly. The Thunderbirds hold an 8-2 edge in a series which was largely contested when the two teams were members of the American West Conference, in 1994-95 and 1995-96. The two teams met six times during those two seasons, twice during each regular season and in the conference tournament both years. The last time the teams met was in the 1996 AWC championship game when SUU beat Cal Poly, 55-53, to avenge a 91-78 home loss to the Mustangs earlier in the season. SUU is 3-0 against the Mustangs in San Luis Obispo, including an 85-84 win in triple overtime in the last meeting at Mott Gym, back in 1996.

Next Up: The Thunderbirds return to Summit League play next week when they host Western Illinois and IUPIUI, Jan. 3, and Jan. 5.

Practice Schedule: The team works out daily from 2:00-4:30 p.m. in the Centrum Arena, with occasional adjustments based on class schedules. Practice sessions are generally open to the public but media personnel wishing to attend practice should contact SUU Sports Information Director Neil Gardner at (435) 586-7753 prior to practice.

Thunderbird Coaches: Head Coach Roger Reid (Weber State ?68) is in his first season on the Thunderbird bench this year after spending the last two at Snow College. Last year Reid guided the Badgers to a SWAC regular-season championship and a No. 18 national ranking.
Reid, who is 2-10 at Southern Utah, brings a career Division I mark of 154-86 into Thursday's game. Coach Reid is 0-1 vs. Cal Poly.
Coach Reid's career has spanned virtually every level of the coaching strata, including the high school, junior college, and NCAA Division I levels as well as in the NBA and international ranks. He is probably best known for his success at Brigham Young University, where he led the Cougars to five NCAA tournament berths and three Western Athletic Conference championships. He has also coached the Phoenix Suns of the NBA and the Hangzhou Horses of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Reid is assisted by Ron Carling (BYU ?70), Austin Ainge (BYU ?07), and Johnny Brown (New Mexico ?86).

Radio: All Southern Utah men's basketball games are broadcast live by KSUU (91.1 FM) and KSUB AM (590). They are also available on the internet at www.suu.edu/ksuu. Art Challis is in his 34th season as the Thunderbirds' play-by-play voice.

TV: SUU will provide highlight reels for many of its regular-season home games on its ftp site. For information on which games will be available, and on accessing the SUU ftp site, contact SUU Sports Information Director Neil Gardner.
SUU will appear on live television six more times this year, all on KCSG. SUU's games, both home and away, against Western Illinois, Oral Roberts and UMKC will be televised by KCSG.

Webstreaming: All of SUU's regular-season home games and road Summit League games will be available over the internet through the Summit League's site. For more information see the Summit League website at: http://www.thesummitleague.org/

Thunderbird Notes:
? Brigham Young out-rebounded Southern Utah 34-33, marking just the third time the Thunderbirds have come out with fewer rebounds than their opponent.
? Davis Baker co-led the Thunderbirds with 15 points at BYU, marking the fourth time in five games he has scored in double figures and tying his second-highest point total.
? Baker had scored just two points all season going into the IPFW game but the sophomore transfer from UC Irvine lit it up in Ft. Wayne, scoring 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and hitting 4-of-7 3-pointers. He has started and had scored in double-figures in each game since until he scored eight at CS Fullerton. Baker scored 15 points at Oakland (and had a career-high six rebounds) and 13 vs. UVSC. His only single-digit scoring game since he joined the starting lineup was an eight point effort at CS Fullerton.
? The Thunderbirds went without a block for the first time this season at BYU.
? Southern Utah hit a season-best 86.7 percent of its free throws at CS Fullerton, knocking down 13-of-15 attempts to better the previous best of 18-of-26 (.682) at Oakland and vs. UC Colorado Springs. Geoff Payne hit 8-of-8 charity tosses, the best individual effort of the season.
? John Clifford and Dax Crum each scored career-bests at Fullerton, with six and five points, respectively. Clifford hit all three shots he attempted and also tied his personal-best with five rebounds.
? Nurudeen Adepoju scored a career-best 25 points against Utah Valley State. The senior from Kwara State, Nigeria, hit 8-of-15 shots, and 6-of-9 3-pointers in the game and also had a season-high three assists for the second straight game. Until finishing with just two points at BYU he had scored in double figures in four straight games.
? Cris Hoopes saw his first game action of the season against UVSC after sitting out fall semester. He has come off the bench in every subsequent game.
? SUU has played two overtime games this season and four in its last 19 games. The Thunderbirds have gone into extra sessions but come out on the wrong end of the decision against both Boise State and Utah Valley State this season. SUU played back-to-back overtime games late last season, losing 75-74 to IUPUI on Feb. 15, but coming back with an 87-85 OT win over Oakland two nights later. SUU is 21-18 in overtime games since 1963 when the school moved to four-year status.
? Southern Utah hit 12 3-pointers against Utah Valley, a season high.
? Geoff Payne notched his third double-double of the season with 32 points and 11 rebounds at Oakland. The 32 points were an SUU-career-high, while the rebounds were just one short of his career best.
? Payne's 32 points at Oakland were the most by a Thunderbird since Henry Uhegwu scored 35 points back on Feb. 23, 2006. That game was also a Thunderbird win at Oakland.
? Payne has scored in double figures in all but two games. Payne has also led or co-led the team in scoring in all but two games and has led or co-led in rebounds seven times, including five of the last six games.
? Adepoju had a break-out weekend at IPFW and Oakland. He came off the bench to score five points with two assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal at IPFW while playing solid defense. He notched then-season-highs of 18 points, six rebounds (tied his high vs. Cal Poly) and three assists, with a steal and no turnovers, at Oakland.
? The Thunderbirds had not led at halftime all season until holding a 33-32 edge over Oakland at the break. SUU also led at half vs, UVSC, 42-33.
? Dave Marek dished out a then-career-high eight assists at New Mexico, then came back two nights later and scored a season-high 14 points vs. UC-Colorado Springs. Marek then dished out another career-best when he had 10 dimes at IPFW, but he went without an assist for the first time this season at Oakland. He bounced back with nine dimes and a career-best six rebounds vs. UVSC but had just one assist and one rebound at Fullerton. He had just one assist and one board at BYU but did hit all five of his shots, including his only 3-point attempt, to finish with 11 points.
? Through three games, three different T-Birds had led the squad in assists. Tyler Quinney had three at Utah State, Marek had five at Sacramento State and Mike Josserand had four vs. CS Fullerton. Marek became the first repeat assists leader when he dished out a team-high three dimes vs. Cal Poly and had he led the team again every time out until the Oakland game when Josserand had a team- and career-high five.
? SUU held New Mexico to a season-low 38.9 shooting percentage, including a 12.5 percent (3-of-24) effort from 3-point range, another season low.
? Rick Roberts, Nick Livi and Orlando Griego each posted season-high point totals at New Mexico, with 11, 10 and eight, respectively.
? Coach Reid has made it official that freshmen Damar Wilson and Sam Hoopes will spend the season as redshirts.
? Nick Livi has left the team.
? Senior center/forward Tate Sorensen put up his first double-double of the regular season vs. Boise State when he finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He narrowly missed a double-double vs. Cal Poly as he finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Sorensen had a double-double in the exhibition game against Mesa State when he scored 19 points with 10 boards.
? Expanding upon an earlier note, the Thunderbirds have out-rebounded every opponent but three so far this season. After being out-rebounded at Utah State, 35-26, the Thunderbirds out-rebounded every opponent until New Mexico held a 35-30 edge. BYU then held a slim 34-33 margin over Southern Utah. SUU out-boarded Sacramento State 42-25, Cal State Fullerton 42-28, Cal Poly 36-33 and Boise State 40-36. Since the UNM game SUU has held the edge over UC-Colorado Springs (38-28), IFPW (32-31), Oakland (36-26), Utah Valley State (36-33) and CS Fullerton (35-32). The Thunderbirds have out-rebounded their opponents by an average of 35.5-to-31.3 caroms per game.
? SUU went without a 3-point basket at Sacramento State. It is the only time in the school's Division I history, a span of 537 games (going into the contest), that the team has gone without at least one 3-point basket.

Mustang Notes: Cal Poly is 3-0 at home this season, with wins over Utah State (83-69), Menlo College (66-44) and CS Bakersfield (66-56).
The Mustangs average 64.4 points per game while giving up an average of 70.6. Cal Poly has connected on 39.1 percent of its shots, including 30.4 percent of its 3-point attempts. Opponents have shot .442 against Cal Poly, .394 from long range. The Mustangs have also hit 62.4 percent of their free throws, and have been out-rebounded by over four boards per game, 38.5-34.0.
No Mustang carries a double-figure scoring average, but three, Trae Clark (5-11, 185, Jr, 9.5 ppg), Dawin Whitten (6-3, 205, Sr, 8.6 ppg) and Lorenzo Keeler (6-2, 175, So, 8.5 ppg) are all above 8.0 ppg. Forward Matt Hinson (6-7, 220, Sr) averages a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game, while Clark averages a team-high 3.6 assists.