Southern Utah's men's basketball team resumes Summit League play this week as the Thunderbirds host Western Illinois and IUPUI Thursday and Saturday nights. The WIU game will be televised live on KCSG television.

The Thunderbirds (3-10, 1-1 Summit League) opened league play with a road split in early December, falling at conference newcomer IPFW, 74-66, Dec, 6, before bouncing back with an 82-73 win at Oakland, Dec. 8. The Thunderbirds are coming off a 61-53 road win at Cal Poly, giving the team three road wins at this point in the season but the team will be looking to break through at home for the first time this week.

Western Illinois (5-7/0-1 Summit League) has won two straight since suffering a 77-52 loss at UCLA, Dec. 18. The Leathernecks got by Kennesaw State 66-54, Dec. 22, and Culver-Stockton, 85-56, on Sunday night. The Leathernecks are 1-5 on the road so far, with the win coming at Texas-Pan American, 71-69 on Dec. 3. WIU's conference game was a home loss to IUPUI, 64-47, Dec. 8.

IUPUI (9-3/1-0 Summit League) had an eight-game winning streak snapped last Saturday when they fell at St. Lois, 66-57. Prior to that game the Jaguars had been on a roll, winning five home games, a neutral court game and two on the road. IUPUI is 2-2 overall away from home this season, with wins at Alaska-Fairbanks (82-47, Nov. 18) and Western Illinois.

Sorensen is Summit League Player of the Week: Tate Sorensen has been named the Summit League Player of the Week for his performance last week. The 6-foot-7 senior from Talmage, Utah, scored a career-high 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting and tied his career-high with 10 rebounds to notch his second double-double of the year in the Thunderbirds' 61-53 win at Cal Poly Saturday night. Sorensen also blocked a shot and had two steals with just one turnover in 38 minutes on the floor. He only came out of the game for a brief period in the second half when an inadvertent elbow opened an inch-long gash on his forehead but he returned in time to hit two free throws for the team's final points to ice the win.

The Games: Thursday: Western Illinois (5-7/0-1) at Southern Utah (2-10/1-1), Centrum Arena (5,300), 7:00 p.m. (Mountain). Saturday: IUPUI (9-3/1-0) at Southern Utah, 7:30 p.m., Centrum Arena.

The Series: Western Illinois and the Thunderbirds have met 23 times in the past, with the Thunderbirds coming out on top of 15 of those decisions. The Thunderbirds have won three of the last four meetings in the series, but WIU claimed the last meeting, a 51-48 decision in the final game of the regular season last year. Prior to that game, SUU picked up a 68-65 win in Cedar City last year and swept the series the previous year. SUU is undefeated vs. the Leathernecks in 10 games in Cedar City.
IUPUI holds a 12-8 edge in the series between the two schools, including two straight wins. The teams have split the regular-season series the past two years, with each winning on the others' home floor last season and the two defending their home courts in 2006. Last year SUU picked up a 56-53 win at IUPUI but IUPUI avenged that loss with a 75-74 overtime win in Cedar City during the regular season before going on to claim a 71-59 win in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-Continent Conference tournament.

Next Up: The Thunderbirds continue Summit League play next week as the team travels to Kansas City, Mo., for a Jan. 12, game at UMKC.

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 3-10 at Southern Utah, brings a career Division I mark of 155-86 into Thursday's game. Coach Reid is 0-0 vs. both Western Illinois and IUPUI.
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: Thursday's game will be televised live on KCSG television, KCSG is available over the air in Cedar City and St. George as well as on the Cedar City and St. George cable systems and on both Dish Network and DirectTV.
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:
? Tate Sorensen notched his second double-double of the season at Cal Poly with a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds, which tied his career best. It was his second double-double of the season.
? The Thunderbirds held Cal Poly's shooting percentage down to .360, the lowest by an opponent this season. The 53 points allowed at CP tied an opponent season-low total (at Sacramento State).
? SUU had 17 assists at Cal Poly, tying the team's second-highest total of the year (also in overtime vs. Utah Valley State). Two of the Thunderbirds' three highest assist games have come on the road, the season-high 18 at IPFW and the 17 at Cal Poly.
? Nurudeen Adepoju dished out a career-high seven assists at Cal Poly, while Davis Baker had career-bests of eight rebounds and three assists vs. the Mustangs.
? SUU's five starters scored all 61 points at Cal Poly. It was the first time this season the team didn't get a point from the bench.
? Brigham Young out-rebounded Southern Utah 34-33, marking just the third time the Thunderbirds have come out with fewer rebounds than their opponent.The team bounced back by out-rebounding Cal Poly, 40-32, including an 11-8 edge on the offensive glass.
? Davis Baker co-led the Thunderbirds with 15 points at BYU, then had 15 again at Cal Poly. Baker has scored in double figures in five of the last six games.
? 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.
? 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.
? 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. He has scored in double figures in five of the last six 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.
? 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 three games and has led or co-led in rebounds seven times, including five of the last seven 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. At Cal Poly he had five more assists.
? 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.
? 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 the first game vs. Cal Poly as he finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Sorensen had an unofficial 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), CS Fullerton (35-32) and Cal Poly (40-32). The Thunderbirds have out-rebounded their opponents by an average of 35.8-to-31.4 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.

Leatherneck Notes: Western Illinois averages 62.8 points per game on .405 shooting (.308 threes) while giving up an average of 67.8 points on .447 shooting (.338 threes). The Leathernecks have hit 72.1 percent of their free throws and have been out-rebounded by an average of 35.1-to-33.3 caroms per game.
Individually, guard David Jackson (6-4, 190, Sr) is the only Leatherneck with a double-figure scoring average, 11.6 ppg, but three more are at 9.0 ppg or above. David Nurse (G, 6-2, 175, So) and Jerryck Owens-Murrey (F, 6-0, 225, Sr) both check in at 9.5 ppg, while David DuBois (F, 6-5, 215, Jr) has a 9.0 ppg average. DuBois is also the team's top rebounder, at 6.6 per game, while James Washington (G, 5-10, 170, Fr) leads the team with 2.3 assists per game.

Jaguar Notes: IUPIU averages 78.1 points on .494 shooting (.399 threes) while allowing an average of 64.3 points on .439 shooting (.374 threes). The Jaguars have hit 80.5 percent of their free throws and have out-rebounded their opponents by an average of 33.7-to-27.2 caroms per game.
Individually, Summit League pre-season player of the year George Hill (G, 6-2, 180, Jr) leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists, with 19.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Three more Jags carry double-figure scoring averages: Jon Avery (F, 6-7, 205, So) at 13.7 ppg, Austin Montgomery (G, 6-5, 190, Sr) at 13.6 ppg, and Gary Patterson (G, 5-10, 175, Jr) at 11.5 ppg. Avery (5.4 rpg) and Billy Pettiford (F, 6-7, 215, So, 5.8 rpg) both average over five rebounds per game as well.