Southern Utah's men's basketball team will look to win two in a row as well as two straight on the road Thursday whtn the Thunderbirds travel to Shreveport, La., for a Summit League matchup with Centenary.
The Thunderbirds (6-12, 4-3 Summit) bounced back from their worst loss of the season with an 85-80 home win over South Dakota State on Saturday. SUU had absorbed a 76-53 setback at the hands of Summit leader North Dakota on Thursday, but even with that loss the ?Birds have won two of their last three, including a 66-50 win at UMKC on Jan. 10 in its last road game.
After a slow start to the season, Centenary (5-14, 3-4 Summit) has had the hot hand lately, winning two straight and three of their last four games, including sweeping Western Illinois and IUPUI on the road last week. The Gentlemen edged both teams, topping WIU 47-45 on Thursday, then getting a buzzer-beater to get past IUPUI 58-56 on Saturday night.
The Game: Southern Utah (6-12, 4-3) at Centenary (5-14, 3-4), Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (CST) in the Gold Dome (3,000), Shreveport, La.
Radio: All of Southern Utah men's basketball games are broadcast live by KSUU (91.1 FM) and KSUB AM (590) as well as on the internet at
www.suu.edu/ksuu. Art Challis is in his 35th season as the Thunderbirds' basketball play-by-play voice.
TV: There will be no live TV of Thursday's game. Video highlight packages of all Thunderbird home Summit League games are be available to legitimate media outlets via the SUU ftp site. For more information on obtaining the highlight packages contact SUU director of athletic media relations Neil Gardner at 435-586-7753 or at gardner@suu.edu.
Webstreaming: All of SUU's regular-season home games and road Summit League games will be available over the internet through the SUU website site. Complete packages, including SUU men's and women's games, are available for just $29.95. For more information, go to
www.suutbirds.com.
The Series: SUU swept the season series last year to give the Thunderbirds a 6-4 edge in games against the Gentlemen. The series began with a Centenary sweep in 2004, the first year of the rivalry. SUU returned the favor in 2005, then the teams defended their home courts for two seasons. SUU is 2-3 vs. the Gents in Shreveport, including last year's 98-94 triumph and a 63-54 win in 2005.
Next Up: The Thunderbirds travel to Tulsa, Okla., Saturday for a match-up with the league-leading Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Next week SUU returns home to host IUPUI and Western Illinois.
Practice Schedule: When at home the Thunderbirds work out daily from 2:00-4:30 p.m. in the Centrum, with occasional adjustments for class schedules and other considerations. 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.
The Coaches: Head Coach
Roger Reid (Weber State ?68) is 17-31 in his second season on the Thunderbird bench. He takes a career Division I mark of 167-107 into Thursday's game.
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 coached Snow College to a conference title and a No. 18 national ranking in his final season on the bench there.
Reid is assisted by
Ron Carling (BYU ?70), a 37-year coaching veteran who is also in his second season with the program;
Johnny Brown (New Mexico ?86), a 15-year veteran of the coaching ranks who is also in his second year in Cedar City; and first-year assistant
Kenya Crandell (Nebraska-Kearney ?96) who is in his 12th season as a collegiate coach.
National Rankings: The Thunderbirds moved into second place in the NCAA Division I rankings for free throw shooting after hitting 16-of-18 (all in the second half) at UMKC last Saturday. SUU is connecting at a 79.4 percent rate, second only to UC Davis at .817. SUU also ranks among the top-100 in two more categories: 12th in 3-point percentage defense (.281) and 35th in overall field goal percentage (.476).
Individually, two Thunderbirds rank among the nation's top-100:
Davis Baker ranks sixth in free throw percentage, at (.909), while
Tyler Quinney is 57th at .849. Baker also ranks 72nd in points per game at 18.0 ppg.
Player of the Week Tyler Quinney was named last week's Summit League player of the week after his performance in SUU's win at UMKC. Quinney co-led the team with 24 points and was second on the team with eight rebounds. He hit 9-of-14 shots and all six of his free throws, turned the ball over just once and didn't take a seat until the final 30 seconds when the game was well in hand. He also scored 10 points in a second half run that turned a 32-32 tie into a 16-point Thunderbird lead and effectively put the game away. Quinney is SUU's first player of the week this season.
T-Bird Notes: The win over South Dakota State was the Thunderbirds' first when trailing at halftime. It was also the team's first overtime game this season and the 85 points SUU scored was its highest total this year; the ?Jacks 80 points are also the most SUU has allowed this season. SUU also had only nine turnovers vs. SDSU, the ?Birds' second-lowest total of the season behind the seven they had vs. Sacramento State.
Davis Baker hit 8-of-8 free throws vs. SDSU, it was his third perfect night from the stripe.
Jake Nielson was also perfect vs. SDSU, hitting all four of his free throws.
John Clifford had a career-high and Summit League season-high-tying 15 rebounds vs. North Dakota State. Clifford has posted back-to-back double doubles.
Last week's games were the Yin and the Yang for the Thunderbirds from the floor. Two nights after their worst shooting performance of the year, 31.5 percent against North Dakota State, the Thunderbirds connected at a 59.2 percent rate vs. South Dakota State, their best percentage of the season.
In the last two games SUU's opponents hit 22 3-pointers, 10 by NDSU and 12 by SDSU, the two highest opponent totals this season. NDSU hit 10-of-18, or 55.6 percent, the best effort by an opponent this season, while SDSU attempted 33 threes, the most attempts by an opponent this year. As a result, the Thunderbirds dropped from the 12th best team in the country against the three to the 32nd-best.
SUU's win at UMKC was the team's first when shooting under 50 percent from the floor. The Thunderbirds hit 24-of-49 shots vs. the ?Roos, to finish just under .500 at 49.0. It was also the first time the team has won when scoring fewer than 70 points and the first time SUU and its opponent's rebounding totals were even (32-32).
UMKC's 50 points were an opponent low for the Thunderbirds this season, as were the ?'Roos' 16 field goals and their 30.8 field goal percentage.
The Thunderbirds tied their season low with just two 3-pointers at UMKC; the .200 accuracy rate (2-10) was also a season-low. SUU also had two threes at Tennessee Tech but took just eight attempts.
Gentlemen Notes: Centenary had a brutal pre-season schedule with no non-conference home games. The Gents have played at home just twice so far this season, where they are 1-1 with a win over Oakland (80-60 on Jan. 8) and a loss to IPFW (68-64, Jan. 10). Centenary has already played five of its nine Summit League road games. In addition to the wins at Western Illinois and IUPUI, the Gents have played at Oral Roberts and the Dakotas. ORU took an 82-59 decision while SDSU won 71-58 and NDSU came out on top 68-53.
Two Gentlemen, CC's staring backcourt of Nick Stallings and Chase Adams, have double-figure scoring averages. Stallings scores at a 16.8 ppg clip while Adams is at 13.9 ppg. That duo are also 1-2 on the CC rebounding list, at 6.1 and 4.7 caroms per contest, and Adams is also the top assist man, with 4.2 per game.
As a team, Centenary averages 60.7 ppg on .381 shooting (.339 threes) while giving up 70.0 ppg on 45.6 percent shooting (.348 threes). The Gents have hit 66.7 percent of their free throws and have been out-rebounded by an average of 39.9-to-30.4 per game.
