Southern Utah's men's basketball team wraps up a two-game road trip Saturday when the Thunderbirds take on defending Summit League champion Oral Roberts at 7:00 p.m. in the Mabee Center.
The Thunderbirds (6-13, 4-4 Summit) are looking for their second road win of the season as well as to bounce back from an 81-56 loss at Centenary on Thursday night. SUU notched its first road win two weeks ago when the ?Birds got past UMKC, 66-50, in Kansas City.
Oral Roberts (9-11, 7-1 Summit) whipped UMKC on Thursday night, 89-54, to move into a tie with North Dakota State for first place in the Summit League standings. The Golden Eagles have won six straight and seven of their last eight since opening the season with a 2-10 mark.
The Game: Southern Utah (6-13, 4-4) at Oral Roberts (9-11, 7-1), Saturday at 7:00 p.m. (CST) in the Mabee Center (10,575), Tulsa, Okla.
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 Saturday's game in Southern Utah. 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: Oral Roberts holds a 22-8 edge in the series with SUU, including 12 straight wins and a71-62 win in Tulsa last season in the previous meeting between the two teams. Prior to the current ORU string of victories Southern Utah had won five straight in a series which opened with ORU taking the first eight decisions. SUU is 2-11 vs. ORU in the Maybee Center, with the last win coming back in 2002, 71-70 in overtime.
Next Up: The Thunderbirds begin a three-game home stretch next week when they host IUPUI and Western Illinois on Thursday and Saturday nights, respectively. Following those two games, SUU hosts UMKC the following week when they play just one game.
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 17-32 in his second season on the Thunderbird bench. He takes a career Division I mark of 167-108 into Saturday'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 are third in the NCAA Division I rankings for free throw shooting at 79.5 percent (through games of Jan. 17) and also ranks among the top-100 in two more categories: 49th in 3-point percentage defense (.309) and 34th in overall field goal percentage (.472).
Individually, three Thunderbirds rank among the nation's top-100:
Davis Baker ranks 14th in free throw percentage, at (.896), while
Tyler Quinney is 63rd at .843.
John Clifford ranks 73rd in rebounds, 8.2 and Baker also ranks 73rd in points per game at 17.8 ppg.
Player of the Week Tyler Quinney was named 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:? SUU opened the game against Centenary by hitting just two of its first 12 shots and the ?Birds connected on just 7-of-29 shots in the first half for 24.1 percent, the team's worst shooting half of the season. The performance improved in the second half, however, to 43.5 percent (10-of-23) and the team finished at 32.7 percent.
? 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.
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John Clifford had a career-high and Summit League season-high-tying 15 rebounds vs. North Dakota State.
? 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 three games SUU's opponents have hit 35 3-pointers, 10 by North Dakota State, 12 by South Dakota State and 13 by Centenary, the three highest opponent totals this season. NDSU hit 10-of-18, or 55.6 percent, at that time the best effort by an opponent this year, while SDSU attempted 33 threes, the most attempts by an opponent this year. Centenary bettered NDSU's accuracy rate, however, hitting 13-of-20 shots from downtown (.650). The Gent's overall field goal mark of 56.9 percent is the second-highest by an SUU opponent this season,l behind Seattle Pacific's 60 percent.
? SUU's win at UMKC is the team's only victory this season 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 is also the only game the team has won when scoring fewer than 70 points and the only 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.
Golden Eagle Notes: Oral Roberts struggled early, going 3-10 in non-conference games and splitting its first two conference games (with the loss coming at North Dakota State), but the schedule wasn't easy with seven non-conference road games, including at then-top-ranked North Carolina. However, since a 78-76 loss to Murray State in the San Juan Shootout on Dec. 22, the Golden Eagles have won seven of eight games, including all five of its Summit League contests.
Pre-season all-Summit League guard Robert Jarvis leads the Golden Eagles with a 17.0 ponts per game average, while Marcus Lewis and Dominique Morrison are at 12.7 and 10.2 ppg, respectively. Kevin Ford, the team's leading rebounder, at 7.8 caroms per contest, is averaging 9.8 ppg as well. Lewis leads the team in assists with 2.4 per game.
As a team, ORU averages 71.4 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting (.308 threes) while allowing 68.1 points on .428 shooting (.340 threes). The Golden Eagles have hit 67.3 percent of their free throws and have out-rebounded opponents by an average of 36.2-to-35.0 per game.
