Southern Utah's men's basketball team will look to snap a three-game losing streak Saturday when the Thunderbirds host Western Illinois at 7:30 p.m. in the Centrum.
The Thunderbirds (6-15, 4-6 Summit) got off to a slow start and never recovered Thursday night in a 79-65 loss to IUPUI. That loss came on the heels of a pair of road losses last week, an 81-56 setback at Centenary Jan. 22, then a a 67-51 defeat at the hands of Oral Roberts on Saturday. The last T-Bird win was an 85-80 win over South Dakota State on Jan. 17. SUU will be looking to avenge a 61-53 New Year's Eve setback at WIU.
Western Illinois (7-14, 4-6 Summit) got off a losing streak of its own Thursday at UMKC when the Leathernecks came back in the final minute to stun the Kangaroos, 56-51. That win snapped a six-game skid dating back to Jan. 2, when WIU claimed a home win over UMKC.
The two teams are currently in a four-way tie for fifth place in the Summit standings, along with South Dakota State and IUPUI.
The Game: Western Illinois (7-14, 4-6) at Southern Utah (6-15, 4-6) Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (MST) in the Centrum Arena (5,300).
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. Video highlight packages of all Thunderbird home Summit League games are be available to legitimate media outlets via the SUU ftp site, however. 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 holds a 16-10 edge in the series with Western Illinois, including an 11-0 mark in Cedar City. The Thunderbirds have won five of the last eight meetings in the series, but WIU has won two of the last three, including a 61-53 win in Macomb, Ill. earlier this season.
Next Up: The Thunderbirds conclude their three-game home stretch next Saturday when they host UMKC in the team's only game of the week.
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 17-34 in his second season on the Thunderbird bench. He takes a career Division I mark of 167-110 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 are fourth in this week's NCAA Division I rankings for free throw shooting at 78.8 percent (through games of Jan. 25) and also rank among the top-100 in overall field goal percentage, 84th at .457.
Individually, three Thunderbirds rank among the nation's top-100: Davis Baker ranks 17th in free throw percentage, at (.890), while Tyler Quinney is 67th at .839. John Clifford ranks 91st in rebounding, with 7.8 boards per game.
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 only player of the week this season.
T-Bird Notes:
? Dave Marek hit 7-of-7 3-pointers vs. IUPUI, marking the most attempts and makes by a Thunderbird this season. It's the second time this season he has been perfect from downtown with three or more attempts, including his 3-for-3 night at UC Riverside. Marek's 23 points vs. IUPUI were a season-high.
? Jake Nielson had career-highs in two statistical categories Thursday, pulling down a personal-best six rebounds and dishing out four assists to tie his previous high.
? The Thunderbirds hit a season-high nine 3-pointers vs. IUPUI and the 50 percent success rate was its second-best.
? IUPUI hit 30-of-49 shots Thursday night for a 61.2 percent accuracy rate. That's the highest shooting percentage the Thunderbirds have allowed this season.
? Slow starts hurt the Thunderbirds last week. SUU opened both games by hitting just two of its first 12 shots. The ?Birds connected on just 7-of-29 shots in the first half at Centenary, 24.1 percent, the team's worst shooting half of the season, and they hit just 6-of-24 at ORU (25 percent). The performance improved in the second half of both games, however, to 43.5 percent (10-of-23) at Centenary and 38.5 (10-of-26) at ORU and the team finished at 32.7 percent and 32 percent on the respective nights, their second- and third-worst efforts of the year.
? The Thunderbirds hit just one 3-pointer at Oral Roberts, a season-low, and attempted a season-low six threes.
? SUU gave up a season-high 81 points to Centenary.
? Freshman center Jaren Jeffery posted career scoring and rebounding and minutes-played highs in back-to-back games last week. Pressed into duty at Centenary when Clifford got into foul trouble, Jeffrey responded with six points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. Saturday night at ORU Jeffrey had five more rebounds with 12 points and again saw 20 minutes of action.
Leatherneck Notes: Western Illinois made a furious comeback in the final minute at UMKC Thursday night. Down 51-47 with 20 seconds to play the Leathernecks got a layup, a steal and another layup to tie it at 51-51 within 12 seconds to go. Ceola Clark was fouled on the tying basket and although he hissed the free throw he grabbed his own rebound and layed it in for a 53-51 Leatherneck lead. UMKC turnovers on the next two in-bounds plays gave WIU three more points on free throws to account for the final 56-51 margin.
Two Leathernecks, senior guards David DuBois and Josh Rivers, carry double-figure scoring averages. DuBois leads the way at 17.6 points per game while Rivers scores at a 10.4 ppg pace. DuBois is also the leading rebounder, with 5.6 per game. Rivers also leads the team with 2.9 assists per game while junior guard David Nurse averages 2.8. Nurse is also the team's third-leading scorer at 9.0 ppg.
As a team WIU averages 58.5 points on .429 shooting (.386 threes) while allowing opponents 65.2 points on .479 shooting (.381 threes). The Leathernecks have connected on 70.9 percent of their free throws and have been out-rebounded by an average of 31.1-to-27.4 caroms per game.
