Southern Utah's men's basketball hits the road again this week as the Thunderbirds travel to Kansas City, Mo., for a Summit League match-up with UMKC Saturday night.
    The Thunderbirds (4-11, 2-2 Summit) are looking for their first road win of the season, as well as to snap a two-game skid Saturday night. After posting their most convincing win of the season, a 76-51 romp past Sacramento State, Dec. 27, the Thunderbirds lost a pair of close road games last week, falling 61-53 at Western Illinois on Wednesday, then going down 59-54 Friday night at IUPUI.
    UMKC played that same swing last week and came up 0-2 as well after losing three-point decisions at both IUPUI (72-69) and Western Illinois (71-68). The Kangaroos have lost four straight, including home losses to Texas-San Antonio (76-72) and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (77-71). UMKC's last win came on the road, at Eastern Washington on Dec. 18, when the ?Roos got past the Eagles, 68-61.

    The Game: Southern Utah (4-11, 2-2) at UMKC (5-12, 1-3), Saturday at 7:00 p.m. (CST), Municipal Auditorium (9,827), Kansas City, Mo.
 
    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 nor video highlights of Saturday's game. Video highlight packages of the Thunderbirds' home Summit League games as well as selected non-conference games will 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 holds a 14-12 edge in the series with UMKC, but the Thunderbirds have won just twice in 13 tries in Kansas City including an 0-7 mark in Municipal Auditorium. Both of the Thunderbird wins came in Kemper Arena, the first in overtime in 1999 and the second in 2002. SUU did win the last meeting between the two teams, however, a 78-73 win in Cedar City last season, a victory which avenged an earlier 63-60 setback in Kansas City.

    Next Up: The Thunderbirds return home to host North Dakota State on Thursday evening before a Saturday matchup in the Centrum with South Dakota State.

    Practice Schedule: When at home the Thunderbirds work out daily from 2:00-4:30 p.m. in the Centrum, with occasional adjustments. 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 15-29 in his second season on the Thunderbird bench.
    Reid takes a career Division I mark of 166-106 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 the fourth-best free throw shooting team in the country , at 78.8 percent. SUU also ranks among the top-100 in two more categories: 20th in 3-point percentage defense (.289) and 44th in field goal percentage (.475).
    Individually, Davis Baker ranks sixth in free throw percentage, at (.922), while Tyler Quinney is 67th at .839. Baker also ranks 95th in points per game at 17.6 ppg.

T-Bird Notes:
?     Davis Baker leads The Summit League in free throw percentage (.922); he is also fourth in scoring (17.6 ppg), 10th in 3-point percentage (.396), 11th in overall field goal percentage (.473 and 20th in rebounding (4.9 rpg). Baker scored a team-high 17 points before fouling out at IUPUI. It was just the second time he has fouled out this season; the first was the opener vs. Mesa State. Baker has scored in double figures in all but two games this season. He poured in 25 at Western Illinois to tie the second-highest total of his career. Baker, who scored a team-and career-high 27 points vs. Weber State, has led or co-led the team in scoring eight times this season and in rebounding five. The only games he was held under 10 points were in the season-opener vs. Mesa State, when foul trouble limited him to four points, and the Utah State game when he had five.
?    Tyler Quinney is second in The Summit League in free throw percentage, at 83.9 percent and 10th in field goal percentage (.475); he is also 12th in scoring (14.6 ppg) and 16th in rebounding (5.4 rpg). Quinney has scored in double figures in all but three games this season, including 10 straight games in which he has competed. He finished with 11 at IUPUI and scored 12 points at Western Illinois, eight of them from the free throw line where he was a perfect 8-of-8. He was the only Thunderbird to attempt a free throw in the WIU game. Quinney also dished out a career-high six assists at WIU. SUU was without Quinney at UNLV after he suffered a sprained ankle at Utah Valley but the senior forward played 36 minutes against Sacramento State, scoring a team-high 16  
?    John Clifford leads The Summit League in field goal percentage at .670 and is third in rebounding with 7.4 per game; he is also 13th in free throw percentage. Clifford narrowly missed a double-double at IUPUI where he scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Clifford notched his second career double-double against Sacramento State when he tied his career-high with 13 rebounds and scored 14 points. Clifford had scored in double figures in four straight games until he finished with eight at WIU after taking just five shots. Clifford tallied his first career double-double earlier in the season when he scored 11 points and corralled 13 rebounds at Boise State.
?    Dave Marek is third in The Summit League in 3-point percentage, at .444, and 10th in assists, with 2.8 per game. Marek went scoreless for the third time this season at IUPUI where he took just three shots but didn't connect. He did have five rebounds and five assists, however, in 35 minutes vs. the Jaguars. Marek had been in double figures in three of the previous four games heading into Western Illinois but he took just three shots against the Leathernecks as well and finished with two points, his fewest since he went scoreless against Seattle Pacific. Marek paced the team with 19 points at UNLV and came back with 13 against Sacramento St.  
?    Guard Mike Josserand is fifth in the conference in assists with 4.1 per game. He has been back in the starting lineup the last four games after a two-game hiatus. He went without an assist for the first time all year at Western Illinois but had three at IUPUI. The Las Vegas native dished out a career-high eight assists vs. UNLV; he also scored three points, pulled down two rebounds and had two steals vs. his hometown Rebels. Josserand got his first start of the season (and his first since the season-opener at Utah State last year) at Boise State.
?    Cory Davis had the team's only block at Western Illinois, it was the second of his career. He dished out a team-season-high nine assists vs. Sacramento State. The junior guard also scored an SUU career-high 11 points vs. the Hornets (hitting 4-of-5 shots) and was turnover-free in 26 minutes off the bench.
?    Drew Allen did not play at IUPUI because of stomach flu. He started the Utah State, Utah Valley and UNLV games but came off the bench again vs. Sac State and Western Illinois.
?    Jake Nielson, who missed the Sacramento State and Western Illinois games with a pulled muscle, scored 12 points and pulled down five rebounds at IUPUI; the rebounds were a career-best while the points were just two shy of his career-high. Nielson tied his career-best with four rebounds at UNLV, where he also scored six points on 2-of-3 shooting. Nielson scored 10 points at Utah Valley, his highest total since he put up a career-best 14 points vs. IPFW.
?    The Thunderbirds tied their season-high with 20 assists and had a season-low seven turnovers vs. Sac State.
?    SUU hit a season-high seven 3-pointers at UNLV, where also took a season-high 17 attempts from beyond the stripe. Dave Marek and Davis Baker were both at .500, as Marek hit 3-of-6 and Baker hit 2-of-4 attempts. Marek hit 3-of-6 threes again vs. Sacramento State and Davis buried 2-of-3 as the team knocked down six long-range bombs.
?    The Thunderbirds' loss at Western Illinois was their third setback when shooting better than 50 percent as well as when out-shooting the opponent. SUU hit 20-of-40 shots vs. the Leathernecks, while WIU converted 23-of-48 (.479). SUU hit 21-of-39 shots (the 39 attempts were a season-low) at Utah Valley, or 53.8 percent, while the Wolverines hit 26-of-52 shots (.500). UC Riverside was the other game the ?Birds lost when shooting 50 percent or better and outshooting the opposition. SUU shot .561 at UCR, to .532 for the Highlanders.
?    Guard Eules Thompson has been dismissed from the team. Forward Kemo Duncan was declared ineligible because of his participation with a semi-professional league.

    Kangaroo Notes: UMKC has played numerous close games this season. The ?Roos are 2-3 in games decided by four or fewer points and four of those contests were three-point decisions where UMKC is 2-2. The Kangaroos have also lost a pair of five-point verdicts, a six pointer and one by seven.
    Three ?Roos carry double-figure scoring averages, led by wing Dane Brumagin at 18.4 ppg. Reggie Hamilton chips in another 13.4 ppg while leading rebounder Spencer Johnson ? who averages 7.3 caroms per game, is scoring at an 11.5 ppg clip. Hamilton is also the team's assists leader with 4.2 per game, the second-best average in The Summit League.
    As a team, UMKC averages 66.3 points per game on .404 shooting (.310 threes) while allowing an average of 70.9 ppg on .462 shooting (.315 threes). The ?Roos have connected on 69.3 percent of their free throws and have been out-rebounded by an average of 36.2-to-33.4 boards per game.