CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Thunderbird men's team has a big week ahead of them, and it will start on Wednesday when they host Long Beach State before heading to East Lansing to take on the Spartans of Michigan State on Saturday.

Last Time Out

After a tight first half against the Hawks of San Diego Christian, the Thunderbirds were able to find their rhythm in the second half and take an 87-68 victory to move to 4-3 on the season.

Brandon Better was the offensive leader for the Thunderbirds, scoring 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field. He was also the top rebounder for the Thunderbirds in the contest, pulling in eight rebounds.

Jadon Cohee had yet another strong offensive performance for the Thunderbirds, scoring 16 points and finishing 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Cohee also dished out three assists and was credited with three steals in the contest.  

Jamal Aytes continues to impress for the Thunderbirds, and Saturday was no different as he poured in 14 points and pulled down six rebounds for the T-Birds.

Dre Marin and Christian Musoko both finished with 13 points for the Thunderbirds in the victory.

Stat Leaders

With seven games in the books, the Thunderbirds are led in scoring by Cohee. The transfer guard from Seattle is averaging 17 points per game, and has dished out 26 assists in his seven starts. He also leads the team in made free throws with 47. Cohee is also averaging just under 36 minutes a game. He also sits seventh in the Big Sky Conference in scoring.  

Jamal Aytes is getting it done for the T-Birds both in terms of scoring and rebounding. He's averaging 15 ppg so far this season, and is leading the team in rebounding by pulling in 7.1 rebounds per game. Aytes is fifth in the Big Sky Conference in reboundings.

Brandon Better and James McGee are leading the Thunderbirds from beyond the three-point line. Better has knocked down 17 triples and McGee has made 16. They are averaging 12.3 ppg and 11 ppg respectively.

Words From The T-Birds

Head coach Todd Simon on preparing for Long Beach…

"That's a phenomenal team, they really are good," he said. "Looking at them on film they're playing a lot of high major teams, they're traveling all over the place and a battle tested team that's picked by some to win their league, so by all standards this is going to be a big time measuring stick for us to see where we're at."

Cohee on moving into Wednesday's game with a 4-3 record…

"It is a great feeling to be over .500 in December, but it is December, hopefully we can continue to stay over .500 through non-conference and into conference, and compete in conference and be a top four team," he said. "That's the goal, to be in that top four area and see what we can do and see if we can win a championship."

Cohee on Long Beach State…

"We're excited for Long Beach, they're obviously one of the favorites in the Big West so it will be a really good challenge for us to see where we are with a team from a good conference," he said.

Opponent Preview: Long Beach State

Long Beach State will come to Cedar City with a 4-6 record, with a huge victory over the Stanford Cardinal in their last outing. The Beach knocked off Stanford at home 76-68.

Guard Jordan Griffin was huge for Long Beach, putting up 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting on the day. Bryan Alberts dropped in 15, while both Gabe Levin and Deishuan Booker added 13 points.

Levin is leading The Beach in scoring, averaging 13.4 points per game.

Their other three wins have come against San Francisco, San Francisco State and Oregon State.

Dan Monson is in his 11th year as head coach of Long Beach State, with a record of 170-159 at the program.

A win would give the Thunderbirds five non-conference wins, which would be the first time since 2011-12 that the team had accomplished that.

Tip Time

Start time at the America First Event Center is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Where To Watch / Listen / Follow Along

Wednesday's game will be streamed live on WatchBigSky.com and the PlutoTV App.

Live stats will be provided on suutbirds.com.

All games will be available over the airwaves locally on KSUB 590 AM with legendary Thunderbird athletics broadcaster Art Challis on the call.

Follow Us

Follow the Thunderbirds all season @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Basketball page on Facebook.

Read all about the Thunderbirds on www.suutbirds.com.

Ticket Information

Season ticket packages as well as single game tickets for the 2017-18 SUU men's basketball campaign can be purchased at tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.