CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team will be hosting postseason basketball at home for the first time in the history of the program this Friday as they welcome the Drake Bulldogs for the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.     

Big Sky Tournament Recap

For the second-consecutive season the Thunderbirds advanced all the way to the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, before having their season come to an end against Eastern Washington.

The T-Birds faced off against the Idaho State Bengals in the first round, knocking off ISU 94-80. Andre Adams led the scoring effort for SUU, dropping 23 points and pulling in eight rebounds. Brandon Better finished the game with 17 points as well for SUU.

In the second round the Thunderbirds faced off against the No. 2 seeded Bears of Northern Colorado, and came away with a huge 83-64 victory behind 18 points from Cameron Oluyitan and 17 from Jacob Calloway.

Todd Simon is now 5-3 in the Big Sky Tournament as head coach of the Thunderbirds.

Postseason History

The Thunderbirds have only played once past the conference tournament in their Division I history, and it's been quite a while since that was the case.

Under the direction of Bill Evans, the Thunderbirds made the NCAA Tournament to conclude the 2000-01 season, winning the Mid-Continent Tournament with a 25-6 record.

The T-Birds faced off against the No. 7 seeded Boston College Eagles, and fell by the slimmest of margins 68-65.

Opponent Preview: Drake (24-9, 12-6 MVC)

The Drake Bulldogs won six of their last seven regular season matchups to close out the 2018-19 campaign, and claimed the title Co-Champions of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Their MVC Tournament run came to an end after knocking off Illinois State, but falling to the University of Northern Iowa.

Nick McGlynn leads the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.2 ppg and 8.3 rpg so far this season. He started in 32 of Drake's 33 games this season.

History vs. The Bulldogs

Southern Utah and Drake have met four times since the T-Birds made the transition to Division I, with the two teams most recently meeting in 2010. Drake won that contest 78-59.

Overall, Drake has a 3-1 series advantage over the Thunderbirds.

SUU's lone victory over the Bulldogs came in 2004, in a game SUU won 94-74.

Where To Watch / Listen / Follow Along

Tip off is set for 6:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday, March 19, inside the America First Event Center.

Live streams of the contests will be available at the following link: http://www.watchcit.com/

A link to livestats will be available at www.bigsky.statbroadcat.com prior to tipoff.

Tickets

Tickets for the First Round of the CIT are available on www.tbirdstats.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.

Follow Us

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