CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team will be back inside the America First Event Center on Thursday and Saturday this week, as they'll play host to the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (January 16 @ 7 p.m.) and the Sacramento State Hornets (January 18 @ 1 p.m.)
Last Time Out
When the T-Birds were last on the court, they knocked off the Idaho State Bengals 71-55 on the road in Pocatello.
The Thunderbirds started hot, and used an early 11-0 run to take a 20-6 lead over the Bengals.
Idaho State responded quickly. After a few minutes back-and-forth, they embarked on an 8-0 run, and followed that up with another 6-0 run to cut the Thunderbird lead to three at the under-four media timeout.
During that stretch, the T-Birds went over four minutes without putting a point on the scoreboard.
Despite the Bengal comeback, the T-Birds fought to keep the lead into the break, holding a 33-29 advantage.
The Thunderbirds turned it on the second half. They shot 64 percent from the field in the second half, going 14-of-22, and outscored the Bengals 38-26 over the final 20 minutes.
Southern Utah held Idaho State to 33 percent shooting from the field, and finished 8-of-29 in the second half.
Fast Start
The Thunderbirds are in the midst of their best start in league play since joining the Big Sky Conference, starting with a 3-1 mark.
The T-Birds have started Big Sky play 2-2 on two separate occasions, but hadn't started 3-1 on the year until this season.
Stat Leaders
With another week in the books, the T-Birds continue to have two leading scorers dependent on how you prefer to measure the category. John Knight III leads SUU in points per game average at 13.2, while Cameron Oluyitan leads the team in total points scored at 197 with a 13.1 ppg average. Overall, SUU has six players that have scored over 100 points for them this season.
Harrison Butler is the team's top rebounder, pulling in an average of 7.7 rebounds per game. Maizen Fausett is second on the team with a 5.9 rpg average, while Oluyitan is third at 5.1.
Oluyitan (34) and Knight III (33) are the team's leaders in assists this season as well.
In 10 appearances Daouda (David) N'Diaye leads the team with 19 total blocks and a 1.9 blocks per game average.
Oluyitan leads SUU in steals as well with 21 total and 1.4 per game. Damani McEntire is second for SUU in that category with 18 total and 1.5 per game.
By The Numbers
The Thunderbirds remain ranked highly in several statistical categories this season.
In terms of rebounding, SUU is ranked 22nd in the nation with 29.13 defensive rebounds per game. They're also ranked 25th in rebound margin at 7.3.
Southern Utah is the 24th ranked team in the NCA in terms of field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 37.9 percent shooting from the field.
Sticking with the defensive theme, SUU holds teams to 28.8 percent shooting from behind the three-point line, which puts them 33rd in the NCAA.
Opponent Preview: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (7-7, 1-4 Big Sky)
The Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona will travel to Cedar City winners of just one contest in their last six contests, knocking off Weber State at home but losing two Big Sky games on both sides of the victory.
Northern Arizona currently has four players averaging 10 ppg or more, led by Cameron Shelton who is scoring 12.9 ppg for the lumberjacks on average. He is the lone Lumberjacks to start in all 14 games for the squad.
Brooks DeBisschop is the team's second leading scorer at 10.6 ppg, and leads the team in rebounding as well at 7.5 rpg.
Shane Burcar is serving as the interim head coach for the Lumberjacks, after former head coach Jack Murphy left over the summer for a position with the Arizona Wildcats. Burcar was promoted to interim head coach in June.
The T-Birds have won six of their last seven contests with the Lumberjacks, and hold a 14-13 advantage in the all-time series.
Opponent Preview: Sacramento State Hornets (10-4, 3-2 Big Sky)
The Hornets of Sacramento State have won three-straight contests, and will travel to Northern Colorado for a date with the Bears before making their way to Cedar City.
Joshua Patton is the leading scorer for the Hornets, averaging 14.1 ppg so far this season. He is the lone Hornet that averages over double-digits in scoring.
Brian Katz is in his 12th season with Sacramento State, and is the winningest coach in the program's Division I history. In 2015 he was named National Mid-Major Coach of the Year.
Southern Utah holds a 15-13 series lead against the Hornets. The two teams have split their previous four meetings.
State of the Big Sky
With six league games in their rear view mirror, the Grizzlies of Montana currently sit on top of the Big Sky Standings with a 5-1 conference record. The Griz are the two-time defending champions of the league.
Both Northern Colorado and Southern Utah sit at 3-1, with Sacramento State and Idaho State clocking in at 3-2.
Weber State's Jerrick Harding remains the league's top scorer with 19.9 ppg, closely followed by Idaho's Trevon Allen at 19.3 ppg.
Words From Coach Simon
On the 3-1 start in Big Sky play…
"We're slowly getting our consistency where it needs to be," SUU head coach Todd Simon said. "We've been pretty good on the defensive end, now that we're starting to get healthy we've built a solid rotation and hopefully shots start falling as we get a little more depth and a little fresher on that side of the floor."
On the play of Cameron Oluyitan…
"As a senior and an all-league type guy, we know what we're going to get from him," Simon said. "He's really found his groove, and he's a guy that has great endurance, so as we've been limited a little bit we've been able to count on him for a lot of minutes."
On Northern Arizona…
"They're a talented team," he said. "They've got a lot of parts, and when they're on they can really shoot the three. We've got to be able to take that away from them and continue to play sound defense."
On Sacramento State...
"They really control the tempo," Simon said. "They hang their hat on their defense, so they're going to try and keep the score down and make things tough for us on that end of the floor. We're going to have to dictate tempo a little bit, and do a good job making every possession matter."
How To Watch / Listen / Follow Along
Thursday evenings contest against Northern Arizona will be broadcast nationally on Eleven Sports (DirecTV Channel 623).
All Big Sky Conference games will be available to stream on both the PlutoTV App and www.WatchBigSky.com.
A link to live stats, live video and any available radio feeds will be available on www.suutbirds.com prior to tipoff.
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 Tickets for the 2019-20 season, as well as single game tickets, are available for purchase at the America First Event Center Ticket Office and online at www.tbirdtickets.com.
