CEDAR CITY, Utah – Riding a six-game winning streak, the Southern Utah University men's basketball team will travel to Michigan for its most high-profile game of the year versus the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
GAME INFO
Southern Utah at Michigan
Date: December 18, 2021
Tip-Off: 5:00 p.m. MT
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Venue: Crisler Center
TV: Big 10 Network
Live Stream | Live Stats | Southern Utah Notes
NOTES AND QUOTES
-The T-Birds enter Saturday's game on a six-game winning streak. SUU's longest winning streak under head coach Todd Simon is 10 games, which the Thunderbirds accomplished last season.
-SUU's last matchup against a Big 10 opponent took place in November of 2019 when the Thunderbirds visited Nebraska and left victorious in the form of a 79-78 overtime victory.
-Saturday will mark the first ever meeting between the Thunderbirds and Wolverines.
"I'm proud of the guys' performance today. I thought for 40 minutes 12 guys gave all they had, which was outstanding. I thought we had good enthusiasm from our bench. That's 18 in a row at home, so these guys have done a great job protecting our home floor. We got 12 guys minutes today and all 12 played really well."
-Simon after SUU's win over Saint Katherine
"This is a fun rivalry," said SUU head coach Todd Simon. "Obviously this was a big game, and it's good to be back home after a seven-game road swing. We knew this game was going to be an absolute battle. They're very physical and we're very physical, and we figured it was going to happen on the defensive end. To our credit, they did a phenomenal job defending and found a way to win on our home floor which we've done a great job of for a long stretch now."
-Simon after the T-Birds defeated in-state rival UVU
ABOUT MICHIGAN (6-4, 1-1 Big 10)
-The Wolverines enter Saturday with a record of 6-4. After opening the season with a pair of victories, Michigan fell to Seton Hall for its first loss of the year. The Wolverines most recently lost to Minnesota in their second conference game of the year.
-Michigan is led by NBA veteran Juwan Howard, who is in his third season as head coach of his alma mater.
-Hunter Dickinson leads the way for Michigan with an average of 15.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He is followed by Eli Brooks who is scoring 13.7 points per contest.
LAST TIME OUT
The Southern Utah University men's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack with four scorers in double figures and two players with nine points apiece to defeat Saint Katherine, 100-61, Saturday afternoon at the America First Event Center.
John Knight III led the way in scoring for the T-Birds with 19 points, and was followed closely by Dee Barnes who led the way in bench scoring with 16. Tevian Jones and Harrison Butler scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, and Maizen Fausett and Aanen Moody both contributed nine. Fausett finished the game with 10 rebounds, finishing the game just a point shy of a double-double.
Shooting percentage and rebounding proved to be the difference for Southern Utah as the Thunderbirds outshot the Firebirds with a 57.8 percent clip to just 36.7 percent for Saint Katherine. SUU also pulled down 46 rebounds compared to just 26 for the Firebirds.
Saint Katherine played the Thunderbirds tough in the opening half as it was a four-point game with 4:38 to go until halftime. Coach Simon then had his team start applying full-court pressure, and the T-Birds quickly upped their advantage to 14 points before hitting the locker room. SUU was able to close the half on a 9-2 run.
Out of the halftime break, Southern Utah continued to play intense defense with a full-court press, and made its run to put the game out of reach after the first timeout of the second half. A quick 10-0 burst by the T-Birds put them up by 20, and the lead never slipped lower than 15 while eventually growing as high as 41 points.
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