CEDAR CITY, Utah – When the clock strikes midnight and the rest of the world is celebrating the arrival of 2022, the Southern Utah University men's basketball team will be focused on its New Year's Day matchup against Northern Colorado as the Thunderbirds and Bears both look to remain undefeated in Big Sky Conference play Saturday night.

GAME INFO

Southern Utah vs Northern Colorado

Date: January 1, 2022

Tip-Off: 7:00 p.m. MT

Location: Cedar City, Utah

Venue: America First Event Center

TV: ESPN+

Live Stream | Live Stats | Tickets | Southern Utah Notes | Northern Colorado Notes

NOTES

-Southern Utah enters Saturday's contest having won 20-consecutive games at home.

-The Thunderbirds and Bears met just one time last season, with SUU earning a 91-83 victory at the Big Sky Tournament.

-SUU holds a 3-6 record against Northern Colorado under head coach Todd Simon. The T-Birds have defeated the Bears twice at the Big Sky Conference Tournament under Simon's leadership.

-Southern Utah has not played on New Year's Day since 2015 when the Thunderbirds visited Portland State. The Vikings came away victorious in that matchup by a score of 71-68.

ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO (7-7, 2-0 Big Sky)

-Northern Colorado enters Saturday's game off a 90-54 win over Northern New Mexico. The matchup with SUU will be the Bears' first game in 10 days.

-Daylen Kountz leads the Bears with an average of 18.8 points per game. Matt Johnson II and Bodie Hume are the other Bears averaging double figures at 12.7 and 10.6, respectively.

-UNC is coached by Steve Smiley who is in his second year as head coach of the program. Smiley owns an even record of 18-18 at Northern Colorado.

LAST TIME OUT

After a foul-filled, scrappy first half in which the Thunderbirds never led, the Southern Utah University men's basketball team came alive in the second half to earn a 64-51 victory over Sacramento State Thursday night in the America First Event Center.

The win lifted SUU to 9-4 overall on the season and a perfect 3-0 in Big Sky Conference play. It also marked The T-Birds' 20th-straight victory at home. With the loss, the Hornets dropped to 4-6 for the year and 0-3 in league competition.

"We know conference play isn't always going to be a masterpiece, but we also know that we can get a lot done defensively even when we're not making shots," said SUU head coach Todd Simon. "I thought we were a good defensive team today, and that kept us in it until we found a rhythm. We scored 41 in the second half, which is where we want to be. We know shots are going to fall, it's just a matter of time. It was a good, hard-fought win."

Despite a slow start and tough first half offensively, the T-Birds kept up the effort on the defensive end of the floor all night, forcing Sacramento State into 14 turnovers against five assists. Comparatively, Southern Utah gave away only six turnovers the entire night and dished out 13 assists as a team. The Thunderbirds also owned a 3-1 advantage in blocked shots and came away with seven steals to the Hornets' three.

Tevian Jones led the way for SUU in the scoring column with 19 points on the night, including three makes from 3-point range. Jones also pulled down eight rebounds for the T-Birds. Despite fouling out in the second half, Maizen Fausett also gave Southern Utah a big lift with 14 points and nine rebounds. Though relatively quiet statistically, John Knight III gave SUU plenty of energy in the second half with an electric dunk to open the half, and a huge block to close the game.

After struggling to get anything going offensively in the first half, Nick Fleming threw a pass to the corner where Jones was waiting all along to knock down a three as time expired and pull the Thunderbirds within two at the halftime break. Jones' connection from distance sparked a 14-3 run for SUU which put the T-Birds in the lead for the first time. Southern Utah would never trail again in the game.

The Thunderbirds used a combination of outside shots and points in the paint to grow their lead as large as 12 with 8:49 remaining in the game. Sacramento State clamped down on defense for the next few minutes and trimmed the deficit to seven, but could get no closer as Aanen Moody and Jones knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to rebuild the lead and put things out of reach.

FOLLOW US

For all the latest on Southern Utah men's basketball, follow @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Southern Utah Basketball Facebook page.