CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Thunderbird men's basketball team (17-3, 10-2 Big Sky)  will travel to Portland State for a two-game series with the Big Sky Conference regular season title on the line. 

Last Time Out

Southern Utah completed a sweep of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks last week, knocking off NAU at home on Wednesday night before traveling to Flagstaff and securing a 30-point victory. 

Dre Marin facilitated a lot of scoring for the Thunderbirds against their regional revival, scoring 41 points for an average of 20.5 per contest. He also shot 64 percent from the field and went a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. 

Maizen Fausett also had a massive series for the Thunderbirds, averaging 19.5 ppg against NAU. Fausett shot 71 percent for the series, and led SUU in rebounding with 16 total for an average of eight rebounds per game. 

John Knight III averaged 15.5 ppg for SUU, while Tevian Jones averaged 13.0 ppg.  

Player of the Week

For his performance, Marin was named Big Sky Men's Basketball Player of the Week. For the senior, this was his first time claiming the title. 

Southern Utah hit another milestone when Marin was named Player of the Week, as they had never received three Player of the Week honors in the same athletic season before. 

Chasing History

The Thunderbirds are currently on pace to have the highest overall winning percentage in the program's Division I history. As it stands, Southern Utah has a winning percentage of .850 (17-3), with the highest Division I mark coming in 2000-01 when the T-Birds finished at .806 (25-6). That was the first and only team in SUU history to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.  

SUU will also finish this season with its best Big Sky Conference winning percentage since joining the league in 2012, sitting at .833 (10-2). Coming into this season, SUU's highest Big Sky winning percentage was .450 (9-11), which they had reached the previous two seasons. 

Regular Season Title Path 

The Big Sky Conference Regular Season Championship will be given out solely based on winning percentage. 

Currently, the Eagles of Eastern Washington have a .846 Big Sky winning percentage at 11-2, while SUU has a .833 Big Sky percentage at 10-2. 

If both EWU and SUU win both games this weekend, the Eagles will claim the Big Sky Conference regular season title and the overall No. 1 seed. 

If Southern Utah wins both contests against Portland State, and the Eagles drop a single contest to Idaho State, the Thunderbirds will have the best winning percentage in the Big Sky.  

If the Thunderbirds split against the Vikings and the Eagles lose both against the Bengals, SUU would claim the regular season title and overall No. 1 seed, unless Weber State won both contests against Northern Colorado which would give them a .813 winning percentage compared to .785 for SUU. 

First Round BYE 

No matter what happens in the final week of the regular season, the Thunderbirds will have a BYE to the second round of the Big Sky Championship Tournament. The lowest SUU can finish in the Big Sky standings will be third. 

This means SUU's first game in Boise will be Thursday, March 11. 

National Statistic Standings (As Of March 1) 

Heading Into the final week of the regular season, the Thunderbirds are the third highest scoring team in the NCAA, averaging 85.6 points per game. They only trail Gonzaga (92.9) and Colgate (85.7) in this category. 

The Thunderbirds are also highly ranked in rebounding margin, as they're No.6 in the entire NCAA with a +9 rebounding margin. 

In terms of overall winning percentage, Southern Utah is 10th in the NCAA winning 85 percent of their games. 

In The Rankings 

In the most recent version of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, the Thunderbirds were ranked No. 11 amongst teams on their level. They sit right behind Morehead State for the No. 10 spot. Easter Washington is the only other Big Sky team in the rankings at No. 14. Weber State is receiving votes.   

This week's NCAA NET Rankings slotted Southern Utah at 140th in the entire country, the same spot they were in last week. Weber State continues to hold the highest NET Rating in the Big Sky, sitting at 101st. Easter Washington is second in the league at 113th. 

Home Success 

Since Todd Simon became head coach at Southern Utah, the Thunderbirds are 46-24 at home. If you take out his first season, the T-Birds are 43-14 inside the America First Event Center over the previous four seasons. 

Southern Utah just wrapped up it's first perfect season at home since 2000-01, and set the new high mark for home wins in a single season at 14. 

Stat Leaders

With two regular season games to play, Tevian Jones sits fourth in the Big Sky in terms of league standings at 17.2 points per game this season. Jones is third in Big Sky free throw percentage at 85 percent.  

Fausett is ninth in the Big Sky in scoring at 14.2 ppg, and sits seventh in total rebounding with an average of 6.6 per contest. 

Fausett is also second in the Big Sky in field goal percentage at 56 percent. 

John Knight III is second in the Big Sky in assists with a 4.3 assist per game average. 

Southern Utah is first in the Big Sky in scoring offense, scoring margin, rebounding offense, rebounding margin, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounding percentage and three-point field goals made. 

Opponent Preview: Portland State Vikings (9-10, 6-6 Big Sky)

After winning five of their previous six games, the Portland State Vikings will welcome Southern Utah to Oregon with a 9-10 overall record and a 6-6 mark in Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings split their most recent series with Northern Colorado, losing the first game 66-64 and claiming a 73-65 victory in the second. 

James Scott currently leads PSU in scoring, averaging 13.1 ppg through 19 contests. Khalid Thomas is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.0 ppg. 

Thomas also leads the Vikings in rebounding, averaging 5.0 rpg. 

Southern Utah alum Barret Peery is in his fourth season as the head coach at Portland State. Peery both played and coached at Southern Utah, as he served as an assistant coach from 1998-02. He was on the coaching staff that led SUU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001.  

Historically, the Thunderbirds and Vikings have met 14 times as Division I foes. The Vikings hold a 10-4 advantage in the all-time series, but Southern Utah has won the two most recent meetings, along with three of the most recent four contests. 

Big Sky At A Glance

After EWU (11-2), SUU (10-2) and WSU (11-3) at the top of the standings, Idaho State and Montana State both sit at 7-5. Portland State enters the series against SUU at 6-6, while Northern Colorado is 6-7 in league play. 

Montana has won two contests in a row, sitting at 7-9. Sacramento State (4-8), Northern Arizona (4-10) and Idaho (1-17) sit in the bottom three spots of the league standings. 

Words From Todd Simon

On where SUU has improved the most in the past month…

"We've improved defensively by tenfold, and we've got better poise with more guys that can step up," Simon said. "We're pretty proud of this group, but we've just got to keep it going. One game at a time." 

On the depth the team has shown recently. 

"We think we can go really deep with guys that can give us starter quality minutes in this league, and guys have gotten to play and get some experience so we think we're in a good spot right now," Simon said.

Where To Watch / Listen / Follow Along 

This week's contests against PSU will air on the PlutoTV App Ch. 1,051 and on www.WatchBigSky.com. 

Links to live stats will be available on www.tbirdstats.com prior to tipoff. 

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