CEDAR CITY, Utah – Fresh off a win over Portland State for its 10th victory of the season, the Southern Utah University men's basketball team will host Idaho State Saturday afternoon at the America First Event Center.
GAME INFO
Southern Utah vs Idaho State
Date: January 22, 2022
Tip-Off: 2:00 p.m. MT
Location: Cedar City, Utah
Venue: America First Event Center
TV: ESPN+
Live Stream | Live Stats | Tickets | Southern Utah Notes
NOTES
-Southern Utah's win against Portland State gave the T-Birds 10 on the season, which marks five consecutive seasons of reaching double-digit victories.
-The win over the Vikings pushed Todd Simon to 92 career victories at SUU as he steadily makes his climb to 100 wins.
-Southern Utah is 6-3 against Idaho State under Simon's leadership. The two schools last met in February of 2020 when SUU defeated ISU, 80-75, in Cedar City.
ABOUT IDAHO STATE (3-13, 1-6 Big Sky)
-Idaho State enters Saturday's contest off back-to-back losses to Weber State. Before playing the Wildcats in consecutive games, ISU defeated in-state rival Idaho, 81-74.
-Tarik Cool and Robert Ford III lead the Bengals in scoring with 10.9 points per game each.
-Ryan Looney is in his third season as head coach of Idaho State. The Bengals went 8-22 in his first season and followed up the 2019-20 season with a 13-11 campaign in 2020-21.
LAST TIME OUT
In a game that was back and forth all night, the Southern Utah University men's basketball team used a 13-0 run in the closing minutes to gain the separation it needed to knock off Portland State, 86-76, Monday night at the America First Event Center.
Tevian Jones gave Southern Utah a huge spark to ignite the team's late run. After Dre Marin came up with a clutch steal on what appeared to be a breakaway layup for the Vikings, Jones took the ball coast-to-coast and threw down an electric dunk that got the crowd going. A few possessions later, Jones connected on a three to widen the Thunderbird lead. Those two baskets accounted for five of Jones' 18 points on the night.
Harrison Butler also came in off the bench to give the T-Birds 18 points on the night, but it was Maizen Fausett who led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds to give him another double-double on the season. John Knight III and Aanen Moody eached pitched in nine points apiece while Marin added six points in his first game of the new year.
It was a slow start for SUU in the first half as Portland State claimed the first seven points of the game. The T-Birds quickly worked their way back in, and led most of the way in the first half. The Vikings made a late run before the halftime buzzer, though, and evened up the score at 39 apiece heading into the locker room break.
The teams traded leads for the first 10 minutes of the second half, before Southern Utah earned an eight-point lead at the 9:25 mark off a huge dunk by Butler. The T-Birds appeared ready to run away with all the momentum on their side, but PSU went on a run of its own and trimmed the deficit to a single point. After a few traded baskets, SUU finally went on its huge run and put the game away in the final-five minutes.
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