BOULDER, Colo. The Southern Utah men's basketball squad looks to extend its four-game winning streak with a road contest against Colorado on Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. MT. 

GAME INFO

Southern Utah vs. Colorado
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 21
Tipoff: 5 p.m. MT

PREVIEW

SOUTHERN UTAH (8-4)

National Rankings!

Southern Utah is the top-scoring offense in the country, averaging 91.0 points per game this season.

Southern Utah also ranks in the top 10 in other categories, including 42.25 rebounds per game as well as a positive scoring margin of 19 points per contest. 

Points Per Game - Team
1    Southern Utah, 91.0
2    James Madison, 90.5
    Arizona, 90.5
4    Missouri, 88.4
5    Utah State, 88.2

Rebounds Per Game - Team
1    Alabama, 47.73
8    Southern Utah, 42.25

Scoring Margin - Team
1    James Madison, 28
8    Southern Utah, 19

T-Bird Tidbits
Southern Utah outscores its opponents by nearly 20 points a game.  SUU averages 91.0 points per game, while opponents score just 71.8 points for a 19.2-point average margin of victory. 

SUU shoots 48.2 percent from the field,  while also scoring 31.1 percent from beyond the arc.  The T-Birds continue to feast on free throws, scoring 73.3 percent of the nearly 26 free throws they shoot a game.  

Additionally, Southern Utah averages 42.3 rebounds, 14.8 assists, 10.8 steals, and 3.3 blocks per game. 

Individual Leaders
A trio of Thunderbirds average double-digit scoring as senior guards Tevian Jones (20.3) and Harrison Butler (13.5) lead the way with sophomore center Jason Spurgin tallying 10.0 points a contest.  Senior guard Drake Allen (9.8) and senior forward Maizen Fausett (9.2) are just on the cusp of averaging double figures. 

Butler (6.6) and Fausett (6.5) average more than six rebounds per contest, while Butler and Allen each average 2.5 assists per game. 

Harrison Butler Joins 1200-Point Club With Career Effort
Senior guard Harrison Butler became just the 10th member of the 1200-point club in Thunderbird history with his career-high 23 points against Northern Arizona for 1,221 career points. The effort pushed Butler ahead of Davis Baker (1,205 points, 2007-10). 

Senior forward Maizen Fausett tacked on seven points to increase his seventh-ranked career tally to 1,231 points, while senior guard Tevian Jones' season-high 31 points moved him to a total of 1,038 points in an SUU uniform.  Overall, Jones has scored 1,136 career points thanks to his time at Illinois.

Points
1,710; Davor Marcelic (1989-1992)
1,568; Jeff Monaco (1997-2001)
1,434; Dre Marin (2017-2022)
1,300; James McGee (2014-2018)
1,297; Richard Barton (1989-1993)
1,273; Jackson Stevenett (2010-2013)
1,231; Maizen Fausett (ACTIVE)
1,223; John Knight III (2019-2022)
1,221; Harrison Butler (ACTIVE)
1,205; Davis Baker (2007-2010)
1,038; Tevian Jones (ACTIVE)

LAST TIME OUT

CEDAR CITY, Utah. Senior guard Harrison Butler's historic performance led the way in a thrilling victory as the Southern Utah men's basketball team outlasted former Big Sky conference foe Northern Arizona, 106-101, in overtime on Saturday, Dec. 17 at the America First Event Center.  The exciting game featured 19 lead changes and 14 ties. 

T-Bird Tidbits
Senior guard Drake Allen joined senior guard Tevian Jones (31) and Butler (23) in clearing 20 points with a career-high 22 points against NAU, while sophomore center Jason Spurgin also broke into double-figures with 11 points.  

Butler nearly notched a double-double with nine rebounds, while Spurgin (6) and Allen (5) each also had a strong night on the glass.  Jones led the 'Birds defensively with five steals, while Butler led with four key blocks.  

SUU's aggressive offense proved to be enough to win the contest as the 'Birds show 82.4 percent from the charity stripe thanks to a 42-51 performance.  The 42 made free throws are among the top five performances of all time for SUU.  The team made 54 against Bethesda on Nov. 18, 2016 while also connecting on 44 free throws against Weber State on Dec. 14, 1991.

Highest-Scoring Contest Against NAU
The 106-101 victory proved to be just the second time either team had scored 100 points in the 34-game history against NAU. SUU owned the only previous triple-digit scoring effort with a 100-74 triumph against the Lumberjacks in Cedar City on Dec. 19, 1992.  The most points NAU had previously scored against SUU came by way of a 96-91 NAU win in Flagstaff on March 2, 1994. 

Five Straight Wins Against NAU
That's the fifth consecutive victory against the Lumberjacks, a streak that began with an 85-80 victory in Cedar City on Feb. 23, 2021. One more win against NAU will match SUU's series-record six wins in a row from Feb. 27, 2016, to Jan. 12, 2019. 

Century-Mark Scoring Efforts
That's the fourth game in triple digits for the prolific Thunderbird offense.  The T-Birds previously put up 100 or more points three times this season.

127 vs. Bethesda (67), Nov. 14, 2022
120 vs. West Coast Baptist (49), Dec. 6, 2022
117 vs. La Verne (55), Nov. 10, 2022
106 vs. Northern Arizona (101), Dec. 17, 2002

That matches the most 100-point performances in a season since the 2016-17 team cleared 100 points in four contests, albeit two of them were in exhibition games.   

Recent Overtime History
That's four straight overtime wins for the Thunderbirds.  Earlier this year, SUU downed another former Big Sky opponent in overtime, Sacramento State (91-87) in double overtime on Saturday, Nov. 26.  Before that, SUU downed Yale, 88-85, in overtime on Nov. 23, 2021 while also pouncing on Portland State, 85-82, in overtime on Jan. 27, 2022. 

First Half
Northern Arizona jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead during the opening minute of play before Tevian Jones splashed a three-pointer at 18:48 to close the gap to 5-3.  Following a pair of shots falling for the Lumberjacks to move to a 9-3 advantage, Harrison Butler made history at the line with back-to-back free throws to close SUU to within 9-5 with 16:59 to play.  Those points added Butler to the 1,200-point club as he became the 10th Thunderbird to ever accomplish the feat. Drake Allen followed with a three-pointer to cut NAU's lead to 9-8 with 16:35 to play.

Southern Utah took its first lead of the contest at the 14:31 mark with a Dee Barnes trifecta as SUU moved up 15-14 thanks to a 7-5 run during its previous 2:04 of action. The 'Birds remained in the lead at the 12:54 mark following a dynamic Jones dunk as the squads continued to trade the lead back and forth. Maizen Fausett drained a trey with 11:16 to go to keep SUU up 24-23 before NAU turned in a 5-0 burst to take a 28-24 lead at the 9:33 mark.  

The Lumberjacks stretched their lead to five at the 6:12 mark, 35-30, before Jones sparked a 10-4 run covering 4:21 on the clock to put SUU up 40-39 at the 1:02 mark. Jones scored seven points during this sprint of scoring. NAU closed out the half with a layup to retake the lead, 41-40, heading into halftime. 
 
Second Half
Southern Utah exploded out of the locker room with an 8-4 rally to grab a 48-45 lead heading into a timeout with 17:30 on the clock.  Jones collected a quick five points during this stretch. 

The Lumberjacks countered with a 6-2 run of their own during the next 1:33 of play to take a 51-50 lead with 15:07 to play. 

As the slobber knocker continued with both squads throwing haymakers back and forth, Parsa Fallah delivered a blow with a monster dunk with 14:18 on the clock to tie the match at 54-54. 

With SUU trailing 58-56, Harrison Butler slashed through the lane with a jackhammer dunk at 12:24 to tie the game at 58 apiece. Butler again helped keep SUU in the game with a clutch three-pointer at 10:46 to move SUU to within 62-61 following a 4-0 run from NAU. Drake Allen then completed an old-fashioned three-point play to put SUU up 64-62 at 10:08.

After NAU knotted the game up at 64-64, the Thunderbirds feasted at the free-throw line with a quick 4-0 run to take a 68-64 lead with 9:12 on the clock.  Spurgin completed another old-fashioned three-point play of his own with 8:09 left to push the 'Birds up by five, 71-66.

The Lumberjacks fired back during the next 3:27 of play with a 12-5 run to take a 78-75 lead with 4:42 on the clock. Butler, however, continued to score in key points of the contest with a pair of free throws to pull SUU back to 78-77 with 4:32 to play. After causing a turnover, Butler then drained a free throw to put the 'Birds up 78-76.  Two more free throws from Maizen Fausett (the fifth made free-throw in a row for SUU) put the T-Birds up 80-78 with 4:15 to go.   Drake Allen forced an NAU timeout at 3:26 with a driving layup to extend the SUU lead to 82-78 heading into the final media timeout.

Northern Arizona unfurled a swift 4-0 run to knot the contest at 82-82 with 2:56 left to play.  The Thunderbirds, however, turned up the heat with a 5-0 burst of their own to lead 87-82 with 2:17 on the clock thanks to a three-point play from Butler. 

With NAU having cut SUU's advantage to 89-88 with 55 seconds on the clock, Butler drew a foul and scored a free throw with 44 seconds left to put the 'Birds up 90-88.  Butler tacked on another point with a 1-2 effort at the charity stripe with 23 seconds to go as Southern Utah held a 91-88 advantage.

Northern Arizona had enough left in the tank to tie the contest at 92-92 with 2.0 seconds on the clock to force overtime. 

Overtime
NAU picked up the initial points in extra time to take a 94-92 lead before Spurgin crushed the rim with a dunk thanks to a Drake Allen assist to tie the contest at 94-94 at 4:21.

A pair of free throws put NAU back up 96-94 at 3:58 before SUU cut the gap to 96-95 with a Drake Allen free throw at 3:31.  The Lumberjacks pushed its lead back up to 99-95 thanks to a three-pointer from the top of the arc at 2:55.  

Drake Allen pulled SUU within two points with a layup at 2:23 with NAU up 99-97 before the Lumberjacks pushed the lead back to 101-97 at 1:56 thanks to a pair of free throws. Jones countered with three made free throws to cut NAU's lead to 101-100 with 1:40 on the clock. 

Thanks to a strong defensive effort, including a block by Butler, SUU retook the lead, 102-101, on an Allen layup with 46 seconds left in overtime. Another Butler block proved key with SUU stretching its lead to 104-101 with a pair of made free throws from Jones with 17 seconds left. 

Southern Utah's defense closed out the victory down the stretch as NAU failed to score the final 1:56 during overtime. Jones drained two more free throws with 5.6 seconds to play as SUU grabbed a 106-101 lead and held on to the win. 

COLORADO (7-5)
Colorado currently holds a 7-5 record this season, including a pair of victories against ranked opponents.  The Buffaloes took down No. 11 Tennessee on Nov. 13 (78-66) then defeated No. 24 Texas A&M on Nov. 18 (103-75). 

Colorado currently owns a three-game winning streak with triumphs against Colorado State (93-65), North Alabama (84-60), and Northern Colorado (88-77). 

KJ Simpson (16.9), Tristan da Silva (14.5), and J'Vonne Hadley (10.2) all average double digits in scoring per game.  Hadley leads the squad in rebounds with 7.3, while Simpson tops Colorado's assists with 3.7 per contest.  

Overall, Colorado scores 75.6 points per game, while holding its opponents to just 68.4 points per game.  

HISTORY

Southern Utah won the only game it has ever played against Colorado.  The Thunderbirds bested the Buffaloes, 82-80, in Boulder on Jan. 16, 1996. 

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