CEDAR CITY, Utah. The Southern Utah men's basketball team, currently 3-1 in its inaugural Western Athletic Conference campaign, returns home for a pair of conference matchups this week at the America First Event Center. SUU opens a three-game stint in Cedar City with Sam Houston on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. MT before hosting Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. MT.
GAME INFO
Southern Utah vs. Sam Houston
Date: Thursday, Jan. 12
Tipoff: 7 p.m. MT
Southern Utah vs. Stephen F. Austin
Date: Saturday, Jan. 14
Tipoff: 1 p.m. MT
WAC Standings
The Western Athletic Conference looks at overall standings a bit differently than other conferences as non-conference strength of schedule is factored into where the league will seed its teams heading into the conference championship at the end of the regular season. So, even though SUU is tied for second in the conference with a 3-1 record, Utah Valley and Sam Houston are the top two teams in seeding. The 'Birds are seeded fifth if the season ended today.
This week, Southern Utah has a huge opportunity to close the game with Sam Houston and put some distance between them and Stephen F. Austin.
2022-23 WAC MBB Resume Seeding System (as of Jan. 8)
Rank Team W L CW CL WACPts
1. Utah Valley 13 4 4 0 3.13
2. Sam Houston 12 4 2 2 2.98
3. Seattle 12 4 3 0 2.15
4. Grand Canyon 11 5 2 1 2.11
5. Southern Utah 11 6 3 1 0.84
6. Stephen F. Austin 12 5 4 0 0.71
7. Utah Tech 9 7 1 2 -0.37
8. Tarleton 8 8 2 2 -0.53
9. California Baptist 10 7 2 2 -0.54
10. NM State 7 9 0 4 -1.65
11. Abilene Christian 9 7 1 2 -1.81
12. UTRGV 8 8 0 4 -2.02
13. UT Arlington 5 12 0 4 -4.17
PREVIEW
SOUTHERN UTAH (11-6, 3-1 WAC)
National Rankings!
Southern Utah ranks amongst the elite in the country in several statistical categories, including tops in the country in points per game.
Points Per Game - Team
1, Southern Utah, 87.2
2, Missouri, 87.1
3, UAB, 86.6
4, James Madison, 86.5
5, Toledo, 86.0
Rebounds Per Game - Team
1, Alabama, 46.13
T13, Southern Utah, 40.76
Defensive Rebounds Per Game - Team
1, Alabama, 32.60
7, Southern Utah, 29.29
Fast Break Points - Team
1, TCU, 21.67
15, Southern Utah, 16.12
Scoring Margin - Team
1, Houston, 24
20, Southern Utah, 13
T-Bird Tidbits
- Southern Utah, the highest scoring offense in the country, outscores its opponents by 13.7 points per contest. SUU averages 87.2 points per game while holding its opponents to 73.5 points a game.
- SUU shoots 47.8 percent from the field, 32.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 72.2 percent from the charity stripe.
- Additionally, Southern Utah averages 40.8 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 8.7 steals, and 3.5 blocks per contest.
Individual Leaders
Five Thunderbirds average double-figure scoring so far this season. Senior guard Tevian Jones leads the way with 19.9 points a contest, while senior guard Harrison Butler stands second on the squad with 12.5 points a game.
Sophomore guard Drake Allen (10.3), sophomore center Jason Spurgin (10.2), and senior forward Maizen Fausett (10.0) also score more than 10 points a game.
Butler (6.8) and Fausett (6.2) lead the 'Birds in rebounds, while Allen averages 3.0 assists per game.
Career-Scoring Charts
Senior guard Tevian Jones unleashed a 28-point performance against Abilene Christian to push his overall career scoring tally to 1,130 at SUU. He moved into the 1,200-point club overall including his time at Illinois. Overall, Jones has now scored 1,228 points as a collegiate player.
Senior forward Maizen Fausett closed to within nine points (1,291) of the 1,300-point club with 11 points tonight, while sophomore guard Drake Allen turned in a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, senior guard Harrison Butler inched his way up the career-scoring charts with six points as he moved to within two points of Jackson Stevenett's 1,273 points from 2010-13.
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)
1,291; Maizen Fausett (ACTIVE)
1,273; Jackson Stevenett (2010-2013)
1,271; Harrison Butler (ACTIVE)
1,223; John Knight III (2019-2022)
1,205; Davis Baker (2007-2010)
1,130; Tevian Jones (ACTIVE)
Non-Conference Success!
Southern Utah had an amazing non-conference slate, ranking in the top 10 in the nation in multiple categories as well as posting a school-record sixth-straight winning non-conference schedule.
For more on that, let's hear from head coach Todd Simon!
LAST TIME OUT
ABILENE, Texas. Senior guard Tevian Jones jumpstarted the Southern Utah men's basketball team to a gripping, 74-72, road victory against Abilene Christian with a transcendent second-half performance. With the Thunderbirds trailing by five at the half, Jones sparked SUU with 22 points in the second stanza to help improve Southern Utah's record to 11-6 and 3-1 in Western Athletic Conference play. ACU, meanwhile, fell to 9-7 and 1-2 in the conference.
T-Bird Tidbits
- Southern Utah held ACU to just 40 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent from beyond the arc.
- SUU shot 56 percent from the field with 36 percent from three-point range.
- The T-Birds dominated the glass, 41-24.
- The exciting contest featured 10 ties and six lead changes.
First Half
The Thunderbirds jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with 18:26 on the clock as Harrison Butler and Tevian Jones connected with layups. Following an ACU triple, Jason Spurgin flushed a dunk to put the 'Birds up 6-3 at the 17:13 mark.
Abilene Christian, however, turned in a four-point run of its own to take its first lead of the game, 7-6, with 15:03 heading into the initial media timeout. ACU followed with another three-pointer to take a 10-6 lead with 14:10 to go as part of a 7-0 burst.
Maizen Fausett ended the run with a layup to cut the gap to 10-8 with 13:43 to go. Jones then drilled a jumper to knot the contest up at 10-10 with 13:08 on the clock.
ACU countered by canning another three-pointer to grab a 13-10 advantage before Drake Allen slithered his way to a layup to cut the gap to 13-12 with 12:17 to go. ACU, however, turned up the heat with a dunk to gain a 15-12 lead with 11:41 on the clock to head into another media timeout.
Parsa Fallah turned in textbook footwork down low with a layup at 10:02 to move the 'Birds to within 15-14. A pair of free throws put ACU back up by three, 17-14, at the 8:14 mark then converted a jumper to put ACU up 19-14 with 6:35 to go. ACU continued a 6-0 run at 6:07 with another layup to push its lead to 21-14.
Cameron Healy broke a scoring drought for the Thunderbirds with a layup of his own to chip away at ACU's advantage, 21-16, with 5:47 on the clock. ACU followed with another layup as well to improve its lead to 23-16 before Martel Williams sank a pair of free throws with 5:21 on the clock as SUU moved the score back to 23-18.
ACU free throws stretched its lead back to 25-18 with 4:22 to go. Abilene Christian then drained a three coming out of the media timeout to grab a 10-point lead, 28-18, with 3:33 to go.
Butler backed down a defender in the paint to chop the ACU lead to 28-20 with 2:37 to go before Allen sank a pair of shots from the charity stripe to move the ACU lead to 28-22 with 2:19 on the clock. Jones continued a much-needed 6-0 run with a thunderous dunk at 1:46 to move to within four points, 28-24. Williams pushed the SUU run to 7-0 with a free throw at the 34-second mark with ACU up by just three, 28-25.
A pair of free throws put ACU up 30-25 going into halftime.
Second Half
Tevian Jones started the second half right for the T-Birds, drilling a contested three-pointer, to move SUU to within 30-28 with 19:31 on the clock. ACU responded with a jumper followed by a three-pointer of its own to grab a 35-28 lead at the 17:42 mark.
Jason Spurgin flushed a pair of free throws with 16:24 on the clock to push SUU back to a 35-30 deficit. Jones pushed the SUU run to 5-0 with a trifecta to cut the ACU lead to 35-33 with 15:34 to go.
ACU responded with a jumper to extend its lead to 37-33 before Martel Williams retaliated with a layup to cut the deficit back to two points, 37-35, with 14:33 to go. SUU finally erased ACU's lead with a jumper from Jones to tie the contest at 37-37 at 14:11. Williams converted a layup as well to put SUU up 39-37 with 13:45 to go as part of a 6-0 run from the 'Birds.
Following another media timeout, ACU tied the contest at 39-39 with 13:32 to go. Maizen Fausett put back a second-chance layup with 12:10 on the clock to move up 41-39 before ACU responded with a layup of its own for another tie, 41-41, with 12:02 to go.
Harrison Butler went 1-2 from the line to put the 'Birds up, 42-41, with 11:56 to go. Jones continued his second-half surge with a pair of shots from the charity stripe to put the T-Birds up, 44-41, with 11:30 on the clock.
ACU made up the difference at the line with a trio of free throws to tie the game up at 44-44 with 11:05 to play.
Drake Allen pushed SUU's lead back up to two, 46-44, with a layup at 10:53. An ACU layup knotted the contest again, 46-46, with 10:07 on the clock. Jones, however, had other plans with yet another trifecta to put SUU up 49-46 at 9:49. Allen flushed another layup to put SUU up 51-46 with 9:30 to go.
ACU converted an old-fashioned three-point play at 8:48 to chop the SUU lead to 51-49. Jones followed with a technical foul free throw thanks to an ACU flop, putting the 'Birds up, 52-49, with 8:33 to go.
Williams extended SUU's lead to 54-49 with 8:23 to go thanks to a layup before ACU responded with another old-fashioned three-point play to move to within 54-52 at 8:06 on the clock heading into another media timeout.
ACU tied the game up at 54-54 with 7:11 coming out of the timeout before retaking the lead for the first time since the 14:33 mark to lead 56-54 as part of a 7-0 ACU burst.
Spurgin ended the ACU run with some aggression in the paint, drawing a foul and converting a free throw to push the 'Birds back to within one, 56-55, with 6:05 to go. ACU stretched its lead to 58-55 at the 5:27 mark before Allen drained a pair of free throws at 5:12 to close to within 58-57.
Butler went 1-2 from the line with 4:51 to knot the game up at 58-58 before Abilene Christian moved back up, 60-58, with 4:23 on the clock.
Jones induced a foul on a three-pointer and followed by converting on all three free throws to put SUU up, 61-60, at the 4:08 mark. ACU went back up by a point, 62-61, thanks to a pair of free throws coming out of the media timeout with 3:40 to go.
Fausett closed out an old-fashioned three-point play of his own as the 'Birds went up 64-62 with 2:53 to go. Spurgin then went 1-2 at the line to claim a 65-62 lead with 2:17 on the clock.
ACU countered with a jumper of its own at the 2:02 mark to cut the gap to 65-64. Fausett put the 'Birds back up by three, 67-64, with a second-chance tap at 1:30 on the clock.
Following a 1-2 effort at the line from ACU to move to within 67-65 at 1:25, Jones canned a clutch fadeaway trey with 56 seconds on the clock to put Southern Utah up, 70-65. ACU responded with a layup to get back within 70-67 with 43 seconds to go.
After an ACU timeout, Jones drilled a jumper to put the T-Birds up by five, 72-57, with 16 seconds on the clock. ACU, however, drew an And 1 to cut SUU's lead to 72-70 with 10 seconds to go.
Fausett went 1-2 at the line for SUU to go up, 73-70. ACU sank a pair of free throws with six seconds to go as SUU led by just 73-72. With just five seconds on the clock, Fausett went 1-2 at the line to put the 'Birds up, 74-72. The Thunderbirds then forced an ACU turnover to capture the victory.
OPPONENTS
SAM HOUSTON BEARKATS (12-4, 2-2 WAC)
Sam Houston is 12-4 this season with a 2-2 record in the Western Athletics Conference. The Bearkats have won five of their previous seven contests.
Sam Houston scores 78.0 points per game while holding their opponents to a paltry 57.1 points a contest for a 20.9 margin of victory.
Qua Grant (13.6) and Donte Powers (11.3) lead a balanced scoring attack, while Javion May (5.1) and Grant (4.2) top the team in rebounds.
Grant (3.9) and Jaden Ray (3.3) are the top assist players on the team.
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN LUMBERJACKS (12-5, 4-0 WAC)
Stephen F. Austin is one of the last remaining unbeaten teams in the WAC with a 4-0 record in conference and a 12-5 mark overall. The Lumberjacks enter this week on a six-game winning streak. SFA faces Utah Tech in St. George on Thursday before heading to Cedar City on Saturday.
The Lumberjacks score 77.0 points per game while holding their opponents to 66.1 points per contest for a 10.9 average margin of victory.
A trio of Lumberjacks averages double figures with Sadaidriene Hall (13.)5, Latrell Jossell (12.1), and Nigel Hawkins (10.8) leading the way.
Hall is tops in rebounds with 6.4 caroms a contest, while AJ Cajuste paces the team with 4.4 assists.
HISTORY
Southern Utah has never faced Sam Houston. The 'Birds do, however, own a 2-0 advantage against Stephen F. Austin as part of a home-at-home series in 1991. SUU won the initial contest on Jan. 2, 85-60, then downed SFA in Nacogdoches on Nov. 22, 79-62.
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