CEDAR CITY, Utah - Southern Utah men's basketball opens a two-game North Carolina trip at High Point at 5 p.m. MT (7 p.m. ET) on Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Qubein Center. Both teams are 3-0, and the Panthers are coached by a familiar face in Flynn Clayman, who spent six seasons on the SUU bench.

The Thunderbirds have won their first three games by an average of 67.7 points and tied the school scoring record in a 143-49 win over Bethesda on Saturday. Thursday is SUU's first road game of the season.

THE MATCHUP

Southern Utah (3-0) at High Point (3-0) Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 | 5 p.m. MT (7 p.m. ET) Qubein Center | High Point, N.C. Watch: ESPN+ | Live stats: suutbirds.com

A RECORD-SETTING SATURDAY

Southern Utah beat Bethesda 143-49 on Saturday at the America First Event Center, tying one school record and breaking two others.

Anthony Breland led seven double-figure scorers with 20 points, his most as a Thunderbird, and made five 3-pointers. Freshman DeZhon Hall scored a career-high 17 without missing a shot. DJ Smith had his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. All 15 Thunderbirds scored.

RECORDS BROKEN

Saturday's win over Bethesda put three new lines in the Southern Utah record book.

• 143 points (ties school record): Matches the 143 points against Westminster on Feb. 17, 1970 (143-106). It is SUU's highest total since at least 2000-01, topping the 134 against West Coast Baptist on Nov. 2.
• 43 assists (new school record): Breaks the record of 36, set against New Mexico Highlands in 1980-81 and matched against South Alabama in 1994-95.
• 94-point margin (new school record): Breaks the record of 86 from a 126-40 win over West Coast Baptist on Nov. 29, 2019. SUU led by as many as 96.

The Thunderbirds also set several highs since at least the 2000-01 season:

• 18 3-pointers: Third-most in school history, behind 23 against West Coast Baptist on Dec. 1, 2025 (124-59) and 20 against NMSU on Jan. 19, 2023 (111-76).
• 73 first-half points: The most in a first half since at least 2000-01, topping 71 against West Coast Baptist on Nov. 2.
• 49-point halftime lead (73-24): The largest since at least 2000-01, topping 37 against West Coast Baptist on Nov. 29, 2019.
• Plus-49 on the glass (66-17): The largest rebounding margin since at least 2000-01, topping plus-39 against Bethesda on Nov. 11, 2025 (118-60).
• 101 bench points: The most since bench scoring began appearing in SUU box scores in 2019-20, topping 85 against West Coast Baptist on Nov. 2.
• 374 points through three games: The most through a season's first three games since at least 2000-01, topping 289 in 2022-23.
• Three straight 95-point games: A first since at least 2000-01, with 134, 97 and 143.

OFF TO A FAST START

Southern Utah is 3-0 for the third time since at least the 2000-01 season, joining the 2018-19 and 2024-25 teams. A win Thursday would make the Thunderbirds 4-0 for the second time in that span. The 2024-25 team won its first four games before losing at Loyola Chicago.

The Thunderbirds are averaging 124.7 points and allowing 57.0. They are shooting 60.9 percent (145 of 238) from the field and 40.0 percent (34 of 85) from 3-point range. SUU has 92 assists and 18 turnovers and has outrebounded its opponents 164-71.

SPREADING IT AROUND

Breland leads SUU with 47 points (15.7 per game) and is 8 of 16 from 3-point range. Jajuan Nicholls is 18 of 21 (85.7 percent) from the field and averages 14.0 points. Hall is third at 12.7 points and has made 13 of 15 free throws.

Mikhail Protsenko, a 7-foot-1 freshman, is 11 of 11 from the field this season. Cale Barclay has 13 assists and no turnovers in 36 minutes.

Smith leads the team with 21 rebounds, and Davis and Barclay share the assist lead with 13 each. Chase Degraffenried leads SUU with six steals.

NATIONAL LEADERS

Southern Utah's fast start has it at or near the top of several NCAA Division I team categories. In the national statistics through games of Nov. 8, the Thunderbirds rank No. 1 among 361 teams in five categories:

• Scoring offense: 124.7 points per game
• Scoring margin: plus-67.7
• Assists: 30.7 per game
• Assist-to-turnover ratio: 5.11
• Bench points: 77.7 per game

SUU is also second nationally in rebound margin (plus-31.0) and in fewest turnovers per game (6.0), third in effective field goal percentage (.681), fourth in field goal percentage (60.9), fifth in defensive rebounds per game (38.0) and sixth in rebounds per game (54.7).

Several Thunderbirds rank nationally as well. Jajuan Nicholls is sixth in Division I in field goal percentage (85.7). Rashaad Davis is sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (13.00), with Jordan Brown 17th (10.00) and Anthony Breland 22nd (9.00). Chase Degraffenried's six steals rank 44th nationally, and DJ Smith's 21 rebounds rank 56th.

BIG SKY STAT RANKINGS

Southern Utah is the only Big Sky team without a loss. The Thunderbirds (3-0) lead the standings ahead of Idaho (2-1), and five teams sit at 1-1. League play opens Dec. 3.

SUU leads the Big Sky in 13 of 15 team statistical categories:

• Scoring offense: 124.7 points per game
• Scoring defense: 57.0 points per game
• Scoring margin: plus-67.7
• Field goal percentage: .609
• Field goal percentage defense: .320
• Free throw percentage: .758
• Rebounding margin: plus-31.0
• Offensive rebounds: 16.7 per game
• Defensive rebounds: 38.0 per game
• Assists: 30.7 per game
• Assist-to-turnover ratio: 5.11
• Turnover margin: plus-9.7
• Steals: 11.3 per game

The Thunderbirds are third in 3-point percentage (.400) and fourth in blocked shots (5.7 per game).

Individually, Jajuan Nicholls leads the league in field goal percentage (.857), and Rashaad Davis (13.00), Jordan Brown (10.00) and Breland (9.00) rank first through third in assist-to-turnover ratio. Breland is sixth in scoring (15.7) and fourth in both field goal percentage (.586) and 3-point percentage (.500). Nicholls is 10th in scoring (14.0).

DJ Smith is fourth in rebounding (7.0) and offensive rebounding (2.7) and tied for fourth in blocks with Jaiden Feroah (1.3). Hall is seventh in free throw percentage (.867), Davis and Cale Barclay are tied for seventh in assists (4.3), and Chase Degraffenried is tied for fifth in steals (2.0).

ON THE ROAD

Thursday begins a stretch of six straight games away from Cedar City, with stops at High Point, Wake Forest, Texas and the FIU Multi-Team Event in Miami.

HEAD COACH ROB JETER

Jeter is in his fourth season at Southern Utah and his first in the Big Sky Conference. He is 35-62 at SUU.

Jeter led Milwaukee from 2005 to 2016 and left as the program's winningest Division I coach (185-170). He took the Panthers to two NCAA Tournaments, including a first-round win over sixth-seeded Oklahoma in 2006.

RECORD AND MILESTONE WATCH

Jaiden Feroah has 56 career blocks at Southern Utah. He needs 12 more to pass Cal Hanks (67) for No. 10 on the school's career list. Feroah had a block against Bethesda and scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

ROSTER NOTES

All 15 Thunderbirds have played in all three games, and all 15 scored against Bethesda. Five have started all three: Dylan Sanders, Jajuan Nicholls, Barclay, Degraffenried and Feroah.

Three Thunderbirds are Utah natives: Feroah (Corner Canyon High School, Draper), Barclay (Herriman High School) and Degraffenried (Salem Hills High School).

THE CLAYMAN CONNECTION

High Point head coach Flynn Clayman spent six seasons on the Southern Utah staff under Todd Simon, from 2017 to 2023. He came to Cedar City in 2017 as a graduate assistant working on a master's degree, then served as a special assistant (2017-19), assistant coach (2019-22) and associate head coach (2022-23).

The Thunderbirds went 114-80 in Clayman's six seasons on staff, including a 23-12 season in 2021-22 that featured a 3-1 run in the Basketball Classic and a 24-13 season in 2022-23.

Clayman led SUU as interim head coach in the 2023 College Basketball Invitational in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Thunderbirds beat North Alabama 72-50 and Rice 81-79 before falling to Eastern Kentucky 108-106 in double overtime.

Clayman also met his wife, Katie, in Cedar City. She spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the SUU women's basketball team.

Clayman joined High Point in 2023 as associate head coach and offensive coordinator. He was promoted to head coach for 2025-26 and led the Panthers to a 31-5 record, a program record, with Big South regular-season and tournament titles. As a No. 12 seed, High Point beat No. 5 Wisconsin 83-82 for its first NCAA Tournament win and reached the Round of 32.

SCOUTING HIGH POINT

High Point is 3-0. The Panthers beat Liberty 72-57 at a neutral site in Rock Hill, S.C., on Nov. 2, then won home games against Maryland Eastern Shore (63-49) on Nov. 4 and Washington State (83-71) on Saturday.

The Panthers are averaging 72.7 points and allowing 59.0. They are shooting 50.0 percent (74 of 148) from the field and holding opponents to 36.4 percent (59 of 162).

Cam'Ron Fletcher, a 6-foot-7 graduate forward and Xavier transfer, leads High Point at 14.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. He had 21 points and 10 rebounds against Maryland Eastern Shore. Fletcher averaged 13.2 points and 7.1 rebounds for the Panthers last season.

CJ Brown, a junior guard from South Florida, averages 12.0 points and scored 17 against Washington State. Jason Rivera-Torres, a Monmouth transfer, came off the bench for 13 against the Cougars.

Conrad Martinez, Braden Hausen and Caden Miller also return from last season's team. Isaac Garrett, a 6-foot-8 senior and Oakland transfer, has started all three games and leads the Panthers with five blocks.

FAMILIAR FACES

Two Panthers have played against Southern Utah. Filip Brankovic started for UTRGV in Cedar City on Nov. 8, 2025, and had 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds in UTRGV's 95-72 win. Conrad Martinez had five points and four assists in 15 minutes for Arizona in a 102-66 win over SUU on Dec. 7, 2024.

Garrett is from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and Liam Campbell, a Saint Mary's transfer, is from Meridian, Idaho.

SERIES HISTORY

Southern Utah and High Point have not met since at least the 2000-01 season. Thursday is SUU's second game since 2000-01 against a current Big South member. The Thunderbirds beat Charleston Southern 80-45 at a neutral site in Johnson City, Tenn., on Nov. 23, 2019.

UP NEXT

Southern Utah stays in North Carolina and plays at Wake Forest at 2 p.m. MT on Saturday, Nov. 14. The Thunderbirds then visit Texas at 6 p.m. MT on Thursday, Nov. 19, before the FIU Multi-Team Event in Miami (Nov. 23-25). Big Sky play opens at home against Idaho State on Thursday, Dec. 3.

TICKETS

Season tickets and single-game tickets will be on sale soon and can be purchased here.

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