CEDAR CITY, UTAH -- The SUU Men's Basketball team has played its final season in the Western Athletic Conference, and will focus all its efforts on the Big Sky Conference for the 2026-27 season.

The season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, at The Orleans Arena. The T-Birds wrapped up the 2025-26 season with a 10-22 record overall and a 6-12 record in conference play.

Head Coach Rob Jeter said

"We obviously didn't win as many games as we would have liked, but there were still a lot of positives to take from this season. The way the guys battled until the very final whistle just goes to show what this group was all about. I learned a lot from this season, and I am always hopeful that the team learned something from me as well. In this day and age of NIL and the transfer portal it is hard to build seasons on top of each other, but that is what me and my staff will be trying to do as we head into the Big Sky."

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2025-26 Season

The Thunderbirds' non-conference slate was one of the toughest in the entire league. SUU faced five high-major programs and had only four home games, resulting in a 4-9 record heading into league play.

The tough play continued as the T-Birds started conference play, facing the eventual top-4 teams in the league the first four games of the season. After the 0-4 start, the Thunderbirds found a groove.

The T-Birds knocked off the Texans of Tarleton State in what was potentially the game of the year in the conference, a 106-105 overtime thriller in Cedar City. SUU then handily beat Abilene Christian, followed by a win over the conference's top team, Utah Valley. Southern Utah went on a three-game win streak that was punctuated with a 14-point win over the top-ranked Wolverines.

However, the road woes continued for SUU. Losing the next two games in St. George and Arlington and dropping to 0-12 on the year in true road games. But finally, the Thunderbirds broke through in a 79-76 win over ACU in Abilene on Jan 31.

The final win for the Thunderbirds on the year was one of the most important, knocking off in-state rival Utah Tech in Cedar City, 81-67. The Trailblazers have still never won a game in the America First Event Center.

SUU locked up the No. 5 seed in the WAC postseason tournament and faced off against UT Arlington in the quarterfinals, a team they had beaten just a month prior. The Thunderbirds had a rare off-night from behind the arc and fell to the Mavericks 69-63 in what would be Southern Utah's final game in the Western Athletic Conference.

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2025-26 Stats

The Thunderbirds finished the year averaging 76.3 points per game on 46/34/72 percent shooting splits. They averaged just under 36 rebounds per game and an extremely impressive 14 assists per game.

Five different Thunderbirds finished the season averaging more than eight points per game, with true freshman Elijah Duval leading the way at 15.3. Jaiden Feroah was just behind him at 13.5, and Tanner Hayhurst checked in at 10.3. Isaiah Cottrell and Dylan Jones both averaged just under nine points per game.

Hayhurst and Jones combined for 107 made three-pointers on the year, and Hayhurst finished the season shooting 46% from behind the arc, which is good enough for seventh in a single season in SUU's history. 

Feroah and Cottrell both finished in the top 10 in SUU's single-season history for blocks. Feroah finished with 52, good enough for seventh, and Cottrell had 45, which put him in ninth. In the Thunderbirds' second game of the year, Jaiden recorded the second-most blocks in a single game with eight against UTRGV.

Elijah Duval had the most impressive freshman campaign in the entire conference. He earned the WAC Freshman of the Year award and was named to the All-Conference Second-Team. He averaged 16.5 points per game during conference play and scored 20+ points in six different contests, including a career-high 30 points in the regular season finale against eventual WAC tournament champions, CBU.

As a team, the Thunderbirds were the top shooting team from deep for the majority of the season, ultimately finishing at 34% on the year. The T-Birds made at least five three-pointers in 25 of 32 games, and set SUU's all-time record for most three-pointers made in a single game with 23 against West Coast Baptist.

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