The Southern Utah men’s basketball team returned home after a five-game road stretch and obliterated West Coast Baptist College by a school record-setting 126-40 on Fri. Nov. 29.
Two days later they traveled to Los Angeles and struggled to find the bottom of the net against Loyola Marymount University, losing 61-51.
On Friday, Australian freshman Jarryd Hoppo was the star of the night as he came off the bench and hit seven 3-pointers on his way to a game high of 25 points.
Cameron Oluyitan couldn’t help but hit shots from all over the floor as he went 9 for 10 from the field and scored 22 points. Harrison Butler stuffed the stat sheet as he scored 22 points and hauled in 11 rebounds.
The 86-point lead is the largest margin of victory in school history, eclipsing the previous record of 68 by 18 points. Many of the teams 126 total points came from a school record 17 three pointers.
Sunday night was a different story for the T-Bird’s, as the team only shot 34% from the field and could muster only a fraction of the points they did on Friday falling 61-51 to the Lions of Loyola Marymount.
Turnovers were the story of the game as SUU surrendered the ball over 18 times, many of which led to fast break baskets for the Lions. A slow start and stretch of seven minutes in the second half without a field goal proved to be too much for the Thunderbirds to overcome.
The T-Birds are nearing the end of a challenging pre-season schedule in which they have played UCLA, taken BYU down to the wire and upset Nebraska early last month.
Next up for SUU is Utah Valley University this Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. in the America First Events Center. The T-Bird’s are 4-4 on the season and looking to gain momentum as they only have three more games before they begin Big Sky Conference play against Portland State on Dec. 30.
Story by: Connor Aste
Photo courtesy: SUU Athletics
