The Southern Utah University men’s basketball team will host two Western Athletic Conference foes in the America First Event Center. Southern Utah will start the week playing the University of Texas At Arlington on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and will wear their throwback jerseys for retro night. The following game will be on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Both games are available on ESPN+.
Arlington
UTA enters the game with an 8-11 overall record but has not been able to get a road victory in nine attempts. The Mavericks boast a 33.5% three-point percentage and make 8.7 shots from beyond the arc per game, which ranks them third and first in the conference, respectively. Arlington also holds their opponents to the fourth-worst field goal percentage, only allowing teams to shoot 42.4%.
Heading the Mavericks’ offense is Phillip Russell. He averages 14.8 points and 3.9 assists per game in eight matchups, both team highs for Arlington. Shemar Wilson has been an eraser with his 2.2 blocks per game, which ranks him as the best shot blocker in the WAC. He is also fourth in the conference for rebounds per game with 8.1.
Rio Grande Valley
The Vaqueros have had a rough season and are sitting at a 6-14 overall record. UTRGV’s struggles have been turning the ball over and stopping their opponent’s offense. They currently rank last in the WAC for scoring defense, allowing other teams to score nearly 80 points per game against them.
Elija Elliot is the team’s leading scorer with 15.3 points per game. He is also a pesky defender and averages 1.9 steals. Second in points per game for the Vaqueros is Hasan Abdul-Hakim, who averages 13.9. Abdul-Hakim is their best three-point shooter, making nearly 40% of his attempts from beyond the arc.
UTRGV will travel to Utah Tech University on Thursday before their game against SUU.
Southern Utah
The Thunderbirds have been heating up lately, and with back-to-back wins, they are currently holding an 8-12 record. SUU is 5-3 at home and will look to add a couple more wins this week. Southern Utah has the third-ranked scoring offense in the conference with 77 points per game but has the second-worst scoring defense, allowing their opponents to outscore them by half of a point per game.
Dominique Ford has continued his offensive terror. In the last two games, Ford has averaged 23 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals, earning him WAC Player of the Week honors. His 17.1 points per game ranks him fourth in that conference category. Ford had to raise his level of play in the absence of Parsa Fallah, who is second on the team in scoring with 14.2 points per game. If he cannot return, SUU will need help from Chazz Hutchinson and Brock Felder to add size to the Thunderbirds’ rotation.
Author: Chevy Blackburn
Photographer: Anden Garfield
Editor: Anden Garfield
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