The Southern Utah University’s men’s basketball team will go up against two Western Athletic Conference opponents this week to close out the season. The Thunderbirds will start by playing the Stephen F. Austin State University Lumberjacks on Thursday, March 7, at 5:30 p.m. Their following matchup will be on Saturday, March 9, at 5:30 p.m. against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros. Both games will be available on ESPN+.
SUU
Losing last week against Tarleton State University extended the Thunderbirds’ losing streak to seven games. SUU has an overall record of 9-20 and is 10th in the WAC at 4-14. Despite their record, Southern Utah sits at second in points per game, third in free throw percentage and sixth in field goal percentage in the conference.
Southern Utah’s main issue comes from the defensive side of the ball. They place in the bottom four in every major defensive stat in the WAC, effectively canceling out any good offense they produce.
Leading the Thunderbirds’ scoring effort is guard Dominique Ford, who averages 16.4 points, four rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. Another great contributor is forward Parsa Fallah, who puts up 13.2 points and six rebounds per game.
SFA
SFA has an overall record of 15-14 and is 8-10 in WAC play, placing them in eighth place. The Lumberjacks stand out in a handful of offensive conference stats, placing third in field goal percentage and fourth in scoring. SFA also being a decent free-throw and three-point shooting team puts them at seventh in those respective categories.
Similarly to their offense, the Lumberjacks’ defense has highs and lows. They sit at the top of the conference in allowed rebounds, second in steals and third in allowed field goal percentage. The two struggles for SFA’s defense are guarding the three-point shot, where they sit dead last, and blocking shots, where they place ninth.
Two key players for the Lumberjacks are guard Latrell Jossell and forward Sadaidriene Hall. Johnson averages 12.2 points and 1.5 steals per game and shoots 87.4% from the free-throw line. Hall averages 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds.
UTRGV
UTRGV sits with an overall record of 6-23 and is 11th in the WAC at 2-16. The Vaqueros have had issues in every major conference stat this season. On offense, they place eighth in scoring and free throw percentage and 10th in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, rebounds and made three-pointers. These stats, combined with shooting only 41.7% from the field, prevent high-volume offense.
The defensive side of the ball also holds many issues for UTRGV. Their one highlight is steals per game, in which they place third in the conference. Apart from that, they place last in allowed points and rebounds, 10th in opponent field goal percentage and ninth in allowed three-pointers.
There are many contributors for the Vaqueros’ offense, with five players scoring 10 or more points per game. The standouts are guards Elijah Elliot and Hasan Abdul-Hakim. Elliot leads the team in scoring and steals with 16 points and 1.6 steals per game, while Abdul-Hakim puts up 13.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Author: Jacob McQueary
Photographer: Anden Garfield
Editor: Anden Garfield
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