Dixie State Faces Seasiders in Pac West Opener
UP NEXT: Dixie State College of Utah begins Pacific West Conference play against the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders in the Burns Arena on Thursday, January 7 at 7:30 pm.
THE RECORDS: DSC enters the game with a 6-3 record after defeating Western State (CO) College 78-63 on January 2. The Red Storm are 4-0 inside the Burns Arena this season. BYU-Hawaii is also 6-3 after dropping their non-conference finale at home to Division-III Chapman (CA) University in overtime 76-70. The Seasiders were the top-ranked team in the preseason, but dropped out of the NABC Division II Coaches Poll this week.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Red Storm and Seasiders have played six previous times since Dixie State jumped to Division-II. BYU-Hawaii leads the all-time series 5-1 including a sweep of both games played last season. DSC's lone victory against BYUH was on 1/24/08 inside the Burns Arena 85-70.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: RADIO - Dixie State College basketball games, both home and away, can be heard live on the Red Storm Basketball Radio Network - Classical 91.3 FM and Network1Sports.com online with the voice of the Red Storm, John Potter.
VIDEO – Home games can be seen live online at B2LiveTV.com and on tape delay on DTV. All access video passes for Dixie State can be purchased on the B2 Networks site.
RED STORM WATCH: Dixie State looks to improve on last season's second place finish in the Pacific West Conference. The Storm open conference play with the defending league champion Seasiders. DSC is 1-1 in Pac West Openers – beating Chaminade last year and losing to Hawaii-Hilo in overtime two seasons ago. Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) leads the team in scoring average at a 15.0 point per game clip. Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) (12.3) and Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) (11.7) also average double figures through five games. Freshman Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) paces the club pulling down 6.7 rebounds a game Palmer (5.6) with and Whitehead (4.6) following. Dixie State averages 71.0 points a game shooting 46.1% FG while allowing 67.0 points to opponents.
STORM FAST BREAK TIDBITS:
--- Four players recorded season-high point totals against Western State: Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) (25), Kevin Lindquist (Gilbert. AZ/Lone Peak) (6), McKay Massey (Payson, UT/Payson) (4) and John Berger (Medford, OR/North Medford) (2)
--- Donovan Plunkett (Oroville, CA/Las Plumas) ranks 3rd with 12.3 PPG in career scoring average (minimum 5 games). Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) ranks 5th (10.0 PPG), Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) is 7th (9.5) and Jeremiah Barnes (Compton, CA/Los Altos) is 9th (7.8).
--- Career Scoring Ranks: #6 Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) (350; 46 points behind #5 Dan Stock), #7 Andy Palmer (St. George. UT/Pine View) (342; eight points behind Whitehead), #10 Kevin Lindquist (Gilbert. AZ/Lone Peak) (249; 13 points behind #9 Johnny Little (Murray. UT/Murray HS))
--- Starting Time Change – The January 30th game on the road at Grand Canyon will tipoff at 7pm instead of 7:30pm. The change was announced by both colleges on Wednesday.
SCOUTING BYU-HAWAII: The preseason #1 team in the country has already lost more games this year than in the entire 2008-09 season. BYUH dropped from #18 to out of the latest NABC Division-II Coaches Poll after an overtime loss to Chapman University on Jan. 2. The Seasiders do return last year's D-II Player of the Year Lucas Alves. The talented senior forward from Brazil missed eight games due to a knee injury before starting in the Chapman game. Leading scorer Jet Chang may miss the game do to an injury he sustained on December 11 against Hawaii Pacific. BYUH averages over 84 points per game shooting 51-percent from the floor. Ken Wagner is in his 20th season at the helm of the Seasider program. He posts a 376-176 (.681) career coaching record.
