MBB Notes: Storm Return Home for Tough PWC Tests

BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade leave islands to tango in Utah

GAME #15
	vs.
Game Info	Thursday, Jan. 27 \| 7:30 p.m. \| Game Notes
Location	Burns Arena \| Tickets
Game Day	Live Stats \| Live Audio \| Live Video
TV/Radio	KXDS 91.3 FM

GAME #16
	vs.
Game Info	Saturday, Jan. 29 \| 7:30 p.m. \|Game Notes
Location	Burns Arena \| Tickets
Game Day	Live Stats \| Live Audio \| Live Video
TV/Radio	KXDS 91.3 FM

UP NEXT - Coming off a three-game sweep of the Bay Area schools last week, the Dixie State College Men's Basketball Team (10-4, 3-1) returns home for two challenging Pacific West Conference games in the span of three days. On Thursday, Jan. 27, DSC matches-up against PWC Co-Champion from 2009-10 - the Seasiders of BYU-Hawaii (9-4, 4-0). Then, on Saturday, Jan. 29, the Chaminade Silverswords (11-5, 4-0) invade the Burns Arena. Both games are scheduled to tipoff at 7:30 p.m. following games played by the #11 DSC Women.

RED STORM WATCH - The Red Storm, the defending PacWest Conference Co-Champions, is currently led by Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie), averaging a team-high with 15.1 points a game. Whitehead and Griffon Jones (Cheney, WA/Cheney), the only other Red Storm player in double-figure scoring average this season, both pull down 5.1 boards. Dixie State is scoring 71.5 points per game and holding opponents to 61.4 points per contest - a full ten point differential. DSC is pulling down an average of 35.4 rebounds in a game and has been stingy on defense, forcing 16.1 turnovers each game with a +2.2 turnover margin.

THURSDAY'S OPPONENT - Perennial Pac West contenders and a defending co-champion (with DSC), the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders come to St. George with a 4-0 record in league play after surviving a double-overtime thriller at home against Hawaii Pacific 87-84 on January 21. BYUH is led by PWC preseason Player of the Year Tsung-Hsien (Jet) Chang at 19.7 points per game (bumped up to 22.3 PPG in conference). Chang did not play in last year's contest in St. George after suffering a broken arm in the 2009-10 non-conference schedule. Senior forward Marques Whippy averages 14.1 points and 11.7 rebounds a game. Okesene (Junior) Ale (11.3) and Jake Dastrup (11.2) round out the Seasider quartet scoring in double figures per game. BYUH averages 76.6 points per night while holding opponents to 70.6 PPG. Ken Wagner is in his 21st year as head coach and recently picked up career coaching win number 400 with a PWC win over Dominican.

RED STORM VS BYU-HAWAII IN THE PACIFIC WEST
2006-07
BYU Hawaii 78, Dixie State 72 (11/29 in St. George)
2007-08
BYU Hawaii 87, Dixie State 79 (1/23 in St. George)
Dixie State 85, BYU Hawaii 70 (1/24 in St. George)
BYU Hawaii 85, Dixie State 68 (2/20 in Laie)
2008-09
BYU Hawaii 100, Dixie State 79 (2/2 in Laie)
BYU Hawaii 92, Dixie State 77 (2/20 in St. George)
2009-10
Dixie State 86, BYU Hawaii 78 (1/7 in St. George)
BYU Hawaii 91, Dixie State 74 (2/18 in Laie)
Overall Record: 2-6

SATURDAY'S OPPONENT - A team that took Michigan State to the brink of an upset at the Maui Invitational before knocking off Oklahoma in the same tournament -- we speak of the Chaminade Silverswords. Winners of four straight, Chaminade has one of the most dynamic players in the West Region - the speedy 5-6 point guard Steven Bennett. He paces the Silverswords at 15.3 points per game and most recently notched the week #10 PWC Player of the Week nod scoring 37 against Hawaii Hilo in overtime. The team also features one of the leagues legitamate seven-footers in center Mamadou Diarra. He has blocked 49 shots in 16 games and scores 12.4 points a contest. Matt Mahar is the sixth-year head coach and is a two-time Pac West Coach of the Year (2006, 2008)

RED STORM VS CHAMINADE IN THE PACIFIC WEST
2007-08
Chaminade 66, Dixie State 46 (1/4 in Honolulu)
Chaminade 98, Dixie State 61 (1/5 in Honolulu)
Dixie State 72, Chaminade 67 (2/28 in St. George)
2008-09
Dixie State 66, Chaminade 64 (1/3 in St. George)
Chaminade 75, Dixie State 65 (2/4 in Honolulu)
2009-10
Dixie State 82, Chaminade 71 (1/19 in St. George)
Dixie State 83, Chaminade 72 (2/16 in Honolulu)
Overall Record: 4-3

REGIONALLY SPEAKING: The first NCAA Regional Rankings released on Wednesday puts Dixie State at #10 in the West. CSU-Dominguez Hills is the top-ranked team and sits at #4 in the nation. PWC competitiors Chaminade is at #5 in the region and BYU-Hawaii is #8. Dixie State defeated two other squads in the rankings -- #4 Alaska Anchorage and #6 Seattle Pacific. The top eight seeds in the final region poll will advance to the NCAA Tournament in March.

		Division II Overall Record	Division II In-Region Record
1.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	14-1	12-1
2.	Central Washington	13-2	13-1
3.	Humboldt State	11-2	11-2
4.	Alaska Anchorage	10-3	9-2
5.	Chaminade	9-3	9-2
6.	Seattle Pacific	11-5	11-5
7.	Cal State San Bernardino	9-5	9-5
8.	Brigham Young-Hawaii	9-2	7-2
9.	San Francisco State	10-4	10-4
10.	Dixie State	8-4	8-3

APPROACHING CAREER MARKS - Tom Whitehead (St. George, UT/Dixie) ranks second with 840 points in 65 career games at Dixie State. To reach the 1,000-point benchmark, he needs to average 13.3 points in the remaining contests. To surpass current assistant coach Ryan Sanchez for the D-II scoring record (1,052), Whitehead will need 17.6 PPG. Jeremiah Barnes (Compton, CA/Los Altos) sits third on the D-II assist list with 154 dimes. To pass Sanchez, he needs 43 assists. Reaching Dan Stock's record of 238 helpers, Barnes will need 7.0 assists over the final 12 Pac West games. Also approaching a milestone is head coach Jon Judkins - he is nine wins away from number 100 in his Dixie State College tenure and 25 wins away from 400 for his career.

WHERE THE HEART GROWS FONDER - Seven of Dixie State's next eight Pac West games will be contested in the comfy confines of Burns Arena. The Red Storm are 1-1 this year at home - beating Pacifica College by 69 points on Dec. 4 and losing the PWC opener to Grand Canyon by three.

STORM ON THE RADIO - Dixie State games can be heard on KXDS (91.3 FM) with John Potter calling the play-by-play.

LIVE STATS - Fans can follow Red Storm home games through the DSC web site at www.DixieAthletics.com via Sidearm Sports, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game. Road game live stats will be available through DixieAthletics.com on the front page calendar.

ON THE INTERNET - All of Dixie State's home games are available to watch live through America One via the internet at www.DixieAthletics.com. DSC fans can also listen to every game both home and away thanks to Network1Sports.com, via DSC's web site. Select games on the road will also be available. Check the front page calendar on DixieAthletics.com for availability.

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