Dixie State (11-6, 8-3 PacWest) head to the Bay Area for three games in Pacific West Conference play beginning Thursday, Jan. 29 against Dominican (8-11, 5-6 PacWest) in San Rafael. To close out the month of January, DSU plays its second game of the season against the Academy of Art University on Saturday the 31st in Kezar Pavilion. The trip concludes on Monday, Feb. 2, when Dixie State heads to Tobin Gym in Oakland to face Holy Names. All games on the trip are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. PT, 8:30 p.m. MT.

LISTEN TO THE STORM
DSU's games in Northern California will be broadcast live on the Storm Basketball Network on ESPN SportsRadio 106.1 FM, the flagship home of Dixie State Athletics. The pregame show begins approximately 10 minutes prior to tip. Fans can also listen to the audio online at SouthernUtahLive.com's free audio stream (click here). John Potter will have the call for all three games in league play.  

LEADING AT THE HALF
Until last Saturday, Dixie State had a perfect record this season when they led a ballgame at the half (9-0). Despite having a 36-32 lead against APU, the Storm was unable to hold on for a victory. Under Coach Judkins, Dixie State has won 112 of the 126 games in which they took an advantage into the locker room after 20 minutes. In the same time, DSU is 12 games below .500 when they trail or are tied with opponents after first half play.

THURSDAY MATCHUP IN THE ICEBOX
Dominican enters the week tied for seventh in the PacWest standing with Hawaii Hilo, having compiled an 8-11 overall record and 5-6 mark in league play. The Penguins rank second in the conference and 17th in the nation in rebounding margin (+7.5). Dominican has taken the last three games in the all-time series and the last three played at the Conlan Center. DSU has not won in San Rafael since Jan. 20, 2011 (74-52). 

SATURDAY DUEL WITH THE URBAN KNIGHTS
Academy of Art has struggled to a 1-9 mark over its last 10 games, turning a decent preseason into a 4-13 overall record and 2-9 ledger in the PacWest. The Urban Knights are one of the league's best in thievery – ranking second with 8.2 steals a game. Dixie State has never lost to ART U, but the last two games played in the Bay Area have had identical 82-80 final scores in favor of the Storm.

MONDAY MEETING WITH THE HAWKS
Holy Names has also struggled over the past 10 games, earning their only win in PacWest play at home over Hawaii Pacific. The Hawks are 3-16 overall and 1-10 in conference. HNU has competed close in losses to Sonoma State and Hawaii Hilo, but being outscored by 12.8 points a game and outrebounded by 7.2 boards don't leave room for mistakes. Dixie State is 3-0 all time against Hawks with an average margin of victory of 26.6 points. 

#THEROADTOIRVINE
With a month left in the regular season, PacWest schools will begin scoreboard watching a little closer to see if their seed for the upcoming conference tournament will be affected. Entering this week, Azusa Pacific (10-1) and California Baptist (9-1) have the lead to earn first round byes. BYU-Hawaii sits one game back in the loss column (9-2) in third place. The Red Storm (8-3) are a half game ahead of Hawaii Pacific (8-4) in the battle for fourth and two full games ahead of Point Loma (6-5) for the bubble sixth spot. Hawaii Hilo, Dominican and Chaminade all have six league losses and are currently on the outside looking in. The PacWest will take the Top 6 seeds to Irvine in March for the 3rd annual Conference Tournament, hosted this year by Concordia Irvine.

1,000 POINT CLUB TO GET FIFTH MEMBER, SOON!
Senior DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) currently ranks fifth on Dixie State's all-time scoring list. Thompson, a 6-foot-3 guard from Las Vegas, is two points away from the 1,000-career point mark. He played his 100th career game on Jan. 17 against CBU. Thompson fell short of achieving the goal last Saturday at APU, posting 13 points including hitting all seven free throws attempted against the Cougars. 

RACKING UP THE FREQUENT FLYER MILES
Dixie State to Azusa - and back. Dixie State to San Rafael, San Francisco, Oakland – and back. Including this trip, the Red Storm will have traveled an estimated 1,506.5 miles to play four road games. That does not include regular driving from the hotel to practice or to grab some food. 

HEADING BACK HOME, RIGHT WHERE WE BELONG
When this road trip concludes, the Storm will have five of the final six regular season games played at the Burns Arena in St. George. Four consecutive games begin the string as DSU hosts Notre Dame de Namur (Feb. 7), Chaminade (Feb. 12), Hawaii Hilo (Feb. 14) and Hawaii Pacific (Feb. 16). 

STORM'S LEADING SCORER
Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) ranks sixth in the PacWest in scoring (16.2 PPG) and has pulled down a team-leading 8.2 rebounds per game (third in the PacWest). Robbins has scored in double figures in 15 of Dixie State's 17 games, including five double doubles. He is shooting a career-best 85.3 percent from the free throw line, good for fifth in the league. Most recently, he posted 20 points in the Storm's road loss at Azusa Pacific.

ROBBINS PRESEASON SPORTING NEWS ALL-AMERICAN
Senior forward/center Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) was named to the Sporting News NCAA Division II All-American Second Team. Robbins becomes the first Storm player to earn such a prestigious honor. He was a PacWest First Team selection in 2013-14 and earned two West Region nods (Daktronics/NABC). 

PACWEST PRESEASON NEWS
The Dixie State men's basketball team has been chosen second in the Pacific West Conference preseason coaches poll, as announced by the league office on Tuesday. Senior forward/center Zach Robbins (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) secured a spot on the Preseason All-PacWest Team for the second consecutive year. Defending league champion California Baptist was selected first, securing nine of 13 possible first-place votes. The Red Storm and Dominican, picked to finish sixth, each garnered one first-place vote. Third-place Chaminade received two first-place votes BYU-Hawaii was tabbed fourth, and Azusa Pacific fifth in the vote. Rounding out the league's remaining seven, in order, were Point Loma, Hawaii Pacific, Fresno Pacific, Academy of Art, Notre Dame de Namur, Hawaii Hilo and Holy Names. Robbins was a PacWest 1st Team All-Conference selection last year and garnered West Region recognition by the coaches and sports information directors. He was named the Preseason Player of the Year in 2013-14 and backed it up with a stellar season averaging 15.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while posting 17 double doubles.

THE JUDKINS FILE
Jon Judkins, a five-time PacWest Coach of the Year (2009-13), directed Dixie State into the playoffs in each the last five previous seasons. He has a 176-90 record at DSU, including a 21-7 mark last year. DSU tied for second in the PacWest regular season and qualified for the league tournament. The Red Storm posted a 22-7 record in 2013, equaling the school record for victories in the NCAA era. The squad won the 2013 PacWest regular season with a 15-3 conference record and Tournament titles to earn a West Regional Automatic bid. Judkins led DSU to the 2011 West Regional Final against league rival BYU-Hawaii in 2011. That season, the Red Storm won their only two Regional games to date with triumphs over Chaminade and Seattle Pacific. Judkins led DSU in its final year of junior college competition in 2006 to a 21-12 record. Prior to coaching at Dixie State, he spent 12 years, posting a 284-128 record, at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. The Badgers won the SWAC titles in 1999 and 2000, earning Judkins league Coach of the Year honors. Judkins played for one year at Dixie State before serving an LDS mission. He transferred to Utah State and became the first Aggie to post a triple-double. During the 1987-88 season, he helped the Aggies win their conference tournament and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.