OPENING TIP: Dixie State (5-4/2-1 PacWest) will close the 2016 portion of the regular season this week with a pair of Pacific West Conference games inside the Burns Arena. DSU will host Notre Dame de Namur (2-6/1-2 PacWest) this Saturday, Dec. 17, followed by a showdown with Point Loma (4-5/1-2 PacWest; pending the outcome of a home game Saturday vs. Holy Names) on Monday, Dec. 19. Both games will tip at 7:30 p.m.
WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State came away with a split of a pair of PacWest games played in the Inland Empire last weekend. The Trailblazers opened the trip with an impressive 75-71 road victory at preseason PacWest favorite and then No. 3-ranked California Baptist in Riverside on Dec. 8.
DSU then closed the weekend with a tough 104-103 overtime loss at Azusa Pacific last Saturday in Azusa, which snapped the Trailblazers' five-game winning streak. Dixie State saw a nine-point lead evaporate over the final two minutes of regulation, while the Cougars did just enough in the extra five minutes to come away with the victory.
DIXIE STATE ON THE AIR: All Dixie State home and away games will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 97.7 FM, with DSU Assistant Media Relations Coordinator
Keric Seegmiller calling the play-by-play action, along with
Devin Dixon providing color analysis for all home games. All DSU home games are also televised live on KCEC-TV (TDS Cable Channel 22) with a simulcast feed from ESPN Radio, with tape-delay rebroadcasts throughout the following week. In addition live-streaming audio and video (home games only) are available on the internet at
www.southernutahlive.com.
THE SERIES: Dixie State owns a 16-3 series lead over Notre Dame de Namur and has won 15-straight vs. the Argonauts after losing three of the first four meetings. The Trailblazers are 8-1 all-time against NDNU in the Burns Arena, including a 70-48 win last season (1/14/16), and has not lost to Argos at home since the first-ever meeting between the two schools back on Feb. 3, 2007 (L, 63-64).
DSU is 6-2 all-time against Point Loma and has won four of the last five meetings in the series overall. The Trailblazers are 3-1 vs. the Sea Lions inside the Burns Arena, with the lone home loss in the series coming last season in overtime, 76-72 (1/18/16).
REGIONAL RANKINGS: Dixie State's split last weekend kept Trailblazers in the No. 8 spot in this week's D2SIDA West Region top-10 poll. California Baptist remained on top of the region rankings, while fellow PacWest member Hawai'i Pacific stayed in the sixth-slot in the poll. On an interesting note, six of the nine opponents Dixie State has faced to this point of the season are currently ranked, or have received votes, in this week's region poll.
COACHING STAFF: Five-time PacWest Conference Coach of the Year
Jon Judkins (Utah State, 1988; 491-233 career record) is in his 12th season on the Dixie State bench, where he has compiled a 207-105 overall record, including a 187-93 mark during DSU's NCAA Division II era, and a 124-37 record in PacWest play.
Last season, Judkins led Dixie State to an 18-9 overall record and a 15-5 PacWest mark, which was good for a t-first place finish in the league standings. In 2014-15, Judkins led DSU to a 20-8 record, including the program's fifth Pacific West title in six years with a 17-3 league mark, and DSU's sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to his arrival at Dixie State, Judkins served as head coach at Snow College for 12 full seasons and posted a 284-128 overall record. He led the Badgers to a pair of Scenic West Athletic Conference titles in 1999 and 2000, which earned him SWAC Coach of the Year honors. Judkins played for one season at Dixie State before transferring to Utah State, where he became the first (and only) Aggie to post a triple-double. During the 1987-88 season, he helped lead the Aggies to the PCAA title and an NCAA Tournament bid.
Judkins is joined on the bench by former DSU player
Kasey Winters (Dixie State, 2008), who begins his fourth season as assistant coach, and
Kevin Williamson (University of Great Falls, 2007) who starts his second season on the Trailblazer sideline.
TRAILBLAZERS PICKED THIRD IN THE PACWEST: Dixie State was picked to finish third in the 2016-17 Pacific West Conference preseason coaches' poll released on October 26. Defending PacWest tournament champion California Baptist received six first place votes and 179 total points in being tabbed as the PacWest preseason favorite, while defending regular-season champ Azusa Pacific collected five first-place nods to place second with 171 points.
DSU did not received a first-place vote in taking third with 161 points, followed by Concordia-Irvine (156, one first place vote) in fourth, Point Loma (140, one first place vote) in fifth, Chaminade (129) in sixth and Hawai'i Pacific (118) in seventh to round out the top-half of the poll.
Dixie State junior guard
Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) was named to the PacWest Preseason all-Conference team, while CBU senior guard Michael Smith was named the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year.
IT'S NOT HOW YOU START...PACWEST EDITION: For the first time in four seasons, Dixie State started PacWest play AT HOME when the Trailblazers claimed their overtime win vs. Concordia-Irvine Dec. 3. The win moved Dixie State to 7-3 all-time in PacWest openers, having won four of its last five and seven of its last nine overall.
DSU improved to 8-2 all-time in conference home openers, which includes a rare home league loss in last season's league opener vs. Azusa Pacific (65-72; 12/19/15), which snapped DSU's modest three-game league home-opening winning streak. Prior to the APU loss, the last time the Trailblazers dropped a conference home opener was during the 2010-11 season, when former PacWest member Grand Canyon handed DSU a 71-68 setback (1/8/11).
In PacWest road openers the Trailblazers improved to 7-3 overall, including a 3-2 mark in their last five league road debuts, after their impressive 75-71 win at California Baptist Dec. 8.
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS: Dixie State closed the non-conference portion of its 2016-17 slate at 3-3 and improved to 57-52 (.523) overall against non-PacWest opponents. Since joining the PacWest in the 2007-08 season, DSU is 46-38 (.547) against non-conference foes, while during DSU's first season of four-year competition in 2006-07, Dixie State recorded an 11-14 record as an independent.
DSU has posted five winning records in non-conference games over the past eight seasons, including a program-best 6-1 mark in 2013-14, and an 8-3 record in 2010-11.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, Dixie State has played to a 95-21 (.819) record inside the Burns Arena under Head Coach
Jon Judkins, which includes a 3-0 record this year. DSU has posted six 10-plus win seasons over that span, including a perfect 12-0 record in 2009-10, and an 11-1 mark last season. In PacWest play, the Trailblazers are a dominant 70-10 (.875) at home through its now nine-plus seasons of conference play.
Last season Dixie State clinched its ninth-straight home winning record after DSU won its final six home games to finish with a 9-3 mark.
HOME SWEET HOME, PART 2: For the sixth-straight year, Dixie State finished a season ranked in the top-six nationally in home attendance. In 2015-16, DSU recorded the sixth-highest home attendance average in Division II at 2,190 fans per game for 12 home dates last season, which was also tops in the PacWest Conference. In all, a total of 26,284 fans attended a DSU game inside the Burns Arena.
Since the 2008-09 season, Dixie State has been annually ranked in the top-15 in Division II in attendance, including being ranked #2-overall in 2012-13 and 2013-14, and #3 in the country in 2010-11 and 2011-12 campaigns. DSU was also ranked fifth in 2014-15, ninth in 2009-10, and 14th in 2008-09.
Dixie State also finished sixth among Utah's other NCAA (Division I) members in average attendance in 2015-16, behind Brigham Young (14,699), Utah (12,997), Utah State (8,874), Weber State (6,785) and Utah Valley (2,383).
HOW ABOUT WHEN THE BAGS ARE PACKED?: Dixie State is 93-73 (.560) away from home in its Division II era under Head Coach
Jon Judkins, including a 2-4 record this season (2-2 road/0-2 neutral) and a 9-6 mark in 2015-16. Overall, the Trailblazers have played to a 73-55 record (.570) in true road games, and a 20-18 mark (.526) in neutral site games over Judkins' tenure.
DSU has won eight or more games away from home in seven- straight seasons, and in eight of its 10 D-II campaigns overall, including a program-best 15-5 record (10-2 in road contests) in 2010-11.
Dixie State also owns a 54-27 (.667) road record in its nine-plus seasons of PacWest league membership. The Trailblazers have posted a winning conference road mark in seven-straight seasons and have reached the seven-win plateau in five of their last six league campaigns overall.
FREE BASKETBALL: We are just nine games into the 2016-17 season and Dixie State has already had four of those contests go into overtime, including DSU's OT loss at APU last Saturday, and the Trailblazers' overtime home win over Concordia-Irvine Dec. 3.
DSU also split a pair of overtime games at the Seattle Pacific tournament (11/18-19), which marked just the second time in the program's NCAA Division II era that the Trailblazers needed overtime in consecutive games to decide the outcome, though it was the first time in 10-plus seasons that DSU played two overtime games on back-to-back nights.
In the 2010-11 season, DSU played consecutive overtime games, both of which were double-overtime affairs, at BYU-Hawaii (W, 99-96 - 2/26/11) and at Hawai'i Pacific (L, 88-93 - 2/28/11), however there was a day off between those contests.
Dixie State's four overtime games this year matches a program-high set in the 2013-14 season and tied for the first time last year.
In all, Dixie State has played in just 24 overtime games (14-10 overall) in 282 total contests in the program's NCAA Division II era. Three of those 24 games have gone to double-overtime, including the two Hawaiian results in 2010-11, and an 81-80 2OT victory at Concordia-Irvine last season (1/9/16).
FROM WAY DOWN TOWN....BANG!: Dixie State has hit at least one 3-pointer in 62-straight games and in 185 of its last 186 games overall, including a season-high eight treys vs. Sonoma State (11/25). In fact in DSU's Division II era, the Trailblazers have made at least one 3-pointer in 279 of the program's 282 games since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
The current streak almost came to a halt at CBU (Dec. 8) as the Trailblazers went the first 30 minutes without a trey before
Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) connected on his first-career 3-pointer with 9:45 to play, which capped a 9-0 DSU run that gave his team the lead for good. DSU hit six 3-pointers in the APU, including a career-high tying five treys off the hot shooting hand of
Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS).
In the 2014-15 season, the Trailblazers saw their program-best 127-game streak halted at home vs. Western Oregon (11/25/14) in the second game of the 2014-15 season. That streak encompassed four full seasons and the final 13 games of the 2009-10 campaign. The other two times DSU failed to connect from the perimeter happened on the road at Academy of Art (1/16/10), and at Notre Dame de Namur (2/2/08) during the program's first year of PacWest play.
Dixie State has also reached double-figures in made 3-pointers 12 times, including a 2015-16 season-high 10 treys at Chaminade (1/23/16), and a school-record 13 3-pointers at Carroll College on Nov. 11, 2008.
TEAM NOTES: All nine of Dixie State's games to this point of the season have been decided by eight points or less.
DSU has shot 50 percent or better in three of its last four games, including a season-best 54.5 percent (36-of-66) at APU (12/10) ... the one game where the Trailblazers did not shoot over 50 percent during this current stretch came in the win over Concordia-Irvine (12/3) when DSU shot "just" 49.1 percent (26-of-53).
DSU's school record 31 turnovers vs. Concordia-Irvine (12/3) eclipsed the previous mark of 30 set on the road at Metropolitan State University of Denver (12/6/08) during the 2008-09 season.
The Trailblazers pulled down a season-high 56 rebounds vs. CUI (12/3), which was the second-highest single game total in program history, and is the most since DSU had 55 boards at Point Loma nearly a year-to-the-day (12/5/15) ... The DSU team single-game school record for rebounds is 57, which happened twice in the 2013-14 season - both at home vs. Academy of Art (1/30/14) and again vs. Hawai'i Hilo (2/13/14).
Junior guard
Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) continues to fill up the stat sheet as he tallied with his third double-double of the year with a season-high 25 points and 12 rebounds in the loss at APU (12/10) ... Hill scored 17 of his 25 points after halftime and was three assists shy of his first-career (and DSU's first D-II) triple-double as he dished out seven dimes to go with two steals and two blocks in a season-high 44 minutes of action ... Hill led DSU with 15 points and five boards in the win at CBU (12/8) ... Hill was named PacWest POW after he averaged 21.5 points, 12.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the Trailblazers' split at the SPU tourney Nov. 18-19, and he currently leads the team in scoring (16.3 ppg; t-8th PWC) and assists (43, 4.8 apg; t-2nd PWC) and is second in rebounding (8.7 rpg; 1st PWC [by games played]).
Senior forward
Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS) bounced back from a foul-plagued night at CBU (12/8) with 17 points (on 7-of-11 shooting) and seven rebounds at APU (12/10) ... Fuller was limited to a season-low 13 minutes at CBU and finished with six points and four boards ... Fuller had a night in the DSU's win over Western Oregon (11/26) with a career-high 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting (career-highs in FGM/FGA) and 12 rebounds en route to his second double-double of the year ... he scored 10 of DSU's first 20 points and converted on four conventional three-point plays for the game ... Fuller also became the first Trailblazer in three-plus seasons to score at least 30 points in a game, the last being former DSU player Steven Larson, who tallied 33 pts in a 66-61 win at Notre Dame de Namur (2/16/13) ... Fuller has scored in double figures in five of his nine starts this season and leads the team in FG% (.585; 3rd PWC), is second in scoring (12.9 ppg) and is third in rebounding (6.4 rpg).
Junior forward
Zac Hunter (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) is second among starters in field goal percentage (.500), which was bolstered by a combined 6-of-10 shooting in DSU's two road games last week, as he scored six points in each outing ... Hunter enjoyed a 6-of-8 effort en route to a season-high 14-point night in the win over Western Oregon (11/26) ... Hunter has scored in double figures in two of nine starts and is averaging 7.8 ppg.
Simister finished one point shy of tying a career-high as he tallied a season-high 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting at APU (12/10) ... Simister hit on 5-of-8 3-pointers to go with three rebounds and three assists in a career-high tying 39 minutes ... Simister pulled down a career-best five rebounds, and recorded career-highs in free throws made (7) and attempted (11), on his way to 14 points in the CUI win (12/3) ... Simister also salvaged DSU's team 3-point streak after he connected on the Trailblazers' lone trey of the game (1-of-12) with 5:13 to play in regulation ... DSU had missed its first seven 3-point attempts prior to the Simister make ... Simister collected a career-high eight dimes along with 13 points and a steal vs. WOU (11/26) ... Simister is fourth on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) and is second in assists (29; 3.2 apg).
Barring any setbacks this week, sophomore forward
Quincy Mathews (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) is slated to the court this weekend after missing the last five games due to injury ... Mathews, who is averaging 10.0 ppg and a team-high 8.8 rpg in four games this season, earned CCAA/PacWest Challenge All-Tourney team honors after he posted his first two collegiate double-doubles to open the 2016-17 season ... Mathews tallied 10 points and a career-high 11 rebounds at UCSD (11/11), and followed that up with a career-high 15 points and 10 boards vs. CPP (11/12).
Junior guard
Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) has started in the last three games and has made the most of it as he has averaged 15.6 ppg during this current stretch, including 17.0 ppg on DSU's recent road trip ... Nielson tallied a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting with two rebounds, and a career-best two blocks in 37 minutes at APU (12/10), which came on the heels of a 14-point night on 6-of-11 from the floor in the win at CBU (12/8) ... Nielson made his first collegiate start in the win over Concordia-Irvine (12/3) and he responded with 13 points and a career-high eight rebounds ... he scored six of his 13 points in the overtime period and connected on 7-of-9 from the foul line on the night ... Nielson enters the week averaging 8.0 points and 2.4 rebounds.
Price tallied a career-high nine points, all in the second half, and pulled down a career-high tying seven rebounds in the win at CBU (12/8) ... he followed that up with seven more caroms and six points in 21 minutes at APU (12/10) ... Price is averaging nearly 7.0 rebounds and 5.8 points in his last four games overall.
Senior forward
Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) enjoyed an impactful 15 minutes in the win at CBU (12/8) to the tune of 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and four rebounds.
ABOUT THE NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR "ARGONAUTS": Notre Dame de Namur enters Saturday's game coming off a 72-65 home win over BYU-Hawaii Dec. 8, which halted a three-game Argonaut slide. Both of the Argonauts' wins have come at home, including a 68-59 win vs. Stanislaus State (11/25).
Senior point guard Tre'shawn King-Dunbar leads NDNU in scoring at 14.0 ppg, while the Argonauts are averaging 60.9 ppg on 39.6 percent shooting while allowing 67.1 ppg.
ABOUT THE POINT LOMA "SEA LIONS": Point Loma begins the week having won four of its last six outings overall, though the Sea Lions are coming off an 83-63 setback at Concordia-Irvine (12/10).
Sophomore point guard Josh Rodriguez leads the Sea Lions in scoring (16.3 ppg) and assists (5.1 apg), while junior center Vince Boumann is PLNU's second-leading scorer (13.1 ppg) and leading rebounder (8.4 rpg). Point Loma is averaging 71.8 ppg on 43.4 percent shooting while allowing 72.1 ppg.
UP NEXT: Dixie State will kick-off the 2017 calendar year with a three-game road trip to the Bay Area, beginning with a match-up at Fresno Pacific on Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Trailblazers will then square off with Academy of Art in San Francisco on Thursday, Jan. 5, and will close the trip with a return date vs. Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday, Jan. 7, in Belmont, Calif.
