OPENING TIP: Dixie State (14-8/11-5 PacWest) wraps up the road portion of its 2015-16 regular season with a three-game in five-day stretch in northern California, beginning with quick return game against Pacific West Conference foe Holy Names (4-22/3-15 PacWest) this Saturday, Feb. 20. DSU will then travel across the Golden Gate Bridge to play at Dominican (12-12/8-9 PacWest) on Monday, Feb. 22, before closing out the road trip at Fresno Pacific (13-11/8-9) next Wednesday, Feb. 24.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State wrapped up a perfect 5-0 homestand last week as the Storm won three games in five days, beginning with a 98-68 triumph over Academy of Art Feb. 11. DSU then posted a 93-65 win over Fresno Pacific Feb. 13, and completed the sweep with a 91-67 victory over Holy Names Feb. 15.

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, and tape-delay rebroadcasts air throughout the following week. In addition, live-streaming audio and video (home games only - fee required) are available on the internet at www.southernutahlive.com.

THE SERIES: Dixie State improved to 5-0 in its series against Holy Names after the 91-67 win in the Burns Arena Feb. 15. DSU also owns a 6-4 series edge on Dominican, though the Penguins have won three of the last four meetings. However DSU is 3-3 vs. Dominican all-time in San Rafael, including an 86-83 road win last year (1/29/15). DSU is 6-1 all-time vs. FPU and has won six-straight overall in the series, including the Storm's 93-65 triumph this past Feb. 13. The Sunbirds claimed the first-ever meeting in Fresno during the 2012-13 season (82-80; 12/8/12).

COACHING STAFF: Five-time PacWest Conference Coach of the Year Jon Judkins (Utah State, 1988; 482-227 career record) is his 11th season on the Dixie State bench, where he has compiled a 198-99 overall record, including a 178-88 mark during DSU's NCAA Division II era, and a 118-36 record in PacWest play. Last season Judkins led the Storm to a 20-8 record and the program's fifth Pacific West title in six years with a 17-3 league mark. In addition, he guided DSU to its sixth-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
    Prior to his arrival at Dixie State, Judkins served as head coach at Snow College for 12 season 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 DSU bench by Kasey Winters (Dixie State, 2008), who is in his third season as assistant coach, and Kevin Williamson (University of Great Falls, 2007) who is in his first season on the Storm sideline.

JUDKINS ON CUSP OF TWO CAREER MILESTONES: Head Coach Jon Judkins enters this week's road trip on the cusp of two career coaching milestones. He enters Saturday's game at Holy Names just two wins shy of 200 career victories at Dixie State. He is also three games away from reaching 300 career games on the DSU bench, a feat he will reach in the Storm's road finale at Fresno Pacific next Wednesday.
    Coach Judkins was on the bench for his 700th-career game as a head coach in DSU's win over Notre Dame de Namur back on Jan. 14. Judkins has now officially coached in 297 games in his DSU tenure, and in another 412 games in his 12 seasons at Snow College.

THE "ROAD TO IRVINE": The road to the 2016 PacWest Tournament continues to be a very wild ride. Two teams have clinched a tournament berth at this point—Azusa Pacific (12-4) and Hawai'i Pacific (12-5), but it is still anyone's guess who will nab the top two seeds and the next four spots.
    Dixie State (11-5) and California Baptist (11-5) are waiting to pounce into one of those top-two spots should either the Cougars or Sharks stumble. BYU-Hawaii (10-7) has opened up a game-and-a-half lead for the fifth spot, but finishes with a tough down-the-stretch schedule against contenders Chaminade, APU, and HPU. The sixth spot is precariously held by Point Loma (8-8) right now. The Sea Lions have a half-game edge over Dominican (8-9), Chaminade (8-9), and Fresno Pacific (8-9).  
    The top-six teams (excluding Concordia) will advance to the PacWest Tournament, which will be held this March 3-5, in Irvine, Calif. The winner of the tourney will earn the PacWest's automatic bid to the NCAA West Regionals, which will be held March 11-14 (site TBD).

HOME SWEET HOME: Dixie State clinched its ninth-straight winning home record after the Storm completed the sweep of their recent five-game homestand. DSU is currently 8-3 at home with one more home date on tap vs. PacWest leader Concordia on Saturday, Feb. 27.
    Since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, Dixie State has played to a 91-21 (.812) record inside the Burns Arena under Head Coach Jon Judkins, and 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.

HOW ABOUT WHEN THE BAGS ARE PACKED?: Dixie State is 88-68 (.564) away from home in its Division II era under Head Coach Jon Judkins, including a 6-5 mark in 2015-16 with three more road tests remaining this week. Overall, the Storm has played to a 68-53 record (.562) in true road games, and a 20-15 mark (.571) in neutral site games over Judkins' tenure.
    DSU has won eight or more games away from home in six-straight seasons, and in seven of its nine previous campaigns, including a program-best 15-5 record (10-2 in road contests) in 2010-11.
    After taking two of three on last month's Hawaiian road trip, Dixie State owns a 50-26 (.658) road record in its eight-plus seasons of league membership. The Storm has posted a winning conference road mark in six-straight seasons and has reached the seven-win plateau in four of their last five campaigns overall.

DEFENSE (CLAP CLAP) DEFENSE: Dixie State recorded one of its most dominant defensive efforts in the program's NCAA Division II history in the Storm's win over Notre Dame de Namur Jan. 14. DSU held the Argonauts to just 48 total points (W, 70-48), which is tied for the fifth-lowest opponent point total in school history (48 vs. Hawai'i Hilo - 3/4/10). The all-time record for fewest points allowed in a game is 40 set in an 84-40 win vs. Dominican (2/10/11) during the 2010-11 season.
    What is more impressive about the Storm defense in the win is that for the just the third time in the program's D-II history, Dixie State held an opponent without a double-digit scorer. NDNU did have 11 total players score at least one point in the contest, but no Argonaut scored more than eight points.
    The first time DSU accomplished that feat was in its first season of four-year competition at home vs. Texas A&M International (W, 67-51) on Dec, 18, 2006. The Storm also did it on the road in a win at Grand Canyon during the 2008-09 season (W, 68-59; 1/22/09).

FREE BASKETBALL: Dixie State has played four overtime games this season, with all four coming in PacWest action over the last six weeks. The four overtime games played this season matches the previous single season total of four set during the 2013-14 season, when DSU went 4-0 in overtime affairs.
    DSU has played in 20 overtime games in its near 10 years of Division II competition (268 games) and has posted a 12-8 overall record, including a 3-1 mark this season, with wins over CBU (2/6) and at Chaminade (1/23), and  a home loss to Point Loma (1/18).
    Dixie State also needed double-overtime to knock off PacWest leader Concordia in Irvine, 81-80 (1/9). Previous to that win, DSU had played in only two double-overtime games in its four-year era, both of which also came on the road and in consecutive PacWest games at BYU-H (W, 99-96 – 2/26/11) and at HPU (L, 88-93 – 2/28/11) during the 2010-11 season.

FROM WAY DOWN TOWN....BANG!: Dixie State has hit at least one 3-pointer in 48-straight games, including all 22 games this season, and in 171 of its last 172 games overall. In fact in DSU's Division II era, the Storm has recorded at least one 3-pointer in 265 of the program's 268 games since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
    Last season the Storm saw its program-best 127-game streak halted at home vs. Western Oregon (11/25/14) in the second game of the year. 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 season-high 10 treys at Chaminade (1/23), and a school-record 13 3-pointers at Carroll College on Nov. 11, 2008.

OGDEN JR. EARNS PACWEST DEFENSIVE HONOR: Senior forward Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) was named Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week this past Monday, marking the second time this season Ogden Jr. has garnered the PacWest's weekly defensive honor (Dec. 8, 2015).  
    The senior averaged a double-double with 16.5 points and 14.5 rebounds in the two games, along with 4.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steals. He tallied 22 points and a game-high 16 boards in the win over Academy of Art (2/11). Ogden Jr. hit on 8-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the line, and for good measure dished out a career-high six assists with two blocks and a steal in just 23 minutes of action. Then against Fresno Pacific (2/13) he scored 11 points with 13 boards (11 defensive caroms), two assists, two blocks and a steal.

EVEN MORE ON OGDEN: Ogden Jr., who leads the PacWest and is 17th-nationally in rebounding (9.9 rpg), has nine double-doubles to his credit this season, including in three-straight and four of his last five games overall after a 10-point, 10-rebound effort vs. Holy Names (2/15).
    His strong senior season has sky-rocketed the senior up the career and single-season record charts. Against HNU, Ogden Jr. became just the third Storm player in DSU's D-II era to surpass the 400-rebound plateau (407) and he enters his final four regular season games 68 rebounds shy of moving into second place on DSU's career rebounding list. He is also third in career rebounding average (8.1 rpg), fifth in career scoring average (12.0 ppg), and fourth in career block (42) and free throw percentage (.817). Meanwhile his 9.9 rpg this season is currently the best single-season rebounding average all-time in the school's NCAA era. He is also 49 rebounds away from becoming the school's all-time single season leader, and he is nine blocks away from moving into fifth-place on the season list (currently 8th-26).

FULLER FILLING IT UP: Junior forward Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS) had himself a strong homestand as he averaged 16.2 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 56.2% from the floor over the five games. He scored in double figures in four of the five games, including a career-high 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting vs. CBU (2/6).
    Fuller also had a great trip to the Hawaiian Islands as he averaged 21.0 points and 7.3 rebounds and shot a whopping 72.9% (27-of-37) from the floor in DSU's three-game road swing. Over his past eight games overall he is scoring at an 18.0 ppg clip and shooting better than 63% from the floor to go with 6.2 rpg. Fuller has scored in double figures in 14 of 22 games and he is third on the club in scoring at 12.7 ppg.

NOT OVER THE HILL: Not to be outdone, sophomore guard Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) has scored in double figures in a team-high 19 of 22 games this season and has tallied 20 or more points a team-best six times, including 24 points vs. Academy of Art (2/11). Hill is the team's top scorer at 16.6 ppg, which is currently tied for the second-highest single-season PPG average in school history.
    Hill has led or co-led the team in scoring in nine of 22 games this year, and he is 15 points away from cracking the school's single-season top-10 scoring list. He also posted his first double-double of the year (and second of his career) with team-highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds vs. Holy Names (2/15).
    Hill's aggressive style of play has also put him at the foul line 164 times with 118 makes (5.3 FTMg) through 22 games (7.4 FTAg), both of which are ranked second on the school's single-season list. Hill is also seventh all-time in career FT attempts (248) and ninth in career makes (178).

SIMPLY SIMISTER: After missing DSU's last two games of the 2015 calendar year (at PLNU/vs. APU) due to injury, sophomore guard Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) has averaged 12.1 ppg in his last 13 games since his return to action, including a career-high 24 points with a career-best five 3-pointers in the OT win at Chaminade (1/23).
    Simister has started in DSU's last three games and has responded by scoring 11.7 points and shooting 55% (5-of-7 from three) over those three games, including 15 points vs. Holy Names (2/15). He has scored in double figures in 12 of 20 games and he is fourth on the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg. The sharpshooter has also got the job done at the foul line as he is currently DSU's all-time single-season FT-pecentage leader at 88.9% (88-of-99), and Simister is t-fifth on the school's season 3FG% list at 44.1% (30-of-68).

TODAY'S MASON SAWYER MEAN MEAN SHOOTER: Senior guard Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) is inching toward second place on DSU's career 3-pointers made list as he hit eight 3-pointers in his last three starts, including four treys vs. FPU (2/13). Sawyer (124 3FGM) now stands seven treys shy of passing former DSU stand-out DeQuan Thompson (Las Vegas, NV/Lake Mead Christian Academy) (130; 2011-15) for second on the all-time list.
    Sawyer enters the final two weeks of the regular season second all-time in career 3FG attempts (324), sixth in career 3FG% (.382), and seventh in career FG attempts (645) and career FG made (258). Sawyer is also seventh on DSU's career scoring list with 811 points and he is second in career assists (259), t-fifth in steals (78) and ninth in career FT% (.744).

TEAM NOTES: Dixie State enjoyed a rather dominant homestand as the Storm outscored their five opponents a combined 460-351 with a near 22.0 ppg average margin of victory ... DSU scored 90 or more points in four of the five games and averaged 92.0 ppg during the homestand while allowing just 70.2 ppg ... The Storm shot nearly 52 percent (150-of-290) over the five games, including a 63.6 percent clip (35-of-55) vs. Academy of Art (2/11), which was the fourth-best single-game percentage in the school's D-II era ... All five Storm starters scored in double figures vs. FPU (2/13) and HNU (2/15) ... DSU also dished out a season-high 25 assists and committed a season-low 10 turnover vs. AAU (2/11), and pulled down a season-high 53 rebounds vs. HNU (2/15) ... senior Robbie Nielson (Gresham, Ore./Barlow HS), who has missed the last three games due to injury, remains third all-time in school history in steals (104) and is one blocked shot away from moving into 10th-place all-time on DSU's career blocks list ... sophomores Daylor Youngblood (South Jordan, Utah/Bingham HS) (6 pts) and Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) (5 pts) tallied career-highs vs. AAU (2/11) ... freshman Quincy Mathews (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) made the most of his 19 minutes vs. FPU (2/13) as he finished with 8 points and career-highs of six rebounds and four steals ... all 14 uniformed players saw time in each of the last three games.

UP NEXT: Dixie State returns home for its 2015-16 regular season finale against current PacWest leader Concordia on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m., inside the Burns Arena. DSU will also honor its three seniors, including forward Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS), guard Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) and G/F Robbie Nielson (Gresham, Ore./Barlow HS).