Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | SPU | DKSU
Audio/Video: Westminster/StretchInternet
Live Stats: vs. SPU/vs. DKSU
Twitter: @DixieAthletics | @DIXIESTATEBBALL | #BlazeForward | #PacWestMBB

OPENING TIP: Dixie State (2-3/0-0 PacWest) closes out its 2017-18 non-conference slate and its seven-game, season-opening road swing with a pair of neutral-site contests at the Westminster College Thanksgiving Invitational this weekend in Salt Lake City. DSU will play Seattle Pacific (3-1) on Friday, Nov. 24, at 5 p.m., followed by a date vs. NAIA-member Dickinson State (4-3) on Saturday, Nov. 25, at 3:30 p.m.
    Live stats and video links for both games this weekend can be found at www.westminstergriffins.com.

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. In addition, live streaming video of all DSU home games can be found on DSU Athletics' official YouTube channel at youtube.com/DixieStateAthletics.

THE SERIES: Dixie State is 4-6 all-time vs. Seattle Pacific, with the Falcons having won four of the last six meetings between the two teams. However the Trailblazers claimed the last game between the two sides, a 74-72 overtime thriller last year in Seattle (11/19/16). In an odd twist in the series, three of the Trailblazers' four wins vs. SPU have come on the road in Seattle, while DSU is 0-3 all-time against the Falcons in the Burns Arena. DSU and SPU have also met twice at the NCAA West Regionals, with the Trailblazers claiming a 75-73 win in 2011 (DSU's "Sweet 16" season), and the Falcons then returning the favor a year later in eliminating Dixie State in the first round in 2012, 70-68.
    Saturday's game vs. Dickinson State will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Bluehawks on the hardwood.

REGIONAL/NATIONAL RANKINGS: After going 1-2 last week, Dixie State fell out of the D2SIDA West Region Top-10 rankings heading into this week's action. Both DSU and SPU are listed among teams receiving votes in this week's poll, while PacWest members California Baptist (No. 1-overall), Chaminade (No. 5) and Concordia-Irvine (No. 6) are ranked this week.  
    After receiving votes in the NABC preseason national poll, Dixie State is not listed in either the NABC and D2SIDA national polls this week.

COACHING STAFF: Five-time PacWest Conference Coach of the Year Jon Judkins (Utah State, 1988; 507-241 career record) is in his 13th season on the Dixie State bench, where he has compiled a 223-113 overall record, including a 203-101 mark during DSU's NCAA Division II era, and a 138-40 record in PacWest play.
    Last season, Judkins led Dixie State to a 19-9 overall record, which included a 16-4 (3rd place) mark in Pacific West Conference play, and an appearance in the 2017 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament. In 2015-16, 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.
    Overall, Judkins has led the Trailblazers to nine-straight winning seasons with six 20-win campaigns, which includes a school-record 22 victories in the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons. He has also guided them to five Pacific West Conference championships, including four-straight titles from 2009-13 and another crown in 2014-15, along with a PacWest Tournament title in 2013. In addition, Judkins has led Dixie State to seven trips to the NCAA Tournament in the last eight seasons overall from 2010-17, advancing all the way to the "Sweet 16" in the 2011 West Regional final.
    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 this season by former DSU player and fifth-year assistant coach Kasey Winters (Dixie State, 2008), along with former DSU standout guard Jeremiah Barnes (Dixie State, 2011), who is in his first season on the DSU sideline, and first-year volunteer assistant coach David Foster (Utah, 2013).

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED SECOND IN THE PACWEST: Dixie State was picked to finish second in the 2017-18 Pacific West Conference preseason coaches' poll released on Oct. 26. California Baptist received 10 of a possible 14 first place votes and 178 total points to be tabbed as the PacWest preseason favorite.
    DSU, which is in its last season of PacWest play before the program moves on the RMAC next season, collected two first place votes and 169 points to claim the second spot, while Point Loma picked up the final two first place votes and 161 points to take the third slot in the poll. Concordia-Irvine (154 points) was voted to finish fourth, followed by Azusa Pacific (142) in fifth, Chaminade (132) in sixth, and defending PacWest champion Hawai'i Pacific (121) rounded out the top-half of the poll in seventh.
    For the second-consecutive season, Dixie State senior guard Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) was named to the PacWest Preseason all-Conference team, while CBU senior center Kalidou Diouf was named the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year.

HILL NAMED PACWEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coming off a career weekend on the road in Oregon, senior guard Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) on Monday was named PacWest Men's Basketball Player of the Week.  
    Hill averaged 26.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.3 steals in three games last week. In addition, the senior combined to shoot 56.8 percent (29-of-51) from the floor and 70.4 percent (19-of-27) at the foul line.
    After beginning the week with a 13-point, seven-rebound performance at Cal State LA (11/13), Hill poured in a career-high and DSU single-game record 35 points, 23 of which came after halftime, in the Trailblazers 99-89 come-from-behind overtime victory vs. Eastern New Mexico in the opening game of the Western Oregon-hosted Doubletree by Hilton DII Shootout this past Friday. Hill connected on 11-of-19 from the floor and 13-of-17 at the line to go with six rebounds, five assists and a career-high five steals.
    Hill followed that up the next day with 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting with seven boards, four assists and a steal in a 97-86 loss at WOU. Hill became the first Trailblazer in the program's NCAA era to posted consecutive 30-point games, and he became just the second player to record multiple 30-point outings in a single season, joining former DSU player and assistant coach Ryan Sanchez, who achieved the feat twice during in the 2007-08 season.

AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 66-62 (.515) all-time against non-conference opponents in its 11-plus seasons of four-year competition, which includes a 2-3 mark this year, an 11-14 record in the program's first year of NCAA play (2006-07), and a combined 4-11 postseason record (2-4 PacWest, 2-7 NCAA).
    DSU has posted six overall season-winning records in non-conference games over that span, including a program-best nine wins in 2010-11 (9-4), eight wins in 2008-09 (8-7), and seven victories in 2012-13 (7-4). 

AGAINST THE CCAA/GNAC: Following the season-opening split at the PacWest/CCAA Challenge, Dixie State is 8-15 (.348) all-time vs. the CCAA, including a 2-5 mark in its last seven games against that league overall. Despite last Saturday's loss at Western Oregon, the Trailblazers are 34-14 (.708) all-time against current members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, with another match-up against a GNAC member in Seattle Pacific coming on Friday evening.
IT'S NOT HOW YOU START....: Dixie State is now 6-6 all-time in season openers during the program's Division II era after its loss at Cal Poly Pomona on Nov. 11. Despite having now lost two-straight season openers, DSU has won four of its last six, and six of its previous 10 overall.
HOME SWEET HOME: Dixie State posted its 10th-straight home winning season record after recording an 11-1 mark inside the Burns Arena last season.
    Since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, Dixie State has played to a 103-22 (.824) overall record inside the Burns Arena under Head Coach Jon Judkins, and has posted seven 10-plus win seasons over that span, including a perfect 12-0 record in 2009-10, and an 11-1 mark in the 2015-16 campaign. The Trailblazers are dominant in PacWest action, playing to a 78-11 (.876) record at home through 10 full seasons of conference play.

HOME SWEET HOME, PART 2: For the seventh-straight year, Dixie State finished ranked in the top-six nationally at the NCAA Division II level in attendance for the 2016-17 season.
    The Trailblazers finished with the fourth-highest total attendance number in the country at 31,925 fans for their 12 home dates, which was also tops in the Pacific West Conference and the West Region. In addition, DSU finished third-nationally in season attendance average at 2,660 fans per game, which was up from 2,190 per game over 12 home dates a season ago (26,284 total attendance).
    Since the 2008-09 season, Dixie State has been annually ranked in the top-15 in Division II in attendance, including second-overall in 2012-13 and 2013-14, and third in the country in 2010-11 and 2011-12 campaigns. DSU was also ranked fifth-overall in 2014-15, sixth in 2015-16, ninth in 2009-10, and 14th in 2008-09.
    Dixie State also finished sixth among Utah's eight NCAA member institutions in average attendance in 2016-17, behind Brigham Young (260,569/14,476 per game), Utah (216,914/12,051), Utah State (103,082/6.872), Weber State (89,298/6,869) and Utah Valley (38,218/2,940). DSU did finish well ahead of Southern Utah (23,999/1,846) and Westminster College (4,654/423).

HOW ABOUT WHEN THE BAGS ARE PACKED?: Dixie State is now 101-80 (.558) away from home in its Division II era under Head Coach Jon Judkins, including an 8-8 record last season (8-5 road/0-3 neutral), and a 9-6 mark in 2015-16. Overall, the Trailblazers have played to a 79-61 record (.564) in true road games, and a 22-19 mark (.536) in neutral site games during Judkins' tenure.
    DSU has won eight or more games away from home in eight-straight seasons, and in nine of its 11 D-II campaigns overall, including a program-best 15-5 record (10-2 in road contests) in 2010-11.
    Dixie State also owns a 60-29 (.674) road record in its nine-plus seasons of PacWest league membership (7-3 last season). Overall, the Trailblazers have posted a winning conference road mark in eight-straight seasons and have reached the seven-win plateau in six of their last seven league campaigns overall.

FREE BASKETBALL: After playing in a school-record five overtime games last season, the Trailblazers have begun the 2017-18 campaign with two overtime games through its first five outings overall.
    Dixie State dropped a 79-75 2OT decision in the season opener at Cal Poly Pomona (11/10), then followed that up with a 99-89 come-from-behind OT victory vs. ENMU last Friday.
    DSU went 3-2 in overtime games last season, 2-1 in PacWest play, including a 104-103 loss at APU (12/10/16), and the Trailblazers' 82-76 overtime home win over Concordia-Irvine (12/3/16).
    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 five overtime games last year eclipsed the previous program-high of four set twice, the first time in the 2013-14 season, and tied in the 2015-16 campaign.
    In all, Dixie State has played in just 27 overtime games (16-11 overall) in 306 total contests in the program's NCAA Division II era. Four of those 26 games have gone to double-overtime (2-2), including the two Hawaiian results in 2010-11, and an 81-80 2OT victory at Concordia-Irvine in the 2015-16 season (1/9/16).

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN....BANG: Dating back to late last season, Dixie State has hit at least one 3-pointer in nine-straight games, including a season-high eight treys at Western Oregon last Saturday.
    Last season, the Trailblazers saw their streak of hitting at least one 3-pointer halted at 76 games after an 0-of-7 night from beyond the arc in a win at BYU-Hawaii (2/18).
    Prior to the BYU-H game, the last time Dixie State went without hitting a 3-pointer was at home vs. WOU (11/25/14) in the second game of the 2014-15 season, which snapped a program-best 127-game streak that 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.
    In all, Dixie State has hit at least one three pointer in 208 of its last 210 games overall, and in 302 of the program's 306 games NCAA-era games since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
    Dixie State has reached double-figures in made 3-pointers 12 times, the last being a 10-trifecta night at Chaminade (1/23/16), and a school-record 13 3-pointers at Carroll College on Nov. 11, 2008.

TEAM NOTES:
* - Dating back to last season, Dixie State has had 22 of its 32 games decided by nine points or less, including the first three games this year, and the first 12 games of the 2016-17 campaign.
* - Also dating back to last season, Dixie State has shot 50 percent or better in 13 of its last 27 games overall, including a 2017-18 season-best 51.5 percent (35-of-68) in the Eastern New Mexico win.  
* - For the season Dixie State is shooting 47.5 percent from the floor, including a whopping 42.7 percent (32-of-75) from the perimeter, while opponents are shooting at a robust .464 clip (.380 3FG).
* - While DSU's field goal shooting has been solid, the free throw shooting has been "up and down" ... Dixie State opened the year just 56.6 percent (43-of-76) from the line over its first three games, but rebounded to shoot 71.9 percent (41-of-57) in the two games at WOU, including a season-best 74.2 percent (23-of-31) in the ENMU OT win (16-of-22 in the second half).  
* - Dixie State pulled down a school record with 62 rebounds in the loss at CPP, which bested the previous school record of 61 set last season vs. BYU-Hawaii (2/2/17).
* - The Trailblazers have won the "Battle of the Boards" in four of their first five games this season, though DSU was outrebounded in it last outing at WOU by a 41-25 count ... Dixie State is currently ranked third in the PacWest in rebounding at 41.8 rpg.  
* - Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS)'s (1,086 pts) career weekend at WOU vaulted him from sixth to third on DSU's career-scoring list and he enters this weekend needing just 100 more points to pass former DSU great DeQuan Thompson (1,185; 2011-15) for second all-time in scoring.
* - Hill's 35 points vs. ENMU broke the previous DSU single-game scoring record held by former DSU forward Steven Larson, who poured in 33 points in a 66-61 road win at Notre Dame de Namur on Feb. 16, 2013.
* - In all, five DSU players have reached or surpassed the 30-point plateau in the program's 11-plus years of NCAA play, the last being former DSU forward Josh Fuller, who tallied 30 points in a 78-73 home win over WOU last season (11/26/16) ... Former DSU guard Donovan Plunkett also scored 30 points in a game at Grand Canyon (1/30/10) ... Sanchez scored 32 points on two separate occasions in 2007-08, the first came in a 107-83 home win over Colorado-Colorado Springs (12/1/07), and again in a 74-72 home triumph at Notre Dame de Namur (2/1/08).
* - In all, Dixie State is 5-2 all-time in games when a DSU player scores 30 or more points.
* - Hill has scored in double figures in all five games this season and is ranked third in the PacWest in scoring at 20.2 ppg.
* - Hill (301) also moved into second in program history in career assists during the CPP game and now only trails former DSU guard Kimball Payne (395) by 94 dimes on the career list.
* - In all, Hill is ranked in the top-10 in 13 stat categories and is already DSU's career leader in free throws made (351) and attempted (554), and is second all-time in steals (112).
* - Junior forward Austin Montgomery (Lilburn, Ga./Lakeview Academy) also had a career night vs. ENMU after posting his first collegiate double-double with career- highs of 18 points and 13 boards vs. ENMU ... Montgomery was a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 at the foul line, while he tied a career-high with two blocked shots vs. the Greyhounds.
* - Senior forward Isaiah Clark (Riverside, Calif./John W. North HS) had himself quite a season debut in the opener at CPP (11/10), during which he notched his first DSU career double-double with career-highs of 14 points and 15 rebounds ... Clark hit on a career-best 7-of-9 shots and posted career highs of three blocks and 40 minutes played.  
* - Senior guard Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) combined to hit seven 3-pointers and averaged 15.5 ppg in the two games in Oregon last weekend ... Simister poured in a season-high 20 points and hit four 3-pointers (also a season-high) in the ENMU win, and connected for three more treys and 11 points with a game-high six assists at WOU.
* - Senior forward Zac Hunter (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) drained a career-high two 3-pointers as part of a 13-point night on 5-of-7 shooting at WOU.
* - Senior G/F Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) averaged 10.5 points in the two games at WOU, including 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the ENMU win, followed by a nine-point effort vs. the Wolves ... Nielson combined to hit on seven of his 13 shots.
* - Junior forward Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) collected six points and six rebounds in the ENMU win, but of his six boards, none was bigger than his offensive rebound he secured in the final moments of regulation that ultimately led to a Montgomery dunk that tied the game and forced overtime.
* - Junior guard Wade Miller (Tremonton, Utah/Bear River HS) scored a career-high six points on a pair of 3-pointers at WOU.

UP NEXT: After seven-straight games away from the Burns Arena, the Trailblazers will finally kick-off their 2017-18 home slate with their PacWest opener vs. Academy of Art on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 3:30 p.m.