OPENING TIP: Dixie State (16-5/13-2 PacWest) wraps up its five-game homestand with a big PacWest first-place showdown with conference co-leader and No. 8-ranked California Baptist (21-2/13-2) in the Burns Arena on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m.
The Trailblazers enter this week in a three-way tied with CBU and No. 3 Hawai'i Pacific atop the PacWest standings at 13-2, a full three games clear of fourth-place Concordia-Irvine, which sits at 10-5. DSU, CBU and HPU are also the first three teams to clinch a berth into next month's PacWest Tournament, which will be held March 2-4, in Irvine, Calif., with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State pushed its winning streak to five-straight, including four-in-a-row on its current homestand, with a pair of victories last week in the Burns Arena. The Trailblazers, who have won 11 of their last 12 games overall, used a big second-half rally to defeat BYU-Hawaii, 88-74 on Feb. 2, in the Seasiders' final visit to St. George. Then last Saturday night, DSU had five players score in double figures en route to a convincing 102-66 triumph over Chaminade.
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 an 8-4 edge in its series vs. California Baptist, though the two sides have split the last eight meetings after DSU had won the first four games between the two programs. Earlier this season the Trailblazers claimed a 75-71 road victory at then-No. 3 CBU in Riverside (12/8/16), this after the Lancers had taken two of three from DSU last season. Dixie State is 5-0 all-time vs. CBU at home with two of those win coming in overtime, including a 94-88 overtime triumph last season (2/6/16) in the Burns Arena.
REGIONAL/NATIONAL RANKINGS: Despite winning five-straight overall, Dixie State dropped one spot to T-No. 8 in this week's D2SIDA West Region top-10 poll, which was released on Monday. HPU leap-frogged CBU for the top spot in the region poll, while CBU is ranked No. 2 and Concordia-Irvine received votes. One interesting note, five of the 17 total opponents Dixie State has faced to this point of the season are currently ranked or receiving votes in this week's region poll, and the Trailblazers have played to a 5-1 record in those games.
In addition, Dixie State received votes in this week's NABC Division II Coaches' Top-25 poll, which marked the first time since the preseason poll came out last November that the Trailblazers had received votes in any national poll.
COACHING STAFF: Five-time PacWest Conference Coach of the Year
Jon Judkins (Utah State, 1988; 502-234 career record) is in his 12th season on the Dixie State bench, where he has compiled a 218-106 overall record, including a 198-94 mark during DSU's NCAA Division II era, and a 135-38 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 is in his fourth season as assistant coach, and
Kevin Williamson (University of Great Falls, 2007) who is in his second season on the Trailblazer sideline.
NOW INCHING CLOSER TO 200/300: Head Coach
Jon Judkins clinched his 500th-career victory last month in DSU's 81-72 win over Hawai'i Hilo (1/28) in Burns Arena. Now the long-time Dixie State mentor eyes another milestone as he is now two wins shy of 200 NCAA-era victories on the Trailblazer bench.
In addition, the DSU's win over Hilo was the program's 100th home NCAA-era victory. If that were not enough, DSU is now six games away from playing in its 300th NCAA game, and will reach that milestone in its opening game of the PacWest tournament in March. In addition, DSU is now one win away from reaching the 200-win plateau in its 10-plus seasons of NCAA membership. Overall DSU has played to a 199-95 (.677) record since making the move to four-year competition at the start of the 2006-07 season.
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.
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS: Dixie State closed the non-conference portion of its 2016-17 slate at 3-3 and moved 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 102-21 (.829) record inside the Burns Arena under Head Coach
Jon Judkins, which includes a 10-0 mark this year. Including this year's win total, DSU has now posted seven 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 77-10 (.885) at home through its now nine-plus seasons of conference play.
With its 10-0 home record to this point of the season (with two home games remaining), Dixie State has also clinched its 10th-straight home winning season record.
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?: With its SoCal road split this past Jan. 14-16, Dixie State moved to 97-74 (.567) away from home in its Division II era under Head Coach
Jon Judkins, including a 6-5 record this season (6-3 road/0-2 neutral), and a 9-6 mark in 2015-16. Overall, the Trailblazers have played to a 77-56 record (.579) in true road games, and a 20-18 mark (.526) in neutral site games during 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 58-28 (.674) road record in its nine-plus seasons of PacWest league membership (5-2 this season). 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: Dixie State has played in 21 games so far this season and has already had a school-record five of those contests go into overtime, including DSU's OT home victory over Point Loma this past Dec. 19. DSU is 3-2 in overtime games this 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 this year eclipsed the previous program-high of four set in the 2013-14 season and tied for the first time last year.
In all, Dixie State has played in just 25 overtime games (15-10 overall) in 291 total contests in the program's NCAA Division II era. Three of those 25 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 74-straight games and in 197 of its last 198 games overall, including a season-high tying eight treys vs. Chaminade last Saturday night. In fact in DSU's Division II era, the Trailblazers have made at least one 3-pointer in 291 of the program's 294 games since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
In the 2014-15 season, the Trailblazers saw their program-best 127-game streak stopped 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 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: Dixie State has seen 17 of its 21 games to this point of the season decided by nine points or less, including the first 12 games of the year ... DSU enjoyed its most lopsided win of the year with its 36-point win over Chaminade last Saturday, which included season highs in first half points (51), points in regulation (102), 3FG% (8-of-13, .615) and assists (22), while a season-high five Trailblazers scored in double figures overall.
DSU has shot 50 percent or better in nine of its last 16 games overall, including a season-best 56.5 percent (26-of-46) in the win over Hilo (1/28) and a 55.9 percent clip (38-of-68) in the Chaminade win ... for the season Dixie State is shooting 46.2 percent from the floor (.313 3FG), while DSU is ranked
6th-nationally in field-goal percentage defense at 39.0 percent (.316 3FG -
#26-nationally).
While DSU's field goal shooting has been solid, the free throw shooting has not as the Trailblazers are just 65.1 percent from the line this season (410-of-630), though DSU did hit on 23-of-28 (.821) at the charity stripe (10-of-10 in the second half) in the win over Dominican (1/11), and 18-of-24 last Saturday vs. Chaminade ... however Dixie State enters this weekend ranked
8th-nationally in free throw attempts (630) and 29th in free throws made (410).
DSU's current 65.1 percent clip at the line is nearly five points lower than its program-low 70.2 season percentage set in the 2011-12 campaign.
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 ... on the flipside, DSU committed a season-low eight turnovers in the win over Dominican (1/11).
DSU posted defensive season-highs of nine steals and eight blocks vs. Dominican (1/11), including three blocks apiece for junior guard
Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS) and senior forward
Marcus Bradley (Anaheim, Calif./Corona del Mar HS), which were career-highs for both players ... the eight blocks just missed tying the school record of nine set twice at home vs. Fresno Pacific (2/5) and BYU-Hawaii (2/23) during the 2012-13 season ... Bradley also swatted away a career-high four shots vs. Hilo, including three of the first four shots the Vulcans attempted early in the first half.
The Trailblazers pulled down a
school-record 61 rebounds vs. BYU-Hawaii (2/2), which bested the previous record set 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) ... DSU is also ranked
5th-nationally in defensive rebounds at 30.76 rpg.
Hill continues to fill up the stat sheet as he makes his way up the DSU career records lists ... Hill has averaged 13.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.6 steals over his last eight games, including 18 points vs. BYU-H (2/2) and 14 more points with seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals vs. Chaminade (2/4).
Hill, who currently leads the team in scoring (14.5 ppg, 15th PWC), rebounding (7.0 rpg, t7th PWC) and assists (5.1 apg, 2nd PWC), has moved into first place on DSU's career FTM (303) and FTA (473) lists in just 76 games ... in fact, Hill leads the PacWest and is ranked
FOURTH-NATIONALLY in FT attempts this season (186) ... In addition, Hill enters this week fourth all-time in assists (249), steals (91), rebounds (374) and blocks (45), sixth in points (887), seventh in made FGs (279), and eighth in PPG (11.6) and FG attempts (608).
Junior guard
Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) enters the week fourth on the team in scoring at 11.5 ppg - 12.3 ppg in PacWest play, and has scored in double figures in nine of his last 13 starts overall, including 12 points vs. Hilo, a game-high 15 points in the home win over APU (1/21) and a season-high 23 points at APU (12/10) ... Simister hit 7-of-10 from the floor with a career-high tying five 3-pointers in the APU road game, while his 23 points at APU was one-point shy of tying his career-high of 24 set last season in a win at Chaminade (1/23/16) ... Simister is second on the team in assists (73; 3.5 apg) and is averaging 3.6 dimes a game over his last 10 starts ... Simister enters the week third on DSU's career 3FG percentage list (.434) and he has moved back atop DSU's career FT% list (.859), while he is t-sixth in career 3FG makes (89) and ninth in career assists (188).
Junior forward
Zac Hunter (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) enjoyed his finest night in a DSU uniform last Saturday night vs. Chaminade as he poured in a career-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead five Trailblazers in double figures in the lopsided win ... Hunter scored 15 of those points in the opening frame and accounted for 13 of the team's 26 points on its decisive first-half run ... Hunter's 19 points eclipsed his previous career-high of 18 points set two games earlier vs. Hilo (1/28), which also came on 7-of-11 shooting.
Bradley was inserted into the DSU starting line-up to begin the homestand and the senior has paid immediate dividends as he has averaged 14.5 points on 52.2 percent shooting and 7.7 rebounds over that stretch ... Bradley posted his first double-double of the year with career highs of 23 points and 15 rebounds in the win over BYU-H (2/2) and followed that up with 16 points in just 16 minutes vs. Chaminade (2/4) ... Bradley has also averaged 2.5 blocks in the four games, including a career-best four vs. Hilo (1/28).
Junior guard
Kyler Nielson (Cedar City, Utah/Cedar HS) has started in the last 15 games and has made the most of it as he has averaged 9.8 ppg during this current stretch, including a 17-point night on 6-of-8 shooting vs. Chaminade (2/4) ... Nielson poured in 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.
Junior forward
Quincy Mathews (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) just missed his third double-double of the year after collecting 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench vs. UHH (1/28) ... Mathews hit 8-of-12 from the line and pulled down eight defensive boards with one block in 18 minutes ... Mathews, who is averaging 7.9 ppg and 5.9 rpg in 16 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 UC San Diego (11/11), and followed that up with a career-high 15 points and 10 boards vs. Cal Poly Pomona (11/12).
Sophomore forward
Dub Price (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) tied his career-high with nine points off the bench vs. UHH (1/28), which marked the third time this season he just missed scoring in double figures ... he tallied nine points in the road win at CBU (12/8) and did it again at home vs. APU (1/21) ... Price pulled down a career-high eight rebounds vs. BYU-H (2/2) and secured six more caroms vs. Chaminade (2/4).
Sophomore F/C
Austin Montgomery (Gainesville, Ga./Lakeview Academy) tallied a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 14 reserve minutes vs. BYU-H (2/2) ... he followed that up with a career-high tying eight rebounds, including four offensive boards, and six points two nights later vs. Chaminade (2/4).
Junior guard
Daylor Youngblood (South Jordan, Utah/Bingham HS) had a night to remember as he recorded his first double-digit scoring night as a Trailblazer with a career-high 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-3 from the perimeter, vs. Chaminade (2/4) ... you knew it would be his night as he banked in his first three points on a half-court heave at the halftime buzzer ... he then hit two more 3-pointers in the second half and finished with career-highs of four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 13 minutes off the bench.
Over the last 10 games, the DSU bench has averaged 23.6 points, including 30 reserve points in the Dominican win (1/11) ... Overall the Trailblazer bench is averaging 21.1 ppg through the first 21 games, including a season-high 46 bench points vs. Central Washington (11/18) ... Bradley (14 pts) and sophomore guard
Brandon Miller (Sandy, Utah/Brighton HS) (16 pts) accounted for 30 of those 46 points.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA BAPTIST "LANCERS": No. 8 (NABC and D2SIDA) California Baptist has been the class of the PacWest through most of the regular season as the Lancers have played to a 21-2 overall record, with the lone two losses on the ledger coming at home to the other two PacWest leaders in Dixie State (75-70; 12/8/16) at HPU (81-67; 2/2/17).
Three Lancers enter Saturday's game averaging double figures in points, led by senior guard and PacWest Preseason Player of the Year
Michael Smith at 24.8 ppg., while junior center
Kalidou Diouf is the CBU's leading rebounder (6.8 rpg) and second-leading scorer (15.7 ppg). As a team CBU is averaging 84.9 ppg on 48.0 percent shooting while allowing 69.3 ppg.
UP NEXT: Dixie State closes the road portion of its 2016-17 regular season slate with its annual Hawaiian gauntlet run next week on the Islands. DSU opens the trip at Hawai'i Hilo on Thursday, Feb. 15, before facing off with BYU-Hawaii for the final time in Laie on Saturday, Feb. 18. The Trailblazers will then close the trip in Honolulu on Monday, Feb. 20, with a showdown vs. PacWest co-leader Hawai'i Pacific.
