Game Notes: DIXIE STATE - PDF | CCU | REGIS
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OPENING TIP: Dixie State (5-8/3-6 RMAC) embarks on a four-game RMAC road swing this weekend, which starts with a pair of weekend games in the Denver metroplex. The Trailblazers open the weekend with a match-up at Colorado Christian (3-12/1-8 RMAC) on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Lakewood, followed by a quick trip into Denver to square off against Regis (10-5/7-2 RMAC) on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 5 p.m.
  
THE SERIES: Dixie State owns a 1-0 series lead against Colorado Christian, though that lone game happened more than 11 years ago when DSU captured an 85-72 win over the Cougars in a game played at MSU Denver early in the 2007-08 season (11/17/07).
    Saturday's game at Regis will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Rangers on the basketball court.

DIXIE STATE ON THE AIR: All Dixie State home games are broadcast live on DSU's campus radio station, 91.3 KXDS-FM, with DSU Assistant Media Relations Coordinator Keric Seegmiller calling the play-by-play action and former DSU assistant coach Mike Olson providing color commentary.
    Along with the radio coverage, all DSU home games are simulcast on KCEC-TV (TDS Cable Channel 22), with tape-delay rebroadcasts throughout the following week.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State came away with a split of its only two January home games last weekend inside the Burns Arena. The Trailblazers broke three NCAA-era school defensive records on their way to a resounding 69-38 victory over MSU Denver on Friday night. DSU shook off a slow start by outscoring the Roadrunners 50-20 in the second half to snap a four-game losing streak.
    The Blazers were also plagued by a slow start offensively the following night against Chadron State, however this time they could not recover as DSU dropped a tough 64-61 decision to the Eagles.

COACHING STAFF: Six-time PacWest Conference Coach of the Year Jon Judkins (Utah State, 1988; 533-253 career record) is in his 14th season on the Dixie State bench, where he has compiled a 249-125 overall record, including a 229-113 mark during DSU's NCAA Division II era.
    Judkins has led the Trailblazers to 10-straight winning seasons with seven 20-win campaigns, which includes a school-record 23 victories last season, and 22 wins during both the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons. He also guided DSU to six PacWest championships, including four-straight titles from 2009-13 and two more crowns last season and in 2014-15, along with PacWest Tournament titles in 2013 and 2018. In addition, Judkins has led Dixie State to eight trips to the NCAA Tournament in the last nine seasons overall from 2010-18, 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 again this season by former DSU player and sixth-year assistant coach Kasey Winters (Dixie State, 2008), along with former DSU standout guard Jeremiah Barnes (Dixie State, 2011), who is in his second season on the DSU sideline, and second-year volunteer assistant coach David Foster (Utah, 2013).

533 AND COUNTING: Head Coach Jon Judkins became the first men's basketball coach in Utah collegiate basketball history to reach the 500-win plateau when Dixie State defeated Hawai'i Hilo (81-72) back on January 28, 2017.
    Coach Judkins is currently third all-time in coaching victories in Utah college basketball history behind legendary University of Utah head women's coach Elaine Elliott, who amassed 582 career wins (582-234) in 27 seasons on the Utes' sideline. Meanwhile, current Salt Lake CC head women's basketball coach Betsy Specketer is second all-time with 536 career victories (536-193) in 22-plus seasons on the Bruins' bench.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED FOURTH IN THE RMAC: Dixie State was voted to finish fourth in the 2018-19 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball preseason coaches' poll released on Oct. 23. The Trailblazers, who made their RMAC debut earlier this month at Westminster College, received two first place votes and 185 points in the poll.  
    Defending RMAC tournament champion Regis received eight out of a possible 16 first-place votes to claim the top spot in the poll with 216 points, while Colorado School of Mines collected four first-place nods and 203 points to finish second in the poll. Fort Lewis, which won the 2017-18 RMAC regular season crown, picked up two first-place votes to finish third with 199 points, followed by DSU in fourth, MSU Denver (156 pts) in fifth, Westminster (141 pts) in sixth, Colorado-Colorado Springs (147 pts) in seventh, and Black Hills State (116 pts) in eighth to round out the top-half of the 16-team poll. 

AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 71-65 (.522) all-time against non-conference opponents in its 12-plus seasons of four-year competition, which includes a final 2-2 non-league mark this year and an 11-14 record in the program's first year of NCAA play (2006-07). Additionally, DSU owns a combined 6-12 postseason record (4-4 PacWest, 2-8 NCAA).
    DSU (5-4 in 2017-18) 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 RMAC: Prior to its RMAC debut at Westminster College this past Dec. 1, Dixie State had squared off against nine of the 15 member schools in non-conference action and played to a 13-14 (.481) overall non-conference record in 27 combined games. Out of those nine schools, the Trailblazers have faced Colorado Mesa (eight times) the most of any other RMAC school and have posted a 4-4 mark against the Mavericks overall.

HOME SWEET HOME: Since becoming an NCAA Division II program in 2006-07, Dixie State has played to a 116-26 (.817) overall record inside the Burns Arena under Head Coach Jon Judkins, which includes a 4-3 (2-2 RMAC) mark this year. DSU has posted seven 10-plus win seasons over that span, highlighted by a perfect 12-0 record in 2009-10, and 11-1 records in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.
    Dixie State played to a 9-1 home record last season - all of which came in PacWest play, and in the process, recorded its 11th-straight home winning season record in the program's four-year era.
    The Trailblazers closed out their PacWest membership with a dominant 87-12 (.878) record at home in 99 home conference games played over 11 seasons.

HOME SWEET HOME, PART 2: For the ninth-straight year, Dixie State's men's basketball program finished ranked in the top-10 nationally at the NCAA Division II level in attendance for the 2017-18 season.
    The Trailblazers posted the ninth-highest total attendance number in the country at 26,309 fans in just 10 home dates, which was also second in the Pacific West Conference and the NCAA West Region. In addition, DSU finished second-nationally in season attendance average at 2,630 fans per game, behind only Northern (SD) State, which led the nation in both total attendance (55,980/15 games) and attendance average (3,732).
    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 fourth-overall last year, fifth 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 2017-18, behind Brigham Young (227,692/14,230 per game), Utah (199,077/11,710), Utah State (104,159/6,943), Weber State (101,683/6,778) and Utah Valley (58,027/3,413). However, DSU did finish well ahead of Southern Utah (33,518/2,394) and Westminster College (4,345/289).

HOME SWEET HOME, PART 3: Dixie State played in front of a season-high 4,257 fans in its 69-38 victory over MSU Denver last Friday night inside the Burns Arena. The announced crowd was the fifth-highest Dixie State home game attendance number in the program's NCAA era and the sixth-highest attended regular season game overall.
    The school record for home attendance is 4,602 set against BYU-Hawaii during the 2012-13 season (2/23/13), while the most fans to see a DSU regular season contest came in a road game at Utah (9,616) on Jan. 9, 2008. 

HOW ABOUT WHEN THE BAGS ARE PACKED?: Dixie State is currently 114-88 (.564) in 202 games away from home in its Division II era under Head Coach Jon Judkins. Overall, the Trailblazers have played to a 90-67 record (.573) in true road games, and a 24-21 mark (.533) in neutral site games during Judkins' tenure.
    The Trailblazers were a combined 14-6 as road warriors last season, including a 10-4 road mark to go with a 4-2 record in neutral-site games. DSU has won eight or more games away from home in nine-straight seasons, and in 10 of its 12 D-II campaigns overall, including a program-best 15-5 record (10-2 in road contests) in 2010-11.
    Dixie State also finished with a 69-30 (.697) road record in its 11 seasons of PacWest league membership (9-1 last season/7-3 in 2016-17).

FAREWELL TO THE PACWEST: The Trailblazers ended their 11 years of PacWest membership as the conference's all-time winningest program with 156 conference wins (156-42) and a .788 league winning percentage. In addition, DSU's 18 wins in PacWest play last year were not only the most in program history, the win total also tied the conference all-time season record for wins (Hawai'i Pacific in 2017; California Baptist in 2014).

RELEASE...ROTATION...SPLASH: Dating back to late in the 2016-17 season, Dixie State has hit at least one 3-pointer in 47-straight games, including a season-high seven trifectas on four different occasions, including against both MSUD and Chadron State last weekend.
    In all, Dixie State has hit at least one three pointer in 246 of its last 248 games overall, and in 340 of the program's 344 NCAA-era games since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
    Dixie State has reached double-figures in made 3-pointers 13 times overall, the last occasion happened vs. Holy Names (11 3FGM, 2/19/18), while the single-game 3FGM school record is 13 set at Carroll College on Nov. 11, 2008.

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN....BANG: Also of note, the Trailblazers attempted 19 3-point shots at Westminster College (12/1), while the Griffins took 18 shots from beyond the arc. That slim stat "victory" for the Trailblazers broke a string of 101-straight games that saw DSU opponents attempt more 3-points shots in a game.
    That feat was achieved again last Saturday vs. Chadron State, when DSU attempted 18 3FG, while the Eagles were credited with 16 3-point shots. Including last Saturday's game, Dixie State opponents have taken more 3-point shots all but five games since the 2012-13 season (179 games) and in 304 of DSU's 344 games in the program's NCAA era.

DUNK YOU VERY MUCH: Dixie State combined to throw down 51 dunks in 30 games last season, this after finishing with 30 dunks in 28 games in 2016-17, and 32 total throw-downs in the 2015-16 campaign.
    In all, seven Trailblazers "rocked the rim" last year, led by DSU All-American and PacWest Player/Defender of the Year Trevor Hill with 23 dunks, including "highlight reel" steal and breakaway dunk in the Holy Names win (2/19), which was ranked No. 8 on ESPN SportsCenter's "Top-10 Plays of the Day."
    It took nearly five full games, but DSU finally recorded its first dunk of the year in the closing moments of DSU's win at South Dakota Mines (12/7) when junior guard Jack Pagenkopf picked off his second steal of the night and was credited with a breakaway dunk to seal the Blazer win. In all, DSU has 11 dunks this season, the last came on a Josh Newbold breakaway jam late in the MSU Denver win last Friday. Senior forward Julien Ducree leads the with eight throw-downs, all of which have come over Dixie State's last eight games.

DEFENSE (CLAP CLAP) DEFENSE: Dixie State enjoyed arguably its finest overall defensive performance in program history in last Friday's 31-point win over MSU Denver. DSU held the Roadrunners to opponent single-game record lows of 11 made field goals and a 21.2 percent field goal percentage (11-of-52), which included a 6-of-28 (.214) clip in the first half and a 5-of-24 (.208) effort in the second half.
    Prior to that, the previous record low for opponent made field goals was 15 set four different times, with the last occasion coming during the 2016-17 season (at Academy of Art, 1/5/17), while the Roadrunners' shooting percentage eclipsed the previous DSU opponent record low of 23.8 percent posted by Pacifica College (15-of-63) in a 110-41 Dixie State win during the 2010-11 season (12/4/10).
    In addition, the 38 points surrendered also broke Dixie State's NCAA-era opponent single game low of 40 points set in an 84-40 home win over Dominican University on Feb. 11, 2010.

TEAM NOTES:
* - Junior forward Matt Conway posted his first double-double in a Trailblazer uniform with 19 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in the win over MSUD last Friday ... Conway scored 17 of 19 points, including a perfect 3-of-3 from the perimeter, and pulled down 10 rebounds after halftime ... 11 of his 13 boards came on the defensive end and he went 8-of-9 at the foul line.
* - Conway has scored in double figures in 10 of his first 13 games with five 20-plus point outings, including a 24-point night at UCCS (1/4), followed by 21 more points the next night at Mines (1/5).
*- Conway's 24 points at UCCS was one off of his career high of 25 set earlier this season in the home win vs. Western Oregon (11/24) ... the junior also poured in 23 points on 7-of-11 from the floor and 9-of-12 at the line in his RMAC debut at Westminster (12/1).
* - Conway, who his eighth in the RMAC in scoring (16.3 ppg/also 16.1 ppg in RMAC games) and t-19th in rebounding (5.7 rpg), also went for 22 points in the season opener vs. Cal Poly Pomona (11/17), with 13 of those 22 points coming at the foul line as he attempted a game-high 17 free throws ... Conway's 13 FTM are tied for the third-most in a single game in program history, while his 17 FTA are t-fourth on DSU's single-game list, and are the most since former guard Brandon Simister went 18-for-18 (single game school record for makes) on the road at Concordia-Irvine last season (12/18/18).
* - Conway has already gone to the foul line 86 times (with 68 makes) and is shooting 79.1 percent at the stripe.
* - Senior Dub Price posted Dixie State's first double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-high tying 11 boards in the NMHU win (12/14) ... Price hit on 6-of-7 from the floor and filled the stat sheet with three assists and a career-high tying three steals ... Price also tallied in 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting at Mines (1/5).
* - Price poured in a career-best 20 points in DSU's win at South Dakota Mines (12/7), against which he connected on 7-of-11 shots with seven caroms, three dimes and three steals ... his career night came almost one year to the day when he posted his first double-digit point outing when he went for 13 points off the bench in a home win over Azusa Pacific (12/9/17).
*- Redshirt sophomore guard Zach Frampton filled the stat sheet to the tune of a career-high 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and his second collegiate block at UCCS (1/4) ... Frampton connected on 4-of-6 from the floor and 7-of-8 at the line in 30 minutes of action ... Frampton leads the team in steals (18) and has averaged 1.6 spg over his last seven starts.  
* - Junior guard Andre Wilson started both games last weekend and responded by averaging 14.0 points and shot a combined 57.1 percent from the floor (8-of-14) and perimeter (4-of-7) in both games ... Wilson poured in 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the win over MSUD, then followed that up with a career-high 16 points on 4-of-8 from the floor (3-of-4 3FG) and 5-of-7 at the line vs. Chadron State ... Wilson has averaged 12.0 points over his last four games and has scored 10 or more points in four of his last six outings overall.
* - Junior guard Jack Pagenkopf returned to action in last Friday's game vs. MSUD and tallied 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers in just 10 minutes off the bench ... Pagenkopf, who missed the Wyoming exhibition game and the UCCS/Mines road trip due to injury, hit a frozen-rope trey at the halftime buzzer to spot DSU a 19-18 lead.
* - Senior forward Julien Ducree enjoyed arguably the best outing of his collegiate career at Black Hills State (12/8), against which he poured in a DSU-career high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with four rebounds, three steals and two assists in 17 minutes off the bench
* - Ducree's 16 points was one off of his overall career-high of 17 he scored against Cal State San Marcos during his sophomore season at Cal State Monterey Bay (1/20/17).
* - Ducree, who is averaging 9.2 ppg over his last eight games, posted his first DSU double-double with 11 points (on 5-of-7 shooting) and a DSU career-best 10 rebounds at Saint Martin's (12/18), and had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the Chadron loss last Saturday.  
* - Ducree has also recorded at least one blocked shot in nine of his first 12 outings this season.
* - The Trailblazer reserves combined to score 41 bench points against Academy of Art (11/23), which marked just the fourth time since January of 2015 that DSU tallied 40-plus reserve points ... the Blazers scored 43 bench points in a win over Fresno Pacific last season (1/26/18), and had 46 points in an overtime loss to Central Washington (11/18/16) ... DSU also poured in 51 bench points in a road win at Dominican (1/29/15).
* - In all, the DSU is averaging 26.1 ppg through the first 13 games of the season.  
* - Dating back to the 2016-17 season, Dixie State has had 40 of its last 70 games decided by nine points or less, including 14 of 30 games last year and six of the first 13 games this season.
* - Also dating back to 2016-17, Dixie State has shot 50 percent or better in 22 of its last 64 games overall, which includes a season-high .591 clip (26-of-44) at Colorado School of Mines (1/5), and 55.4 percent (31-of-56) in the New Mexico Highlands win (12/14).
* - DSU shot 50 percent or better eight times last season, with seven of those occasions coming on the road.
* - DSU was held was held to a paltry 22.2 percent clip (6-of-27) in the first half against MSUD last Friday ... however the Trailblazers bounced back in a big way in the second 20-minute period as DSU went 16-of-20 (.800) from the floor, including 6-of-7 from the perimeter, to outscore the Roadrunners 50-20 en route to its 31-point win.
* - DSU's 31-point spread vs. MSUD just missed cracking the top-10 for most lopsided victory in the program's NCAA era and was the largest margin of victory since the Blazers posted an 89-55 (+34) triumph over Hawai'i Hilo late last season (2/10/18).
* - Dixie State tied a season-low at the foul line (58.8 percent, 20-of-34) in the loss to Chadron State last Saturday ... the 58.8 clip matched the effort (10-of-17) at the foul line in the win at SD Mines (12/7), however DSU rebounded the next night with a season-best 87.5 percent night (14-of-16) at BHSU (12/8) ... the 87.5 percent clip at the line at BHSU is DSU's highest FT% in more than two seasons (74 games), and was the best since DSU connected on 87.1 percent (27-of-31) in a road win at Chaminade (1/23/16) during the 2015-16 campaign.
* - DSU has won the "Battle of the Boards" in eight of its first 13 games this season and in 32 of its last 42 games dating back to last year ... Dixie State was +10 in rebounding vs. MSUD, which marked the fourth time this season that the Trailblazers held a double-digit advantage on the boards ... unfortunately DSU was minus-19 on the boards the next night in its loss to Chadron State.
* - The team's rebounding margin received a huge boost in the NMHU win (12/14) as the Trailblazers outrebounded the Cowboys by a 55-25 count ... the 55-rebound night tied for the sixth-best single game total in DSU's NCAA era.
* - The +30 rebounding effort vs. NMHU also tied for the second-highest rebounding margin in program history, bested only by a +31 margin posted in an 82-76 overtime win over Concordia-Irvine (12/3/16) during the 2016-17 season ... DSU also recorded a +30 rebounding margin over Hawai'i Hilo during the 2013-14 campaign (W, 97-69; 2/13/14).

ABOUT THE COLORADO CHRISTIAN "COUGARS": Colorado Christian enters Friday night's game having lost nine of its last 10, though the Cougars picked up a big 86-83 road win at then second-place Black Hills State last Friday. Senior guard Jeremiah Hansen (6-4) leads four Cougars scoring in double figures at 13.7 ppg while shooting 51.0 percent from the floor (.397 3FG, 25-of-63).

ABOUT THE REGIS "RANGERS": Regis begins the week as one of the hottest teams in the RMAC as the Rangers have won four-straight, including a road sweep last weekend at South Dakota Mines (W, 79-66) and at BHSU (80-65). Preseason all-RMAC pick Jarrett Brodbeck (Sr, 6-4, 180) is the league's fourth-leading scorer at 18.8 ppg and is currently second in the RMAC in made 3FG at 53 (53-of-127, .417).

UP NEXT: Dixie State heads back to Colorado to close out its four-game RMAC road swing, beginning with a trip to Grand Junction to play at Colorado Mesa on Friday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. DSU will then wrap up the trip in Gunnison against Western Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m.