Utah Tech vs. Southern Utah
            Thursday night's game will be the eighth meeting between the two in-state rivals, who are separated by only 54 miles.
            Utah Tech trails 5-2 in the overall series vs. SUU and has lost three-straight to the Thunderbirds, including a 75-65 road loss last month in Cedar City (1/18/24).
            The Trailblazers also dropped two of three games to SUU last year, which included a heartbreaking 76-75 loss in the quarterfinal round of the 2023 WAC Tournament.
            Utah Tech will look to stay perfect vs. SUU at home, as the two Blazer wins in the series have come inside the Burns Arena, both of which were seven-point victories (86-79 - 2/4/23; 83-76 - 11/12/21). 
 
Scouting the Thunderbirds
            Southern Utah comes into Thursday's night game winners of three of its last four, which includes a 79-59 home romp over UTRGV last Saturday in Cedar City.
            The T-Birds feature four players averaging double figures, led by junior guard Dominique Ford (6-5), who is fourth in the WAC in scoring at 16.4 ppg on 44.0 percent shooting. Meanwhile, sophomore forward Parsa Falla (6-9) is SUU's top rebounder (6.3 rpg) and his averaging 13.7 ppg on a WAC-leading 59.1 shooting clip from the floor. 
 
Last Game
            Utah Tech could not overcome a sluggish start in dropping an 87-66 WAC conference home decision to UT Arlington last Saturday afternoon inside the Burns Arena.
            The Blazers managed to trim an early double-digit deficit to five near the midway point of the first half, but UTA would use a pair of scoring runs to end the first half, and begin the second half to thwart any chance of a come-from-behind win for the home team.  
 
The March to 500
            Utah Tech will play in its 500th NCAA game when the Trailblazers face UT Arlington on Saturday, Feb. 24. 
            The Blazers are currently 309-187 (.624) all-time during their four-year era, which began in the 2006-07 academic year.
 
 
Release-Rotation-Splash
            Noa Gonsalves continued his climb up the Utah Tech 3-point charts with four more made treys over his first two starts on the current homestand, during which he has averaged 12.5 ppg.
            The junior guard has hit three or more trifectas seven times this season, highlighted by a single-game school record seven 3-pointers in the Blazers' home overtime victory over FIU (12/30). He followed that up with four treys vs. Grand Canyon (1/6) and five more in the Stephen F. Austin home win (1/11).
            Gonsalves, who is currently third in the WAC in made threes (46; 2.09 3FGM/g), enters play on Thursday night eight 3-pointers shy of vaulting into fourth place on Utah Tech's career 3FGM list (125).
            Gonsalves has also been near-automatic at the charity stripe, leading the team with an 86.1 percent clip (31-of-36) at the line, including a career-best 9-of-10 effort last Saturday vs. UT Arlington. 
 
Double Your Pleasure
            Junior forward Tanner Christensen posted his fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in last Thursday's win over UTRGV.
            For Christensen, who racked up four double-doubles in his Blazer debut season last year, it was the 10th double-double of his career, which included one he posted while at Idaho during the 2021-22 season.
            Christensen now has 11 double-digit rebound games in his near two years at Utah Tech and 16 overall during his collegiate career.
 
All About Staying Balanced
            Nine of the 10 Trailblazers who saw time in last Thursday's win over UTRGV found the scoring column, with six of them tallying eight or more points overall.
            In fact, it was two freshmen who led the way as guard Aric Demings went 5-of-6 from the floor en route to a co-game high 12 points.
            Meanwhile, reserve forward Tennessee Rainwater poured in a career-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
 
Scorer
            Jaylen Searles posted his 11th double-digit point game of the year with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the loss to UT Arlington last Saturday. 
            That effort came after he went for 11 points, along with six boards and a co-game high four assists vs. UTRGV last Thursday night. 
            Searles' 15-point day vs. UTA was one point off his WAC season-high at Tarleton back on Jan. 27.
            
Block Party
            Christensen and sophomore forward Hamed Olayinka are jockeying back-and-forth for the team lead in blocked shots this season.
            Entering the UTA game, the duo was
tied for the team lead and second in the WAC with second with 39 blocks. However Christensen (42 blocks - #2 in the WAC) moved one swat ahead after he tallied three blocks vs. UTA, while Olayinka (41 blocks - #3 in the WAC) rejected two shots. 
            Both Christensen and Olayinka have led or co-led the Blazers in blocks 13 times this season overall. 
            Christensen is currently third all-time in program history in career blocks (67 in 54 games), while Olayinka (41 in 22 games) moved into a tie for ninth place last Saturday afternoon. The pair are also fourth and fifth, respectively, on the program's single-season blocks list. 
 
Kambala Career-High
            Freshman guard Angelo Kambala accounted for 14 of the Trailblazers' 24 bench points at Tarleton back on Jan. 27. Kambala connected on 4-of-8 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers, and finished with two rebounds and two assists in nearly 20 reserve minutes.
            Kambala's day eclipsed his previous career high of 11 points set in Utah Tech's overtime win over FIU on Dec. 30.            
 
Consistency
            Caleb Stearman continued his solid play off the bench on Saturday afternoon with seven points and three rebounds vs. UT Arlington.
            The junior's effort came on the heels of him going for eight points and career highs of eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 23 reserve minutes in last Thursday's victory over UTRGV.  
 
What's Next
            Utah Tech will wrap up its homestand on Saturday afternoon vs. California Baptist in a key WAC match-up. Tip-off inside the Burns Arena is slated for 3 p.m.