Men's Basketball | 1/23/2026 11:30:00 AM
Game #22 - WHITE OUT
Who | Southern Utah (7-13, 3-4 WAC) at Utah Tech (10-11, 3-4 WAC)
When | Saturday, Jan. 24 – 7 p.m.
Where | Burns Arena – St. George, Utah
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 FM The Fan Sports Network
Social Media |Â
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Twitter (X)Â + #UtahTechBlazers
SCOUTINGÂ THE SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS
Southern Utah is 7-13 on the season coming into Saturday night's contest on a three-game winning streak with victories over Tarleton State in overtime, Abilene Christian and topped Utah Valley, 84-70 at home on Wednesday night.
The Thunderbirds are 0-11 on the road this season with WAC road losses coming against the Trailblazers, Utah Valley and California Baptist along with the likes of Gonzaga, Arizona State, Washington, Oregon State & Washington State.
SUU is coming off a 12-19 overall record in 2024-25 & finished eighth in the regular season standings with a 4-12 mark and were picked seventh in the WAC preseason poll.
The Thunderbirds lead the WAC in three pointers per game (8.0), check in second in the WAC in assists per game (14.6), blocks per game (4.5), three point percentage (33.7) & are third in rebounds per game (37.3), scoring offense (77.2).
Individually, senior forward Jaiden Feroah, a transfer from Holy Cross, leads the WAC & ranks top 30 nationally in both blocks (40) and blocks per game (2.00) and is fourth in rebounds per game (6.8).
Freshman guard Elijah Duval is fifth in the league in assists per game (3.4) and senior forward Isaiah Cottrell is sixth in the WAC in rebounds per game (6.3). Â Â Â Â Â Â
SERIES HISTORY VS. SOUTHERN UTAH Â Â Â Â
This will be Utah Tech's 13th meeting against Southern Utah as the Trailblazers are 5-1 at home against the Thunderbirds.
The overall series goes in favor of Southern Utah leading 7-5.
The two teams met to open WAC play in St. George on Dec. 29 with the Trailblazers winning 80-66 tallying five players in double figures led by 18 points from
Noah Bolanga along with 16 points by
Madiba Owona.
Ethan Potter nearly tallied a double-double finishing with 13 points & nine rebounds and
Jusaun Holt &
Britton Berrett recorded 14 & 10 points, respectively.
The Trailblazers and Thunderbirds will play the third and final game in the season series on Feb. 28 in Cedar City.
LAST TIME OUT AT CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
Despite a career-high 21 points from Holt, the Trailblazers fell 73-64 on Wednesday night at Fowler Events Center.
Utah Tech was led by a stellar performance from Holt, who finished 6-of-14 shooting from the field & went a perfect 6-of-6 from the line and added seven rebounds & four assists.
Bolanga was the lone other Trailblazer to reach double digits tallying 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
Potter nearly notched a double-double finishing with eight points and corralled a team-leading 10 rebounds.
The Trailblazers shot 37.1 percent (23-62) from the field, 38.1 percent (8-21) from three-point range and went a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
Getting out to a quick 6-2 lead, the Trailblazers continued to lead 11-9 after a three-pointer by Bolanga.
The Lancers responded with an 8-3 run to jump ahead 17-14 before another triple by Bolanga knotted the score at 17 with 8:23 to go in the opening half.
A 6-0 run for CBU put the Lancers ahead 23-17 and California Baptist continued to lead by six going into the final two minutes of the opening stanza before a triple by Holt made it 29-26 heading to halftime break.
After four quick points for the Lancers got the second half started, Potter got a layup to start the second half & a layup by Tanner Davis made it 33-30.
A layup by Daniels Jr. pushed CBU in front, 41-32, but a pair of free throws by Holt and back-to-back jumpers by Dario Domingos brought UT back within three at 41-38.
The Lancers responded with a 7-0 run to go back up by 10, but again the Trailblazers kept battling pulling within six (54-48) after a layup from Holt with 7:51 to go in the second half.
A layup by Chance Trujillo made it an eight-point deficit (67-59) for the Trailblazers, but after a foul by Trujillo that fouled him out of the contest, a pair of technical fouls were called on UT and four CBU free throws by Daniels Jr. later put the Lancers up 12 on their way to a nine-point win.
WHERE THE TRAILBLAZERS RANK IN THE WAC/NCAA IN 2025-26
Utah Tech comes into Wednesday's game second in the WAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.13), three point attempts per game (23.3), three point percentage defense (29.0 - 20th nationally), turnovers per game (12.7) & three pointers made per game (7.4).
The Trailblazers are third in the league in assists per game (14.4), field goal percentage (46.4) and fourth in scoring offense (76.0).
Individually, Potter leads the WAC in rebounds per game (7.7) & field goal percentage (59.0 - 37th nationally) & is fourth in points per game (16.0).
Trujillo leads the WAC in three point attempts (124), ranks second in the conference in free throw percentage (88.9) and fourth in minutes per game (32:23).
Bolanga is second in the WAC in three point attempts (122), is fifth in minutes per game (32:00) and eighth in rebounds per game (6.0).
Holt checks in fifth in blocks per game (1.10) and Tanner Davis is fifth with 35 steals.
NAIL THOSE FREE THROWS
For the second time this season, the Trailblazers were perfect from the free throw line going 10-of-10 on Wednesday at California Baptist.
UT also was perfect at Santa Clara on Dec. 3 connecting on 8-of-8 and has also been north of 90 percent twice in WAC play hitting 11-of-12 (91.7) at ACU (Jan. 1) and 18-of-20 (90.0) at Utah Valley (Jan. 10).
TOP 10 WATCH FOR TRUJILLO & HOLT
Both Trujillo and Holt are both on track to finish in the top 10 in a single season in free throw percentage (88.9) and three point percentage (44.1), respectively.
BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
The Trailblazers have had a balanced scoring attack all season with seven contests seeing UT tally five or more double figure contests - South Dakota (5), Bethesda (6), Manhattan (5), Nobel (5), Justice (5), Southern Utah (5) & at Utah Valley (5).
Potter has registered double digits in 18 of the Trailblazers' 20 contests this season and has topped 20 or more points in seven games.
Bolanga sits second with 14 double figure contests followed by 12 from Holt, 10 by Davis and nine from Trujillo.
IN ALL 10 WINS
The Trailblazers have found three commonalities, leading at half, shooting 40 percent or better from the field & hitting at least six three pointers, in all 10 of its wins this season.
In nine of Utah Tech's wins, the Trailblazers have shot a better field goal percentage than their opponents, taken more three pointers and dished out more assists than their opponents.
DOUBLE DIGIT WIN SEASONS
The Trailblazers earned their 10th win of the season last Saturday against Tarleton State as it was the fourth time in UT's six seasons in Division I they will have double digit wins joining 14 in 2022-23, 13 in 2021-22 and 11 in & 2023-24.
It is the earliest the Trailblazers have hit 10 wins in the calendar year after earning their 10th win in the 2022-23 season on Jan. 21.
WAC WEEKLY AWARDS
Prior to this season, only three Trailblazers had earned WAC Player of the Week honors - Jacob Nicolds (Dec. 7, 2020), Cameron Gooden (Dec. 13, 2021) & Jaylen Searles (Feb. 12, 2024).
ELITE COMPANY
Head coach Jon Judkins is in his 21st season at Utah Tech sporting a 348-240 (.592) overall record and a 328-228 (.590) mark in NCAA play.
Only eight current Division I coaches have been at their schools longer - Greg Kampe (42nd season at Oakland), Tom Izzo (31-Michigan St.), Mark Few (27-Gonzaga), James Jones (27-Yale), Randy Bennett (27-Saint Mary's), Scott Drew (23-Baylor), Bill Self (23-Kansas) & Gary Manchel (23-Mercyhurst).
UP NEXT
The Trailblazers head out on the road next week to take on Abilene Christian (10-9, 2-4 WAC) on Thursday night and Tarleton State (11-9, 2-5 WAC) on Saturday afternoon.
