Men's Basketball | 1/6/2026 4:00:00 PM

Game #17
Who | Utah Tech (9-7, 2-0 WAC) at California Baptist (10-6, 0-3 WAC)
When | Thursday, Jan. 8 – 8 p.m. MT
Where | Fowler Events Center – Riverside, Calif.
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 FM The Fan Sports Network
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

SCOUTING THE CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS
California Baptist is 10-6 on the season getting off to a slow start to WAC play with a 0-3 record.

The Lancers will play their WAC home opener on Thursday night after opening conference action with three road contests last week falling at Utah Valley (66-73), UT Arlington (51-63) & Tarleton State (76-81) in overtime.

CBU went 10-3 in non-conference action with a 6-0 mark at home. The Lancers earned a road win at Oregon State on Nov. 29 and opened December with three straight contests against Big 12 opponents in Colorado, BYU and Utah.

Coming off a 17-15 overall record in 2024-25, the Lancers finished third in the WAC with a 9-7 overall record and were selected as the preseason favorite in the WAC preseason poll.

California Baptist leads the WAC in rebounds per game (40.0), is second in free throw percentage (72.8), and third in field goal percentage defense (43.1) & turnovers per game (13.8).

Graduate guard Dominique Daniels Jr., the WAC Preseason Player of the Year, leads the conference in minutes per game (36:27), is second in points per game (21.1) & free throw percentage (88.4) and fifth in assists per game (3.5).

Junior forward Thomas Ndong is sixth in the WAC in rebounds (4.53) and tops the conference in offensive boards (2.80).

Senior guard Martel Williams is second in the league in minutes per game (32:46) and seventh in points per game (13.8).

SERIES HISTORY VS. CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
This will be the Trailblazers and Lancers 26th meeting against California Baptist with Utah Tech leading the all-time series, 14-11.

UT and CBU are tied 7-7 in Riverside with the Trailblazers leading 7-3 at home and are 0-1 at a neutral site at the 2016 PacWest Tournament.

The Lancers won a pair of close contests last season winning 86-83 in Riverside and 61-57 in St. George.

In 2023-24, the Trailblazers won both contests over the Lancers with a 85-78 win at home & won 72-69 on the road.

Overall, the Trailblazers are 3-3 on the road against the Lancers in the Division I era also earning wins in 2021 and 2022.

This will be the 10th meeting between the two as Division I foes with CBU holding a narrow 5-4 lead.

TRAILBLAZERS GO FOR FIRST 3-0 START TO WAC PLAY
Utah Tech is off to its third straight 2-0 start to WAC play after opening conference action last week with victories at home over Southern Utah and on the road at Abilene Christian.

A win over the Lancers will be their first 3-0 start to WAC play and will only be the second time the Trailblazers will have won three straight WAC contests joining consecutive victories over Lamar, UTRGV and Chicago State in 2021-22. 

UTAH TECH LOOKING FOR BACK-TO-BACK ROAD WINS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2023
The Trailblazers improved to 2-4 in WAC road openers with its win at Abilene Christian last Thursday & will look for two straight road wins for the first time since victories at Lindenwood (Nov. 27, 2023) and at California Baptist (Dec. 6, 2023).

LAST TIME OUT AT ABILENE CHRISTIAN
The Trailblazers opened the New Year on Thursday night breezing to a 79-64 win on the road over Abilene Christian at Moody Coliseum.

Defeating the Wildcats for the first time in program history, Utah Tech used hot shooting and a 22-0 run in the first half to break open the contest and never looked back.

The Trailblazers saw a well-balanced scoring attack led by a season-high 19 points from Chance Trujillo on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. The redshirt sophomore guard connected on a season-best five three-pointers & added a season-leading four steals.

Jusaun Holt tallied 15 points and four rebounds while Tanner Davis & Britton Berrett each came off the bench to chip in 13 points apiece.

As a team, the Trailblazers shot over 50 percent for the fourth time in the last five games connecting on 56 percent (28-50) from the field.

For the fourth time in the last six contests, UT made double-digit three-pointers sinking a season-best 12 on 27 attempts     for a 44.4 percent clip and rounded it out going 11-of-12 (91.7) from the free throw line.

Using a 22-0 run in the first half, the Trailblazers led 40-24 at half with the second half seeing the Trailblazers continue to find the back of the net pushing their lead to as many as 25 (74-49) after a layup by Berrett.

A 10-0 run for ACU cut UT's lead down to 74-59 with 1:55 to play, but that would be as close as the Wildcats could get as the final field goal of the night for the Trailblazers came on a layup by Trujillo.

WHERE THE TRAILBLAZERS RANK IN THE WAC/NCAA IN 2025-26
Utah Tech comes into Thursday's game leading the WAC in three pointers made per game (7.9) & three point attempts per game (24.6), & turnovers per game (13.1). 

UT is second in assist/turnover ratio (1.10) & field goal percentage (47.5) and third in scoring offense (78.6) & three point percentage defense (29.8).

Individually, Potter leads the WAC in rebounds per game (7.4), is second in field goal percentage (58.6) & fourth in points per game (16.1).

Trujillo ranks fourth in minutes per game (32:17) while Bolanga leads the conference in three point attempts (98), is fourth in three-pointers made (27) and sixth in minutes per game (31:28).

Holt ranks fourth in blocks per game (1.13) and Tanner Davis is fifth with 27 steals.

BIG WIN
The Trailblazers' 15-point win at Abilene Christian last Thursday was the largest margin of victory in a road WAC win in the program's six seasons in the conference surpassing their previous high of 14 (79-65) at Chicago State on Jan. 29, 2022.

It is also the largest margin of victory in a road win in the Division I era.    

BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
The Trailblazers have had a balanced scoring attack all season with six contests seeing UT tally five or more double figure contests - South Dakota (5), Bethesda (6), Manhattan (5), Nobel (5), Justice (5) & Southern Utah (5).

Potter has registered double digits in 14 of the Trailblazers' 16 contests this season and has topped 20 or more points in five games.

Bolanga sits second with 10 double figure contests followed by nine from Holt, eight by Davis and six apiece from Owona & Trujillo.

IN ALL NINE WINS
The Trailblazers have found a pair of commonalities, leading at half & shooting 40 percent or better from the field, in all nine of its wins this season.

WAC WEEKLY AWARDS
Ethan Potter: Dec. 1 & 22 - Player of the Week

Noah Bolanga: Dec. 15 - Newcomer of the Week

Chance Trujillo: Nov. 10 - Newcomer of the Week

ELITE COMPANY
Head coach Jon Judkins is in his 21st season at Utah Tech sporting a 347-236 (.595) overall record and a 327-224 (.593) 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).

WAC FOR ONE MORE SEASON
The 2025-26 campaign will mark an end of an era as Utah Tech will compete as a member of the Western Athletic Conference for the sixth, and final, season. The Trailblazers joined the WAC in 2020-21 during the first year of the program's NCAA Division I transition. 

GOING "BIG" IN 2026
On June 25, 2025, Utah Tech announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning on July 1, 2026. 

Starting in the 2026-27 season, 14 of the Trailblazers' 17 sports will compete under the Big Sky Conference banner.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers wrap up their three-game road swing with the "Old Hammer Rivalry" game at Utah Valley (12-4, 2-1 WAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.