The Hive Sports

Featured Image Credit – Regan Hunsaker (Southern Utah Athletics)

CEDAR CITY, Utah — The latest edition of the Grand Canyon Rivalry will be SUU’s annual “Christmas at the AFEC” game as former Big Sky Conference foe and rival Northern Arizona visits the America First Event Center on Saturday. It will be SUU’s final home non-conference game of the season with only one more on deck before WAC play begins. NAU is playing its final non-conference game of the season. They will have a 12-day break before they open Big Sky play.

Last Time Out

The Thunderbirds beat Cal State Fullerton last Saturday 67-60. The Lumberjacks dropped a heartbreaker in overtime to Utah Valley 75-80. Additionally, both teams are coming off a week of rest with their respective last outings being on Saturday.

Nation Leading Thunderbirds

SUU is not only leading the WAC in points and rebounds per game but is placing in at least the Top 6 in both of those categories nationally. The Thunderbirds only trail Arizona, James Madison, and Missouri in points per game averaging 89.6 PPG. In rebounding, SUU is 6th behind Alabama, Mississippi State, Utah, St John’s, and Purdue for 42.8 RPG. That number is the highest of any non-Power 6 conference team.

Honors and Other Players to Watch

Forward Parsa Fallah was named WAC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season last week. Though he had a quiet night against Cal State Fullerton with only 2 points, he had a career night the game before against West Coast Baptist with 23 points. Tevian Jones and Harrison Butler played nearly all game against the Titans and will hope to get more help from the bench this week. Their combined 30 points accounted for nearly half of SUU’s scoring in their last outing.

Three Point Woes Continue

Three-point shooting continues to plague the Thunderbirds. Even in a three-game win streak, SUU has failed to shoot better than 30% from beyond the arc. However, they have made up for this in free throw and field goal shooting where they are making 48.1% and 71.5% of shots respectively. NAU’s numbers in these categories closely match the Thunderbirds, however. In addition, they are having slightly more success from distance sinking 34.1% of such shots. The Lumberjacks have also shot better from three-point range in each of their last three games than SUU’s best game in that category in their last three. They shot a season-worst 17.6% in their last game. That cannot happen if the Thunderbirds want to come away with the win in this one.

On Santa’s Nice List

SUU has won its last five Christmas at the AFEC games having defeated Utah Tech in the last two editions. In the previous three, the Thunderbirds beat Central Michigan, Pepperdine, and UC Santa Barbara between 2017 and 2019. They will look to make it six straight with Santa in the house on Saturday.