The Hive Sports

Featured Image Courtesy of Southern Utah Athletics

ST GEORGE, Utah — Southern Utah will make the 45-minute bus ride down to St George for a Saturday night showdown with in-state rival Utah Tech. The Thunderbirds will be the second of two in-state teams to visit Burns Arena this week. Utah Valley faced the Trailblazers on Thursday night and took a 76-69 decision. The win gave the Wolverines a season sweep of the Trailblazers, who have yet to play the Thunderbirds this season. The Trailblazers and Thunderbirds will also face off in Cedar City on February 17th.

Last Time Out

The Thunderbirds survived a scare from California Baptist on Wednesday night. The Lancers had multiple opportunities to knock off SUU on Saturday, but could not get it done. All five starters scoring in double figures was enough for the Thunderbirds to escape with a 72-71 win. The two teams will face each other again in the regular season finale. That game is set for March 3rd at the America First Event Center.

No Help For You

Thunderbird fans might have been cheering for Utah Tech to upset the Wolverines on Thursday night. A Trailblazer upset would have put SUU alone in 1st place in the WAC standings. That would allow this game to be for SUU’s maintenance of first place in the WAC rather than remaining in a tie with UVU. However, the Wolverines took care of business against Utah Tech, who fell to 2-8 in WAC play with the loss. UVU improved to 9-2 to create a slight advantage of first place for themselves for the time being. If SUU wins, they’ll move up to 9-2 in WAC play thereby recreating a tie with the Wolverines.

Rivalry Environments Hit Different

2,424 fans were in attendance at Burns Arena for the game against UVU or about half of that arena’s capacity. That number pales in comparison to the 4,013 or nearly three quarter-full America First Event Center that saw the Thunderbirds take down the Wolverines. Expect Burns Arena to have a much bigger audience on hand Saturday night for another huge game. The Trailblazers are looking to split perhaps the biggest homestand in program history to this date. SUU must clean up some of the sloppy play that was on display at CBU if they want to come out of this one with the win.