Utah Valley Wolverines (22-7, 12-4 WAC) at Southern Utah Thunderbirds (10-19, 6-10 WAC)
Cedar City, Utah; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Southern Utah hosts Utah Valley after Tanner Hayhurst scored 25 points in Southern Utah’s 81-67 victory against the Utah Tech Trailblazers.
The Thunderbirds have gone 7-4 in home games. Southern Utah ranks third in the WAC with 23.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Jaiden Feroah averaging 4.9.
The Wolverines are 12-4 in WAC play. Utah Valley averages 18.8 assists per game to lead the WAC, paced by Trevan Leonhardt with 5.9.
Southern Utah makes 45.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 5.3 percentage points higher than Utah Valley has allowed to its opponents (40.6%). Utah Valley has shot at a 50.4% rate from the field this season, 4.1 percentage points greater than the 46.3% shooting opponents of Southern Utah have averaged.
The teams play for the third time in conference play this season. Southern Utah won the last meeting 84-70 on Jan. 22. Feroah scored 18 points points to help lead the Thunderbirds to the win.
TOP PERFORMERS: Elijah Duval is averaging 14.6 points and 3.6 assists for the Thunderbirds. Hayhurst is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Jackson Holcombe is averaging 15.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.4 steals for the Wolverines. Leonhardt is averaging 12.6 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Thunderbirds: 4-6, averaging 75.6 points, 31.3 rebounds, 13.3 assists, 5.0 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 47.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.8 points per game.
Wolverines: 7-3, averaging 73.4 points, 32.9 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 10.3 steals and 6.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.2 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.