Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CEDAR CITY, Utah — The Thunderbird men's basketball team returns home and will take a week off from the brutal Big Sky Conference gridlock Saturday by hosting Cal State Northridge in a Ramada Worldwide BracketBuster matchup.
"We don't want to overlook (CSN)," SUU forward Jackson Stevenett said. "We've got a break in Big Sky play and we don't want to use that as an excuse to not come out and play. We want to come out firing like we have during some of our home games. It's another home game and we want to protect this court."
SUU (10-15, 8-8 Big Sky) fell to fourth place in the conference standings, but has just a half game behind third-place North Dakota. The T-Birds also hold a slim one-game lead over Sacramento State, Northern Arizona and Montana State in the battle for the postseason.
We don't want to overlook (CSN). We've got a break in Big Sky play and we don't want to use that as an excuse to not come out and play. We want to come out firing like we have during some of our home games. It's another home game and we want to protect this court.
–SUU forward Jackson Stevenett
The break from conference play came at a convenient time for the T-Birds, who have fallen in three straight games — each by double digits.
"The biggest thing for us was probably defense," guard A.J. Hess said. "We weren't able to sustain a high level of defense the whole game. Portland State had 90 and Eastern Washington had 86; they shot well, but we definitely could've done more on the defensive end. It was an off game, may have set us back a bit, but (we'll work) on the defense."
With the break from league play, SUU Head Coach Nick Robinson said it should give his team a much-needed rest too, especially after four-straight conference road games.
"I think it's nice for our guys to get the treatment we need," he said. "It's an opportunity to not get as much contact and it's nice for us to prepare for a team every week."
In addition, the T-Birds will have a chance to regroup before heading into their final four conference games of the season.
The T-Birds have been streaky since league play began. SUU won its first three straight Big Sky games, then lost five straight, won five straight and now have lost three straight.
Stevenett said Saturday's matchup with CSN will be a huge boost in getting back on track before returning to conference play Feb. 28.
"I think this next game is a lot bigger than you'd think," he said. "Our whole season has been one full of runs. I mean, we're losing how many straight, then we'll win how many straight. We want to get that winning streak going again by winning this weekend. I think that will kick it off, start us and build that confidence up."
Much like SUU, the Matadors (13-14, 4-11 Big West) have dealt with streaky success. CSN opened the season 6-0, but then struggled with a seven-game losing streak until Jan. 19. The Matadors rebounded with three-straight wins until Feb. 7, but enter Saturday's game losers of three straight.
CSN is led by a duo of scorers in Stephan Hicks and Stephen Maxwell, who average 16.8 points and 14.7 points per game, respectively. Josh Greene also averages double digits this season at 13.3 points per game for the Matadors, who average 75.5 points per game.
(CSN) might be a little more athletic than we are.They're a very physical team. They've had their struggles on the road, but they've been playing well as of late. I anticipate with a week of preparation, for us, we'll be able to get over some of our bumps and bruises — and being here at home, I expect it to be a good game.
–SUU Head Coach Nick Robinson
"(CSN) might be a little more athletic than we are," Robinson said. "They're a very physical team. They've had their struggles on the road, but they've been playing well as of late. I anticipate with a week of preparation, for us, we'll be able to get over some of our bumps and bruises — and being here at home, I expect it to be a good game."
Meanwhile, SUU will look to get its' potent scoring duo of Stevenett and Damon Heuir back going.
Stevenett averaged 26 points per game last week and remains in a tie with NAU's Gabe Rogers for the Big Sky lead at 17.7 points per game.
Heuir's 13-game double-digit scoring streak was snapped Saturday after he was ejected with his second technical foul. He ended up with just 4 points.
SUU suffered a major blow with the loss of third-leading scorer Wade Collie, who was suspended indefinitely Sunday following an arrest for drug-related charges. Collie, who missed the past couple of games with a knee injury, averaged 7 points a game.
Stevenett said the team has mostly been left in the dark on the details of Collie's suspension, but added it'll be key for the team to overlook the possible distraction.
"I don't really know a lot about the situation and coach didn't say a whole lot to us," Stevenett said. "I'm sure coach knows more about it than we do. Really, we just try to look past it and move on."
However, Hess emerged Saturday as a potential candidate to replace Collie's scoring.
The freshman scored a career-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting in SUU's loss Saturday at EWU, and said he's been prepared for any challenge in more playing time.
"It was definitely big for my confidence," Hess said. "I definitely would've liked to get that ‘W,' but that's one bright spot I can take from that game. I shot well; I shot confidently."
Tipoff against the Matadors is slated for 7:35 p.m. inside the Centrum Arena.
