Men's Basketball Hosts SUU on Thursday in Holt Arena

Men's Basketball | 1/26/2016 6:38:00 PM

Notes | Audio | Video | Tickets | Live Stats

POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team continues its homestand this week hosting Southern Utah on Thursday, Jan. 28 and Northern Arizona on Saturday, January 30. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena. Jerry Miller and Brad Bugger will call the action live on 101.1 KEIR.  To follow the game on line, fans can log onto isubengals.com for live stats, video and audio.

Series vs. Southern Utah
Southern Utah leads the series 15-9. ISU is 3-3 against the T-Birds in the last six meetings. SUU swept ISU last year, winning 71-67 in Pocatello and Cedar City. ISU swept SUU during the 2013-14 season, winning 75-65 at SUU and 60-45 in Pocatello.

Scouting Southern Utah
Southern Utah is 4-13 and 2-5 in Big Sky Conference play. Travon Langston and Trey Kennedy are the top two scorers for the T-Birds. Langston is scoring 13 a game and 12.4 in conference play while Kennedy is averaging 12.8 and 14.7 points in league. SUU is scoring 72.5 points a game overall and 77 in conference but giving up 84.2 overall and 86.4 in league. SUU shoots .445 percent from the field overall and opponents are shooting .501 percent. The T-Birds are averaging 28.6 rebounds a game in league while giving up 38.4

Series vs. NAU
Idaho State leads the series 51-45. The two teams split the series last year with ISU winning, 80-66 in Pocatello and losing 72-69 in Flagstaff. Prior to last years win in Pocatello, Northern Arizona had won five straight meetings. In the last 11 meetings, NAU is 6-5 vs. ISU. In those 11 meetings  only two games haves been decided by 10 points or more and eight games have been decided by six points or less.

Scouting NAU
Northern Arizona is 3-15 and 1-6 in Big Sky Conference play. NAU plays at Weber State on Thursday before traveling to Pocatello. Kris Yanku is the top scorer for the Lumberjacks. He is scoring 16.9 points a game in league and 14.6 overall. NAU is averaging 73.7 points in conference and giving up 84.4. The Lumberjacks are shooting .421 percent in league play while opponents are shooting at a clip of .486 percent.

Notes from the Win vs. Weber State
- ISU's last three wins over Weber State have been at the buzzer and in overtime. In 2012, ISU won 64-62 on a buzzer beater by Kenny McGowen in Holt Arena. ISU beat Weber State 78-75 in overtime on Feb. 17, 2014. That game was played in Pocatello.
- 25 rebounds by ISU was a season-low.
- .531 field goal percentage (26-49) was the best mark of the season.
-  .583 three-point field goal percentage (7-12) was the best mark of the season.
-  ISU is now 4-0 when shooting 50 percent or greater from the field.
- Saturday was only the second win under Bill Evans when only two players score in double figures.
- ISU was 10-19 from the free throw line. The 52.6 percent was the worst of the season for the Bengals.
- The 34 three-point attempts by Weber State was the most by a Bengal opponent.

Starting Lineups
This year ISU coach Bill Evans has used eight different starting lineups this season. The only constant has been Geno Luzcando who has started every game. The line up of  Ethan Telfair, Geno Luzcando, Kyle Ingram, Ben Wilson and Ali Faruq-Bey has started eight games.

Telfair to the Line
Ethan Telfair has gone to the free throw line eight times or more in 10 games. In the last seven games he has gone 60-71 from the line. For the season he is the teams top free throw shooter at .826 percent (109-132).