Game Preview: SUU

Tonight's match-up versus the Thuderbirds of Southern Utah is an important game.  We're really starting to come down the stretch in the season and so teams are beginning to lobby for position in the upcoming Summit League Tournament which will decide who represents our conference in the NCAA Tournament.  We played SUU earlier this year two days after that heartbreaking loss to Oral Roberts and ended up losing that game 65-55.  We really struggled throughout and I do not think that they had the same focus in that game that they have in the past few games.  I remember being very frustrated by that loss.  Right now WIU is 13-9 and 7-6 in the conference while SUU is 12-12 and 7-7 in the conference.

The site for tonight's game, taken during practice last night.

Looking at WIU, we still have the number one scoring defense in the Summit as we only give up 60 points per game.  The nest closest team to us in that stat is Oral Roberts who gives up 66 points per game.  that is good enough to put us at 27th in the nation in scoring defense.  So our defense is pretty stout.  We also have the best three point percentage in the conference as we make 39% of our three's.  Our turnover margin continues to be awesome, we lead the Summit in that category as well as in turnovers per game as we only commit 11.2 turnovers per game and our turnover margin is +2.9.  That is really good, we always do a great job controlling the ball.  Especially in the second half.  

Individually, we are still being lead in scoring by true freshman Obi Emegano who averages 14.3 points per contest.  Ceola Clark is not far behind though as he averages 14.1 points per game.  Emegano's field goal percentage is still really good, he hits 53% of his shots which puts him at 50th in the nation and 11th in the conference.  Terell Parks makes him look like a fool though as he is at 5th in the nation in field goal percentage as he hits 64% of his shots.  That puts him at 2nd in the conference.  Ceola continues to nail his three pointers, he makes 48% of his three's which is good enough for 4th in the nation and 2nd in the conference.  He also has an awesome assist-to-turnover-ratio which sits at 3.06.  The puts him at 4th in the nation and 1st in the Summit.

As for Southern Utah, they sit in about the middle of the conference in a bunch of stats.  But they are the worst three point shooting team in the conference as they only make 29% of their three pointers.  However, they do have the 2nd ranked three point percentage defense.  They only allow teams to make 32% of their three's.  Their rebounding defense is good too, they are second in the Summit in that stat.  They really like to share the ball and as a result are 1st in the conference in assists per game, averaging just short of 15 assist per game.  When it comes to taking care of the ball, they are the complete opposite of WIU.  They are last in the Summit in turnover margin as they are -1.2 for the season.

As for individuals of the Thunderbirds, they are lead by Jackson Stevenett who averages 13.6 points per game, but they do have three other guys who average double digits.  Those guys are Ramell Taylor (12.8), Damon Heuir (10.2), and Ray Jones Jr. (10.1).  So while Stevenett may be their best player, the Leathernecks cannot sleep on these other guys.  In the last game Heuir and Taylor were the ones who hurt us.  They scored 22 and 21 points respectively.  The entire Leatherneck D will need to play well against their men.

Like I said, this is an important game.  We currently sit at 4th in the conference, but SUU is tied for fifth with Oakland.  A win for us would mean that we have a shot to tie for third in the conference (if North Dakota State losses), but a loss would mean that the Thunderbirds gain the tie-breaker on us and so they would be alone in fourth.  We will need to focus and come out firing.  Hopefully the guys have moved past that tough Oakland loss and are ready to play tonight.  Tip-off is at 7pm Mountain time (8pm Central) so as always...GO 'NECKS!!!