FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 19, 2024) – Closing out pre-holiday games, the Lumberjacks (7-4, 0-0 Big Sky) will head on the road for a meeting in Cedar City with the Southern Utah Thunderbirds (8-5, 0-0 WAC) set for 2 p.m. MST on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday's meeting will be available to stream on ESPN+ while live stats can be found here. Northern Arizona hosted SUU in Flagstaff last season, picking up a thrilling 76-74 victory as
Jayden Jackson took a driving layup inside to secure the win in the last second of the game. Former Big Sky foe, Southern Utah and NAU have played 43 all-time meetings with last season's win giving the Jacks a 22-21 advantage in the series. Southern Utah left the Big Sky for the WAC in July of 2022.
Northern Arizona Basketball is coming off an 86-76 road loss at Pepperdine, having yet to lose back-to-back contests this season. Saturday's matchup will mark NAU's final non-conference division-I game of the season, before hosting Benedictine Mesa on Dec. 30 ahead of opening Big Sky play in Flagstaff with Idaho State and Weber State on Jan. 2 and Jan. 4, respectively.
As a team, the Jacks are shooting 47.1 percent from the field while holding opponents to 42.2 percent field goal shooting. The Jacks 1.58 assist-turnover ratio ranks 35
th in the nation, while a 9.6 rebounds margin ranks 15
th. Northern Arizona is averaging 41.1 rebounds per game, ranking 26
th in the country, while
Carson Towt ranks 3rd in the country individually as he is averaging 11.7 boards per game. Towt is coming off three consecutive double-double performances this season while bringing in seven so far this season, 14 total in his career to rank third in the country in the category.
Trent McLaughlin continues to excel for the Lumberjacks on both sides of the ball, leading the Big Sky and ranking fourth in the nation, McLaughlin is scoring 22.9 points per game while picking up 1.45 steals per contest as well. McLaughlin ranks fourth in three-point attempts with 107 total, shooting 34.6 percent from beyond the arc and 42.3 percent from the field. McLaughlin is currently 23 points shy of joining Northern Arizona's 1,000 point-club, which would mark the first Lumberjack to do so since Jalen Cone and Nik Mains both did so in the 2022-23 season. Hitting the milestone on Saturday would mark 1,000 career points at NAU in 80 contests.
Jayden Jackson is also currently averaging double-digit scoring at 12.3 points a night, Jackson has shot 59.2 percent from the field through the last three contests, picking up 16 assists as well.
Monty Bowser has averaged 13.0 points through the last two matchups for the Jacks, finding his career high in minutes at Pepperdine with 26, hitting three three-pointers following a 6-for-7 from the field performance facing South Dakota.
Southern Utah will enter Saturday's game with focus on snapping the three-game losing streak the Thunderbirds have found themselves on, falling to Arizona, New Mexico State, and UTRGV in three consecutive matchups. Southern Utah does remain an undefeated 6-0 in Cedar City to start the season, with the last victory coming over Park-Gilbert in a 90-55 final. The Thunderbirds rank 54
th in the nation in defensive rebounds per game, while leading the WAC, averaging 27.7 defensive boards per game. The T-Birds lead the WAC in fastbreak points as well, with 14.2 per game, ranking 59
th in the country.
The Thunderbirds are shooting 44.9 percent from the field, in addition to 32.5 percent from three-point range. Led by two double-digit shooters, Jamir Simpson and Dominique Ford pave the way with 16.5 and 14.3 points per game, respectively. Jamari Sibley leads the team in rebounds, averaging 5.6 per game while closely trailed by Brock Fedler with 5.5 and Simpson with 4.5 a night.
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