San Diego Faces Southern Utah to End Non-Conference Play
By Josh Horton
Nov 18, 2013; Berkeley, CA, USA; Southern Utah Thunderbirds guard Trey Kennedy (4) drives in against California Golden Bears guard Sam Singer (2) during the first half at Haas Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego vs. Southern Utah
Game Time: 2:00 p.m. PST
TV: None
LiveStream: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/usd.portal?mode=link&eventId=121672&broadcastType=video
LiveStats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=33937
Team Records: USD – 8-4 – SUU – 1-7
Leading Scorers: USD – Dee 17.8 – SUU – Kennedy 11.8
Leading Rebounders: USD – Kramer 7.2 – SUU – Oliverson 4.9
Leading Distributors: USD – Anderson 6.3 – SUU – Kennedy/Marshall 2.4
Projected Starters:
San Diego
Christopher Anderson
Johnny Dee
Duda Sanadze
Dennis Kramer
Jito Kok
Southern Utah
Trey Kennedy
John Marshall
A.J. Hess
Jaren Jeffery
Casey Oliverson
After a rough four game stretch where the Toreros took on the likes of San Diego State, New Mexico and UC Santa Barbara, the schedule gets a little easier with the Southern Utah Thunderbirds.
The Opponent
AP Poll: NR
Coaches Poll: NR
RPI: 313
KenPom: 350
Southern Utah is fresh off a 37 points shellacking at the hands of San Diego State. The Thunderbirds have played a slew of quality teams, which include California, Utah State, UNLV and San Diego State. The T-Birds also played Portland, and the WCC member smacked them by a score of 89-57. Southern Utah is losing by an average of 27.3 points in its 7 losses this season.
The Thunderbirds boast one double-digit scorer. Trey Kennedy, a 6-3 freshman guard from Las Vegas, Nev., is averaging 11.8 points this season. Sophomore Casey Oliverson is averaging 4.9 rebounds this season, which leads the team.
Southern Utah is about dead last in about every common statistical category. The Thunderbirds are 349th, 344th, 343rd and 350th in the NCAA in points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game and field goal percentage.
Key to the Game
Get the bench involved
The San Diego bench this season has not contributed a lot to the Toreros this season, especially from a scoring standpoint. The Toreros bench is averaging only 8.7 points each contest this season, which puts a ton of pressure on the USD starters to produce. This would be the perfect game to get reserves such as Thomas Jacobs, Simi Fajemisin, Chris Sarbaugh and Brett Bailey some serious minutes. The Toreros are going to need them in WCC play.
Prediction
It is pretty evident by the content above: Southern Utah is not very good. The Toreros will have no problem with the Thunderbirds, and give them a beating in the “Slim Gym.”
San Diego 88, Southern Utah 44