Southern Utah's men's basketball team continues its four-game home stretch Thursday night when the Thunderbirds host UMKC in a Summit League match-up.

The Thunderbirds (10-10/5-5 Summit League) have won three of their last four games, including a 58-56 home win over IPFW on Saturday night. With that win SUU moved back into a tie with Oakland and Western Illinois for fourth place in The Summit League. The Grizzlies, who had pushed SUU out of that tie with a 72-63 win in Cedar City on Thursday, fell at league-leading Oral Roberts on Saturday night, allowing the T-Birds and Leathernecks (who also lost Thursday but won Saturday) to move back into a tie.

UMKC (9-13/3-7 Summit League) has won back-to-back games to climb out of a tie for last place in the league and into a tie with IPFW in seventh place. The Kangaroos rolled at home against Western Illinois on Thursday, 72-50, before edging IUPUI, 64-62, on Saturday night.

The Game: UMKC (9-13/3-7) at SUU (10-10/5-5), Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (MST) in the Centrum Arena (5,300).

Radio: All Southern Utah men's basketball games are broadcast live by KSUU (91.1 FM) as well as on the internet at www.suu.edu/ksuu. Art Challis is in his 39th season as the Thunderbirds' basketball play-by-play voice. Dr. Challis is joined on home broadcasts by former SUU standout Dean O'Driscoll.

The Series: Thursday's contest will be the 34th meeting between SUU and UMKC. It's a rivalry that began back in 1994, then took a three-year hiatus before resuming in 1998 when SUU joined the then-Mid-Continent Conference. The Thunderbirds hold an 18-15 edge in the series with the Kangaroos, including a 13-2 mark vs. the 'Roos in games played in Cedar City. SUU stopped a three-game skid against UMKC with a 91-77 win in Kansas City earlier this season.

Practice Schedule: When at home the practice schedule calls for the team to work out at 3:00 p.m. daily. Contact SUU Director of Athletic Media Relations Neil Gardner for more information.

Media Availability: Players and coaches are available for interviews on Tuesdays prior to practice, between 2:30-3:00 p.m., with occasional adjustments due to scheduling conflicts. To contact a player or coach on another day or time contact Neil Gardner at gardner@suu.edu or 435-586-7753.

Video Highlights: Video highlights of SUU's Summit League home games will be available to accredited media outlets via SUU's FTP site. For information on obtaining those highlights contact SUU Director of Athletic Media Relations Neil Gardner.

Affiliations: Southern Utah is in its 15th and final season in The Summit League. All but two of SUU's sports compete in The Summit, with football a member of the Great West Conference and gymnastics an affiliate member of the Western Athletic Conference. Most of SUU's programs will move into the Big Sky Conference in 2012. IPFW is also a member of The Summit League.

Videostreaming/Live Stats at www.suutbirds.com: All of Southern Utah's 2011-12 home games are video-streamed on the SUU athletic website at www.suutbirds.com. Live stats for all home games and most road games are also be available. Video streams are on a pay basis but there is no cost for live stats.

Thunderbird Club Luncheons: The Thunderbird Club's weekly no-host luncheon is held Mondays at noon in the Tradition Room in the home of President Michael Benson. The public is invited to attend the luncheons where Southern Utah's in-season coaches talk about their upcoming contests and review the past week's action.

Next Up: SUU remains at home next week as UMKC and South Dakota come to Cedar City for Thursday/Saturday games. The team then heads out on its final two-game Summit League road swing the following week for games at North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

The Coaches: 

Head Coach Roger Reid (Weber State '68) is in his fifth season on the Southern Utah bench. Reid takes a career Division I mark of 202-166 - including a 50-90 record at SUU - into the game. His record includes six years as head coach at Brigham Young. He is 3-7 vs. IPFW.

Coach Reid's career has spanned virtually every level of the coaching strata, including the high school, junior college, and NCAA Division I levels as well as in the NBA and international ranks. He is probably best known for his success at Brigham Young University, where he led the Cougars to five NCAA tournament berths and three Western Athletic Conference championships. He has also coached the Phoenix Suns of the NBA and the Hangzhou Horses of the Chinese Basketball Association. Reid coached Snow College to a conference title and a No. 18 national ranking in his final season on the bench there.

Reid is assisted by Ron Carling (BYU '70), a 40-year coaching veteran who is also entering his fifth season with the program; Johnny Brown (New Mexico '86), an 18-year veteran of the coaching ranks who is in his fifth year in Cedar City; and assistant Kenya Crandell (Nebraska-Kearney '96) who is entering his 15th season as a collegiate coach and his fourth year at SUU.

Captains: This year's captains are SUU's three seniors: Ray Jones, Jr., Matt Massey, and Ramell Taylor.

Thunderbird Notes:

• Jackson Stevenett led the Thunderbirds with 19 points vs. IPFW, giving the team a different scoring leader in each of the last four games. Ramell Taylor (17 points) paced the 'Birds vs. Oakland, Damon Heuir (22) led the team at Western Illinois and it was Ray Jones atop the scoring chart at IUPUI (21) and against North Dakota State (15).
• Stevenett tied his career rebounding high with nine vs. IPFW and narrowly missed his first career double-double, with nine boards and 18 points.
• Defense was the name of the game in the SUU/IPFW rematch on Saturday night. SUU held IPFW to 31.3 percent shooting (15-48), the team's best defensive effort of the season, while the Mastodons held the Thunderbirds to 35.8 percent (19-53), SUU's second-lowest percentage of the year. It was just the third time this season the T-Birds had finished below .400 in field goal percentage (the others were .302 at San Diego State and .379 vs. Oakland).
• The 58 points the T-Birds scored against IPFW were the team's fewest in a win since a 53-48 win over IUPUI in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 Summit League tournament.
• SUU had its best night of the year from the free throw line against Oakland, hitting all 14 of its attempts, the first perfect night of the season. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, even though Oakland bit just 62.9 percent of its attempts, the Grizzlies went to the line 21 times more, connecting on 22-of-35 charity tosses. SUU was whistled for 26 fouls to the Grizzlies' 14 and four Thunderbird starters finished the game with four personals.
• Three T-Birds sport double-figure scoring averages: Jackson Stevenett at 13.9, Ramell Taylor at 13.0 ppg and Damon Heuir at 10.7. Matt Massey was averaging 10.2 heading into the Oakland game but he scored just two points against the Grizzlies and is now at 9.8 ppg while Ray Jones, Jr., averages 9.5 ppg. In conference games Stevenett is averaging 17.2 ppg, Taylor is at 12.4 ppg, Heuir averages 10.4 and Jones checks in at 10.2 ppg.
• Stevenett has pulled down 105 rebounds to lead the team with 5.3 per game, while Taylor has 93, an average of 4.7.
• Following Saturday's game Jones ranks 45th in the nation in assists, with an average of 5.3 per game, and he is 79th in assist/turnover ratio, at 2.0.
• Heading into the week the Thunderbirds ranked 35th in the nation and atop The Summit League with an average of 15.2 dimes per game.  
• Stevenett's .498 shooting percentage ranks 88th in the nation and as a team SUU ranks 23rd in field goal percentage this week, at .483.
• The Thunderbirds have out-rebounded their opponents by a 32.5-30.1 average.
• SUU has 304 assists, an average of 15.2 a game and 85 more than its opponents combined (219, 10.95 average).